Emerging Mobile Trends

By Andrew Walker

As we all know, it is hard to keep the pace with the mobile marketplace. My iPhone 3G is a mere three years old but I feel like I’m living in a relative stone age. New technology is appearing at least on an annual basis, but the enticing marketing campaigns make it difficult to sort out the mundane from the game changing and it can become overwhelming.

When I first bought my iPad, I found it great for picking up email and browsing the Internet from the sofa. Although they are marketed for portability, I also like the simplicity of the user interface and find that the screen format, though much smaller than my desktop computer, is actually very usable. Most of you can probably relate to the fact that our eyesight isn’t what it used to be and reading an app on your smart phone can become quite challenging.

I believe because the iPads are so easy to use that we will see a major reduction in the traditional home computer/laptop market. Unless you are a power user, why keep that big old computer on the desk?

Have you heard of Augmented Reality (AG) apps? With this technology, I could stand on a street in Barcelona, point my phone at the stores and restaurants and have the phone translate all the street signs, tell me what they sell and provide customer reviews. Wow! Cool stuff like this can be accomplished by using a device’s GPS radio to blend an analog view of the world (via built in camera) with a virtual overlay. That all sounds pretty complicated but amazing applications like this will become increasingly common as smart phones become more powerful.

Have you ever used your smart phone to pay for coffee at Starbucks or used it to check in at the airport? Near Field Communications (NFC) is still in its infancy but the applications for this technology seems virtually limitless. From mobile wallets to medical ID cards, businesses all over are taking advantage of this new technology.

So my question to you is this, can your business take advantage of mobile technology? If so, SolTech can get you there.