With the widespread popularity of Smartphones, entrepreneurs are trying to stay ahead of their competition and create the next killer mobile application. We turned to our panel of Zintro experts and asked them to share their insights about what those killer-apps might be. Here’s what they had to say:
Mark Petry, a technological consultant and project manager for companies that include Hewlett Packard and Intel Corp, says that it is important to gain knowledge and industry insights from the mobile applications and social networking applications that already exist in the market. Referencing the role of marketing, Petry believes that it is imperative for analysts to examine the variety of roles within a social network system, including participants, decision makers, and influencers. Drawing from these relationships, Petry feels that innovations in mobile application might soon include “maps drawn not only of the geographic distribution of participants, but also of the frequency and depth of exchanges on a particular topic set.” This application will function to highlight the differences between how an organization works verses how an individual thinks the organization works.
The experts at Hibiscus Technology, a Web and Mobile application company in Bangalore with clientele that include MTV, ABC News, and Johnson & Johnson, feel that “a combination of Social media, GPS services, high end enterprise solution and user friendly interface will be the perfect recipe for next hottest app in the market.” Hibiscus Technology is currently developing an Android app called “Bon Voyage,” which is a tracking application for trips and vacations. For example, this application will allow users to track their current position on Google maps, show the entire route that has been followed, as well as keep track of trip expenses. Similarly, Doug Yule, with 10 years experience in product managing and strategic planning for mobile applications, focuses on innovations that are also practical. Yule predicts that there will be two major developments that will significantly shape mobile data and mobile applications. First, HTML 5 will make a “massive impact on how applications are developed and should, over time, dramatically reduce the cost of supporting multiple screens, which at the moment can still be a challenging and expensive proposition.” Yule says that the second major growth area for mobile applications will be how they interact and share data with other devices such as the Internet and television.
Errol Finkelstein, founder of Mobile Strategy Consultants, astutely points out that, “If we knew with absolute certainty what the next killer app would be, we’d probably be out there building it.” Finkelstein’s company, which works with large retail and financial services organizations, has started to see his clients move from Mobile Enterprise 1.0 to the wider opportunities offered by 2.0. Finkelstein believes that this is an area where mobile technology is headed, not only because it will allow for face-to-face interaction with customers, generally revenue and CRM applications, but also because it will allow businesses to review existing practices and reshape the organization from top to bottom in order to lower costs and increase efficiency. However, Finkelstein says that it is key to “start with the strategic objectives in the business plan and then to look at a very granular level at where mobile can contribute. Add in depth knowledge of mobile technologies, and some creativity and new approaches will appear.” This will allow innovative mobile tools and applications to increase the effectiveness of back office systems, internal supply chain, and collaboration. Creativity is essential to this process, for like Finkelstein says, “one simply cannot afford to leave anything on the table if one is to wring every penny from cost, and remain competitive.”
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