The past is Prologue, the future is Mobile

Back in April I gave a “Learn over Lunch” presentation to my company that I called “StudioNorth + Mobile”. It was all about the state of our industry and how Mobile technology was changing the way we communicate and hence, market. In that presentation I went through 72 slides (I know, too many). I had researched quite a bit and stated some pretty staggering facts supporting the shift. It was obvious the change was happening, but now, only 4 months later, it’s more dramatic that I had thought.

How dramatic?

1. Client Demand: In the past 2 weeks I have had 3 clients request iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) apps and even more request mobile versions of web and micro-sites. That’s right, request, not something we were pitching. We’ve pitched iOS apps before, but a client has never specifically requested one (keep in mind we are not primarily a business-to-consumer agency). To be clear, they’re not just requesting simple HTML5 based apps, but true gesture driven, direct manipulation-designed, Objective-C apps. Previously iOS projects came up maybe once a month, and even then rarely became a reality in StudioNorth’s B-to-B client sphere. Here’s a graph showing the approximate growth curve.



2. Driver Shift: As I mentioned in my earlier post, the entire technology industry has shifted due to mobile. To understand this point go back and read the last part of my post, here’s an excerpt:
   

   The entire technology industry has already shifted right under our very noses. How? The enterprise used to drive the technology industry. People used what IT gave them. IT locked things down to keep the company, and the employees, safe and secure. Now things are different. The consumer is driving technology, not the enterprise. Now the market share swap between AAPL and MSFT makes all the sense in the world.

3. Advanced Software: Autodesk Inc. recently announced that it’s bring AutoCAD® WS to iOS. While this is impressive, even more impressive is what’s going on with 3D and gaming. Epic Games Inc. just released an iOS version if their Unreal 3 Engine. This is, no pun intended, epic. The Unreal Engine is a fully baked real-time 3D engine that can, and will, be used for massive multiplayer online gaming systems. Epic has already released tools for developer to create environments. This is a testament to what’s possible now, and a predictor of what is to come. These devices are personal, intimate, windows into new, uncharted, even uncreated lands. Literally. You can read more about it on Epic’s site, but here’s an except to give you an idea:
   

   “This is a testament to the sheer power of iOS devices as up until now, Unreal Engine 3 has typically been used to create high-end gaming experiences on game consoles and computers,” said Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps. “And we’re not just keeping it to ourselves. We’re putting Unreal Engine 3 technology into the hands of game developers all over the world, and we can’t wait to see the apps they make next.”

   A small team of Epic’s programmers, artists and testers created “Epic Citadel” in just eight weeks of development time. Unreal Engine 3 is scalable yet packed with the same tools hundreds of thousands of users work with to create games, simulations and animated content.

4. Seven Mass Media: Mobile has the potential to reach anybody through ANY MEDIUM. Mobile can, and is, doing everything that all forms of earlier mass media can do. The previous six are, in order of inception: Print, Recording, Cinema, Radio, Television, and the Internet. In addition to the abilities of these six, mobile has its own unique attributes:
   

   Mobile is the first personal mass media
   Mobile is permanently carried
   Mobile is always-on
   Mobile has a built-in payment mechanism
   Mobile is available at the point of creative inspiration
   Mobile has the most accurate audience measurement
   Mobile captures the social context of media consumption
   Mobile allows augmented reality to be used in media

   Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_mass_media

So, forget about clinging to the past, things are changing more now than ever before. Forget what you knew about what was possible before and start thinking about hyper-local, social, interaction design, and the cloud all in a mobile framework. Don’t say there’s nothing new under the sun, because this is all new. It’s everything that’s old…plus. In my book, that spells new.

Andy leads the interactive offerings and staff engineers at StudioNorth. He consults with clients on strategic technology direction and personally oversees the key phases of the iterative development cycle for many large technology projects. Whether for public web sites, private extranets, or custom applications, Andy uses his rich experience to provide results-driven solutions to our clients. He’s known for being a visionary and for coining the phrase, “conservative wow” in reference to StudioNorth’s ability to create high-impact projects for some of our more conventional audiences. If you want to bring your brand beyond “2.0″, Andy is your connection.

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