The Mobile Warp Factor: We are past tipping. We are transforming. Fast.

Posted on July 4, 2012 by

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I am privileged to frame and co-moderate this mobile marketing segment with @SMSJOE (Joseph Ruiz) whose studious attention to the rapid movements in mobile marketing has left me with much homework to do (haha – kidding Joe).

Initially, Joe and I started tossing around ideas on what we could explore for the Aug 1 session:

  • the digitization of the customer experience: this post features how virtual imaging technologies are being used in retail shopping that essentially enhances (and efficiently facilitates) the user experience
  • what does the mobile experience really entail: when you think ‘mobile’ you almost always associate the term with a phone..but is that ALL that comprises the mobile experience? What about other larger devices like tablets, netbooks, notebooks, or NFC (near field communications), AR (augmented reality), the cloud, RFID (radio frequency identification), the Internet of Things (how things, appliances, cars, homes are becoming more and more intelligent and interconnected), and many more?
  • the unexpectedly rapid growth of connected devices aims to realize Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns (huh? am I in the right chat?): well ok, that’s sheer, indulgent postulation on my part but it might as well be the case. According to this post,  an in-depth study by InMobi reveals that “consumers are spending more time on mobile connected devices..[and that] over 60% of U.S. tablet owners spend at least 30 minutes each day accessing media content on their tablets and 52% use a tablet to fill what previously would have been ‘dead time’.”

image source: http://farm7.staticflickr.com

and then it seemed that day after day, news of mobile’s astounding penetration in the retail shopping experience started pouring through the social stream:

Today, Joe brought to my attention a post featuring data by Pew on cell phone use is the U.S. Referring to the article, he notes, “In approximately two years the number of people bypassing their computer and browsing online with phones has doubled. Seems like we are speeding toward a mobile tipping point.”

Actually, I would go further and submit that mobile has already profoundly transformed our lives. Yes, not just our consumer-based habits, but also our own day-to-day machinations, which have in one form or another been embedded with a mobile experience.

But I will not digress on that tangent (I know, maybe on my next blog post at autom.ca)

There is so much tech development happening around the mobile space right now that one hour will certainly not suffice. So let’s thread through all these ideas and developments and begin advancing the discussions. We can start with the following, and perhaps next month, Joe will continue the thread:

Q1: We are past the mobile tipping point and are beginning to see transformative change happen at the blink of an eye. How does this impact you and the way you do marketing, do business, live your life?

Q2: Without googling or consulting wikipedia, what does Augmented Reality (AR) mean to you?

Q3: What do you think are the pro’s of AR? Cons?

Q4: What advantages does virtual imaging technology bring to the retail shopping experience? Can it be applied to other customer experiences?

Q5: What advice would you share with others on how to go about doing a comprehemsive audit of your organization’s “mobility readiness”?

Joe – as per usual, thank you for the continued dialogue on Twitter and email. Suggestions on other questions to explore most welcome (although I have a feeling that may already happen during the course of the chat ;-) Cheers A

Posted in: Marketing, Mobility, Trends