Three Pillar continues to see significant noise around mobile devices. The iPad, especially, seems to be changing the way businesses are thinking. I’m noticing a couple of interesting trends:
“First to Market”
Mobile apps, to date, have been built with urgency and a primary strategy of “First to Market.” Many of the apps we have seen have been created without a real business model behind them or expected ROI. Instead, companies have been focused on pushing something out the door.
Real Innovation
Just recently we’ve started to see real innovation. Companies are considering business model changes which leverage mobile devices in new, interesting ways. We are starting to move out of the earliest phases of this era. In the future, mobile success will come from true innovation rather than re-platforming the same old application onto a new device.
“Mobile Ready”
Enterprises are being challenged to quickly become “Mobile Ready.” Data and content are both key to the mobile era and must be exposed for consumption. An open, SOA-based architecture seems to be a critical piece of meaningful mobile deployments. Some enterprises are ready for this, others are not.
Platform Independence
I’m guessing that the initial wave of native applications (those written specifically for a device) will eventually give way to platform independence. As technologies such as Sencha Touch and SproutCore mature, expect their popularity to skyrocket. The “write once run everywhere” trend is identical to the rise of browser-based technologies. As soon as the frameworks are able to mimic 90% of what the native code is able to, enterprises will embrace this in order to realize a significant reduction in development costs.
Strategic Shift
Boutique “Design and Build” firms specializing in mobile apps, many of whom have led the mobile wave to date, will either adapt to a more enterprise-focused business model or be replaced by full-service product development groups who are able to guide clients through the strategic shift that is currently underway. The mobile implementers of tomorrow will understand that mobile is now one critical piece of an increasingly complex and integrated enterprise. They must be ready to deal with all components of that picture.