The Smartphone Revolution And The Internet

Online, March 31, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Without the need to invoke inarticulate rallying cries, revolutions have, in the past, aimed at patriotic or religious sentiment, but the "smartphone revolution" has crept up upon us almost without us noticing it, and now it is here, ideology has been cast aside for personalised social interaction.

Most experts in the industry will agree that smartphones will not only continue to cause seismic shifts in the downgrading value of the desktop but may one day become "the instrument" of social access and mobility for all.

Once upon a time, prior to talk of revolutions, a mobile phone was seen as a "yuppie" device, fit only for the young Turks in the financial markets. But over a short period of time that changed and everyone in big "Western" cities had one.

At that stage it was a "simple" telephonic device with no cameras, multi-media, apps or internet access. WAP was coming, we were told. Now, mobile communication is far more sophisticate and attuned to social networking via mobile browsers and apps.

As far as revolutions go, let's use a big term to describe this phenomenon: exponential. The increase in social networking is currently estimated to be in excess of 650 million people worldwide, and this number is set to skyrocket (exponentially) as smartphones flood the market.

According to Nielsen, "two-thirds of mobile users around the globe are interested in 'smart' services that would feed them information based on personal preferences, location, time of day and social setting." And it's no coincidence that Google, essentially a search engine company, has become a handset manufacturer, overnight it seems.

Going back ten years, cutting-edge companies were developing starting to develop location-based services, in the spirit of WAP, to facilitate business people "on the move". But that was tame and unsuccessful and the handset had yet to be modified sufficiently to make personalised, localised information available with ease.

Not so long ago, it was Google that recognised the explosion of the smartphone and that, in the future, everyone will have access to the web via this device rather than the desktop. Dramatically, and in true Star Wars style, Google stated that their new smartphone, the Nexus One, represents "the next frontier" of the internet.

And this global phenomenon is not limited to "developed" markets either. As Facebook recently announced, it already has 100 million active mobile users worldwide and both Facebook and Twitter have seen triple-digit growth in mobile web usage last year.

According to Mobile Phone Users Worldwide, "US marketers have already begun experimenting with exactly this type of smart shopping service. 'Geo-fencing' provides personalised marketing messages to shoppers based on their location or proximity to a marketer's store..."

To reinforce this vision, Edward Kershaw, Vice President, EMEA, Nielsen, now estimates that "the mobile telecoms world is undergoing immense change as users discover and adopt new applications and services. While users are positive about their mobile future, it's becoming clear that operators must remain flexible and responsive to consumer demands in order to maintain their customers' loyalty."

This so-called revolution will affect the way we all do business and our SEO concentration is being broadened to incorporate the smartphone in terms of search.