January 6, 2012
//
No Comments »
Technology analyst Gartner, Inc. has come out with it’s hottest mobile applications for 2012. All related to high-end devices ($300 average price tag), the pros at Gartner have named their top 10 cutting-edge technologies and trends for next year.
Winning mobile apps are no longer just extensions of online services – they offer specific, unique features that cater to the mobile environment.
“Mobile applications will be a highly competitive marketplace that attracts the interest of many stakeholders,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “Increasingly, mobile applications will define the user experience on high-end devices and device vendors that proactively integrate innovative apps and technologies at the platform layer will have the competitive edge.”
Did you know that mobile apps generate a huge amount of revenue ($15.9 billion expected in 2012), but will also drive hardware sales, advertising spending and technology innovation.
Gartner tells us that more and more big brand companies will shift more of their marketing budget to the mobile channel, and experiment with cutting-edge apps. Companies must focus on the latest technology to help their products and services stand out in a highly competitive marketing environment. Here’s the top ten:
1. Context-aware consumer location-based services that take the user’s location, personal preference, gender, age, profession, intention and more, offering a much more-intelligent user experience than basic location services can. Gartner analysts believe context-aware services are a key trend for mobile apps, and location is a key enabler of that.
2. Mobile social networking, the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category of the 19 currently followed by Gartner.
3. Mobile search - advancing price comparisons product information searches to the next level, where apps allow users to take actions based on the result, such as making a call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and other similar functions.
4. Improved mobile commerce applications that let consumers “check in” to a store to alert a retailer and the ability to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a photo of an item or bar code in the physical store.
5. Mobile payment solutions that improve ease-of-use and implementation for users without compromising security.
6. More context-aware apps that improve user experiences by using the information about a person’s interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service.
7. Object recognition (OR) where the mobile camera, as well as other device sensors, will act as a communication tool when OR capabilities are combined with more-traditional app functions, giving users advanced search capabilities and extended entertainment and productivity options.
8. Mobile instant messaging (MIM) that offers new types of unified communication (UC) clients, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers like Skype.
9. Mobile email – Gartner expects mobile e-mail users worldwide to increase from 354 million in 2009 to more than 700 million by 2014, accounting for 10.6 percent of the global mobile user base.
10. Mobile video applications that work with YouTube and other popular video providers, with mobile device manufacturers integrating HD and 3D capabilities in their high-end devices and bundling content pre-loaded or as free downloads through an app store.
Mobile services are all about the user experience. These exciting app trends will continue to focus on what consumers really want for entertainment, productivity and ease of use. We are looking forward to all the new and exciting apps yet to come this year! What app is on your wish list?
Posted in
Marketing, Resources, Small Business, Social Media, Software, Technology, Uncategorized
