Where will mobile go in 2012?

The end of the year and the beginning of the next is the usual time for predictions and trend-spotting. For the mobile space, the situation is a little bit easier, because there are already so many different and fascinating ways that mobile is being used in Singapore that they point use clearly to what is going to happen in the coming year.

There is no doubt that the ubiquity of mobile devices is changing the way we lead our lives. Communication has become more fluid, more consistent, and with the availability of affordable mobile broadband, more of us are connected than ever before. Mobile has become more than just an adjective that describes the portability of the devices we carry: instead, in the next twelve months, mobile will take on a far greater role than that.

To do a little bit of crystal ball-gazing, here are some of the ways that mobile is being used now – and perhaps they give us an indication of where mobile will go in next year. Some of these services and technologies are not widely-available… yet. As phones and infrastructure continue to develop in response to customer demand, these will become more commonplace. 2012 will see some changes to the role of mobile.

Mobile is a connector. Smartphones and mobile data have brought unprecedented power to the hands of consumers. The mobile channel lets enterprises connect to their customers in new and different ways from ever before. The Financial Times, for example, having identified India as a strategic market, has built a mobile app that provides select content from the paper, its associated blogs, and even its luxury lifestyle blog. Bus companies can keep passengers informed of bus arrival times through similar apps, and taxi apps let customers make booking without the hassle of having to make a phone call. With the right app, a consumer can order a pizza and track its location so that they can know when it will arrive.

Mobile is the retail experience. The experience of shopping has changed, because savvy consumers armed with mobile devices can do their shopping with more information than ever before. Consumers can search for product details online, comparison shop with online shops, and even read reviews to help them decide whether to make that important purchase. Already, the retail space is changing to accommodate this, with some retailers providing additional information about their products that can be obtained by scanning QR codes, or include website information on labels that link consumers to related media and information.

Mobile is identity. Banks and financial institutions are racing to bring mobile banking and mobile payments to mobile phone users, letting them use their mobile devices as unique identifiers. Not only will consumers be able to carry out banking transactions from the convenience of their devices, they will be able to use them in place of credit or debit cards as a mode of payment. Mobile handsets equipped for near field communication (NFC) are already available, opening up even more possibilities.

Mobile is a recorder. Social media is changing, and where once it was a means of recording life events that had passed, powerful mobile phones have changed it into a chronicle of the present. In the past, people might have taken photos of an important occasion, and then returned home to write about it in their blogs or upload photos to their social media accounts. Today, more and more, mobile users are able to update their current location (using Facebook or FourSquare check-ins, for example) and live blog events, complete with photos and videos, in the moment. Creating an ongoing chronicle of individual experience is possible with mobile devices.

Mobile is consumption. Tablet computers are already proving their worth as consumption devices, especially with their longer battery life and larger screens. Mobile tablets, connected to existing 3G or 4G networks will be able to deliver entertainment and information on demand. Combined with cloud storage, individuals can use their devices as access portals to their personal clouds, listening and watching media that they have purchased, but which resides not in physical form but as data streaming from the cloud.

The important thing to note is that these are not pipe dreams, or predictions based on upcoming technology. These are works-in-progress, already in use by a few people (or in some cases, many people). Mobile’s role is set to change in the year to come, as more of these products and services more fully exploit the potential of mobile. Naturally, the propensity of consumers will dictate the ultimate direction of development, but these examples indicate the rate at which mobile is evolving – and how its role is changing as we all incorporate mobile devices into our lives.

Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association Asia