You may have recently started to hear a lot about SOPA and PIPA, and if you’re struggling with whether you should care or not – you should.

Companies like Google and Wikipedia have taken a strong stance around stopping SOPA with petition movements and site blackouts

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is a bill that was introduced in US House of Representatives in late October last year. The bill seeks to protect copywritten material internationally.  It seeks to do so by going after parties that support sites that distribute copywritten material illegally. In concept this sounds like a great goal: protect US intellectual property (IP)  through third-party enforcement. Said another way, it’s difficult to control sites in other countries many times, but Google and many other significant companies in the US can be controlled.

When thought through there are some problems. The internet boomed because of the freedom it created. This freedom includes everything from horrible YouTube music videos to editorials that are shared the world over instantly. This has changed the nature of news and entertainment fundamentally. Isn’t the issue really that these industries have not kept up?

New digital business models need to be created that work. I’ve worked with several companies that are pioneers in taking on the challenge. Rather than looking at digital content as too portable, they are creating distribution channels that make legal consumption so easy and readily available that a consumer doesn’t look for the PirateBays of the world. iTunes and YouTube have done this well with very different models. There will always be the grainy illegal copies of a movie with peoples heads in them that someone gets to DVD or digital download somewhere. With globalization the only way to really control illegal content distribution is through laws common with other nations and enforcement. Embracing mobile channels puts content directly into a consumers hand in a very personal way.The companies that win in that space will drive the future of the news and entertainment industries.

Depending on the outcome, SOPA could have a major impact on many of us, so it’s certainly something to watch.

2012 is the year of the Dragon on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. According to astrologists: ”the Year of the Dragon will be marked by excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration and intensity. People will respond to the spirit of the Dragon with energy, vitality and unbridled enthusiasm, often throwing all caution to the wind.”

The Chinese New Year doesn’t start until January 23rd (technically February 4th), but already in 2012 in the mobility space we are seeing quite a bit of energy and unbridled enthusiasm. Less than two weeks into 2012 we have already seen three acquisitions: one by WalmartLabs buying up Small Society, another was Deloitte scooping up Ubermind, and the third was Financial Times acquiring Assanka. These are small acquisitions by multinational companies, so it’s not exactly “throwing all caution to the wind,” but the common thread is that companies are clearly showing enthusiasm for mobility and looking for talent.

Let’s face it, mobile technology has come a long way in just a few years, but the technology itself — in terms of the mobile OSes and browsers — will probably not change all that much over the next 3-5 years (have you seen all the “new” gadgets announced at CES 2012?). Sure there will be more devices and cooler features, but the basics of mobility are set in a pretty firm place. An iPhone 10 will probably have a traceable lineage to iPhone 4S, rather than the difference between the original Moto Razr and the new Moto Droid Razr. That’s why in 2012, businesses, agencies, SI’s and ISV’s will make a big push to get the talent they need to build out their mobile strategy to both compete and differentiate.

Up until recently, mobile development required specialists with knowledge of native languages. But with web technologies (HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript) playing a more prominent role on more mobile devices, mobility is now open to a wider playing field of web developers. Plus, with companies having dabbled in their first generation of mobile apps or web, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal and accelerate their mobile presence beyond apps.

Let’s unleash the mobility Dragon!

Innovation is sometimes an 0ver-used word.

Mention innovation and most people will immediately think of high-tech companies. In today’s mobile environment I’m sure many immediately think of Apple; it’s so common its almost cliche’. I would argue that all successful companies in all industries innovate in some fashion in order to survive.

Most businesses have been innovative at some point in their existence… Most industries do not allow companies to survive in perpetuity by following status quo. I’m sure someone will point out examples which refute this point, but I would say those are few and far between.

Think of your own organization. Are you interacting with your customers and prospects in the same manner as you did 2 or 3 years ago? I would guess not, and if you are I would assume you have customers,prospective customers and employees asking why.

The funny thing about expectations is that they rarely go down. Your customers are always expecting more. They want to work with companies that are innovating, always striving to better themselves.

For example, consider Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest privately-held commercial real estate services firm; operating 235 offices in 60 countries with more than 14,000 employees Cushman thrives in highly competitive real estate markets such as New York City, London & Tokyo. Their customers have high expectations and little patience for dealing with poorly equipped brokers.

As a leader in their space, Cushman is always striving to better its approach, improve service and differentiate its customer experience. The company’s cross-functional team quickly identified mobility as a key component to their strategies.

Cushman engaged Antenna Software and AT&T to brainstorm a comprehensive mobility strategy for changing the way its brokers interact with customers at the most crucial points of the selling cycle, including on-site tours of commercial properties. 

The result is CWMobile, a mobile application which provides the brokers direct access to in house proprietary systems. The app enables brokers to share various data, images and video with the prospective tenant while they tour various properties. This could be on any Cushman issued or personal device that the broker may choose – iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc.

The end result is a greatly improved customer experience, brokers who are more knowledgable about the properties they present and what should culminate in faster closing of sales.

Think about what Cushman has done and then ask yourself: What can my company be doing to rethink customer interactions?

To learn more about the CWMobile Project, check it out on YouTube:

This month, Antenna’s VP of Marketing Communications Clare Grant contributed an article to B2B Marketing magazine, looking at how important it is for B2B marketers to make sure they have a mobile web presence.

I wanted to bring that discussion onto this forum because I think she raises a very interesting point: while much has been said of the value of mobile websites and apps for consumer-centric businesses, the majority of B2B companies are not capitalizing on the web opportunities that mobile also offers them.

After all, the rapid adoption of smartphones coupled with a rise in remote working means that more and more people are searching for information from their phones. And if research conducted by Google/Forbes earlier this year is anything to go by, 59% of business executives would rather make a business-related purchase over the mobile web than by phone, 65% are comfortable making a business-related purchase on a mobile device and crucially, 44% expect a smartphone or a tablet to be their primary device for business by 2013.

From a business marketing perspective, having a mobile website means that not only could potential customers use their mobile devices to investigate (and eventually make) purchases, but investors could look up company information and job seekers could search for new positions. It sounds obvious, but 70% of businesses still don’t have a mobile website!

The business case for mobile is clear. But smart B2B marketers looking to really benefit from mobile need to understand it’s not just a matter of porting over your traditional website to fit the small screen. Those businesses that will really take advantage of mobile are those that use everything the platform has to offer – from ‘click-to-call’ functionality to GPS.

Clare’s article delves into these issues in more depth and looks at why we are seeing this shift in the way people are doing business. To find out more, check out the original piece here or look out for another article coming out in the New Year on top tips for developing a mobile website.

Is it just me or is there something in the (virtual) air at Mobile Masters? I’ve just seen Dan Zeck go past in a Santa suit; Mark Watson is watching cartoons from the comfort of a wingback chair; Jason Wong is in the corner hanging tinsel on Amazon’s prospects; and Jeff Yee has already started on the sherry – with predictably hilarious results. In short, it’s Christmas time. Time to turn off the mobile for a few hours, and reflect.

Who am I kidding? You’re not going to turn it off! So since you won’t, I thought I’d  put together a rundown of some of the best (and most frivolous) Christmas apps that you can use this holiday season. Enjoy!

Santa GPS 2.0 

Santa’s obviously a fan of Google Latitude – he’s taken the concept to new heights with this app which lets you track his progress across the globe on Christmas Eve. If the screenshots are anything to go by, it’s pretty well put together too. One for the kids and that pedantic scientist who worked out that the poor chap has to visit 1,398 homes a second if he’s going to complete his rounds in time.

Turkey Timer

Cooking the turkey. You’ve been dreading doing it again since Thanksgiving was over. Needlessly, as it turns out – because this app makes it as simple as ordering it pre-cooked from your grandmother. Enter the weight of the bird and it tells you how long you need to cook it for. Looks sleek too. Get it here.

Talking Santa

An app which makes you grateful for the human race. At least 80,000 of us have downloaded this gem for the purposes of hearing Santa Clause repeat whatever we say in an authentically bass-y manner. You can also throw snowballs at the big man and create and share 3D video animation greetings and Christmas cards. Probably available cross-platform (but I couldn’t be bothered to search for it on iTunes).

Christmas Countdown 2011

Advent calendars are great, aren’t they? Not just the counting-down part, the eating-the-chocolate-part too. So why wouldn’t you want a version for your phone which dispenses…music and an image of a Christmas Tree which gets bigger with every passing day (presumably it eventually consumers your phone and swallows the world, too). Still, it made us smile.

Doodle Jump Christmas Tie-in Version (bandwagon not included)

One of the most popular apps of all time has been given an opportunistic re-skin. Cha-ching! Link here.

Merry Christmas!

As 2012 quickly approaches, all minds start shifting to what will move the market in the year to come.  As someone who’s constantly looking at the next wave of technology and implications on the mobile industry, this is a fun time for me to hone in on what is driving mobile technology innovation.  Without further ado, here are a few mobile related technologies I expect to be realized in the next few years.

• Mobile commerce and m-payments represent a hot but fragmented space, with a slew of the new tech innovations for these areas being incorporated into mobile devices. NFC chips are part of it, but further down the road we can expect to see Micro-SD proximity solutions, which are being trialed in devices now, as well as enhanced bump capabilities and new kinds of bar code scanning and shopping solutions. Mobile wallets will also be continuing to make a big show as companies across the spectrum – including Google, Apple, banks, credit card companies and even carriers – try to figure out how they will solve the problem best and create new revenue streams from innovative payment services.  

• Sensors and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication are also growing rapidly and a killer application we expect to see here will be mobile point-of-sale.  M2M capabilities will be increasingly incorporated into devices as they follow the standard evolution of new technologies – starting as peripherals and now starting to be incorporated directly into the hardware of mobile devices.  Sensors will be used for some interesting security functionality as well, making it easier to lock down phones in the event they are lost or compromised.  Think biometrics with finger swipe technology and voice recognition that can be used to lock and unlock a device and device-resident data.

• Speech recognition has piqued consumer interest with the release of Siri in the iPhone 4S.  We can expect to see speech recognition and virtual assistants being used in many mobile apps and integrated with mobile search for powerful mobile web and application capabilities. The technology has already come a long way in overcoming challenges of dialects, accents, and speaking styles, and will continue to be a growth area and drive mobile adoption.

• Many companies have a mobile strategy and many more realize they need one.  However, as the demand for mobile content shows no sign of slowing down, many organizations have missed one key aspect in their mobile strategy — mobile content distribution. The challenge many businesses will face is how to get content AND apps to customers AND employees on a myriad of devices, something beyond the capabilities of many traditional CMS’. The importance of mobile search and the growth of mobile web are changing how people interact with brands and shifting their content expectations, which in turn are changing the way businesses must solve this problem.  Mobile content hubs, with capabilities beyond a traditional CMS, will provide a single channel for making content available and help make distribution strategies a reality.  Furthermore, content distribution should take user information and context into account to tune content to the user at the right time and place to have optimal impact.  Certainly consumer and customer opt-in programs can enrich this user experience.  Both classes of users – those that have registered for specialized content and those that have not need to be considered in a comprehensive mobile strategy.

• Enterprise social will also make a major showing in 2012. The recent successful IPO of Jive, and market movement by other enterprise social companies like Yammer and Spigit will continue to drum up interest in these segments, and you can expect that some of the big players will start making acquisitions in this space to compete and gain market share. As companies strive to help employees collaborate better internally offerings in this space will improve and start to gain significant traction.

Another crazy year in the mobile space and food world in 2011. I made some predictions a year ago and for the most part I was pretty on target–OK so maybe some of them were pretty obvious.

On the food predictions, Richard Blais did win Top Chef All-Stars (pretty easily I thought) and Korean food was “killin’ it” on the Great Food Truck Race show on Food Network (until they were accused of cheating and got kicked off), but David Chang alas did not enter the Next Iron Chef competition (he’s probably spending too much time counting his money).

On the mobile predictions, it was more of  mixed bag. Microsoft did not buy Nokia but Nokia did go “all in” on Windows Phone 7 – success still TBD. My Playbook prediction was DOA, but my HP webOS prognostication was spot on. My HTML5 prediction was pure clairvoyance (it’s everywhere now – even Adobe has relented); mobile malware is certainly on the rise (especially for Android); NFC is still in early days; and finally Angry Birds didn’t quite make it to a billion dollars for apps, but have you seen all the licensed merchandise people are buying?!

So what’s in line for 2012? I’ll make it a shorter list of five predictions and keep it to mobile topics.

1. RIM’s BB 10 will underwhelm. It’s not about the hardware or the software any more. It’s about the ecosystem. And RIM just doesn’t have the developers, content and apps to compete any more. Their BES paradigm seems antiquated (did you hear about the outage?)and their value prop is just not relevant in 2012.

2. Facebook phone (if all the rumors are true) will be a dud. Facebook is useful and even fun for many people, but do you really want it to be your phone provider? Carrier IQ has gotten so much backlash, what will Facebook face in terms of the stuff they are capturing from your Facebook phone? Just say no.

Facebook phone won't socialize...

 

But Amazon phone could be a success

3. Amazon phone (again if the rumors are true) will be a success. Why? because the Kindle Fire is selling briskly and Amazon has the ecosystem to sustain a real mobile strategy (see RIM above). They have an app store, they have content, they have commerce and they have the new Steve Jobs in Jeff Bezos.

4. Microsoft will exceed RIM for smartphone and tablet market share. Windows Phone devices and Windows tablets will be embraced mostly by businesses and this will directly cut into RIM’s target market. Microsoft is an aircraft carrier that is slowly turning to get back into the mobility game. HTML5 and time will be its two biggest allies to help it catch up to Android and iOS.

5. Oracle will make their move and start buying mobile vendors to catch up to SAP and Saleforce.com, both of which are betting big on mobile as the new UI for their apps. If 2012 is really the year when mobility breaks through to the big time, you can be sure Larry Ellison won’t want to miss out.