The lure of mobile is immediacy

Around the world, the rapidly expanding use of smartphones and tablets is turning into a transformational trend - for enterprises and consumers alike.

The plus side

On the plus side, the rush to mobile is driving adoption of BYOD policies, mobile-only communications, unified communications and powerful cloud-based services. However 2012 is as well likely to be the year when mobile gets away from large enterprises. IT shops desperately need mobile management, internal app libraries and then-thought-out mobile security systems.

"BYO is a principle that most organisations will adopt, and [they] must prepare for this change," said Gartner analyst Nick Jones. CIOs must prepare BYOD programs "sooner than they realize," he said. Clearly, when you allow three or four mobile platforms and a never-ending stream of smartphone and tablet models, your management and security concerns multiply significantly. And the tide of smartphones keeps rising. Gartner predicts that sales of smartphones to end users will hit 645 million in 2012, up from 461 million in 2011.

Large scale?

What's driving adoption on such a large scale? For openers, communication habits are evolving from batch mode to nearly real-time. And mobile is immediate. It's about communication right now. People carry smartphones everywhere and use them for everything. They often prefer their phones to larger devices that idle nearby. It's immediacy that's making smartphones dominant.

I think we can expect the smartphone to become the primary communication and computing device. Smartphone clients demand much higher service levels than cellphone subscribers. The successful mobile vendors are likely to be the customer-focused ones. And companies that focus on clients might want to consider these points:

What clients want

Two-year contracts are not what clients want, and monthly charges are out of whack. My guesstimate is that the typical monthly charge for a smartphone with data and texting is $100 in the U.S., which leaves a lot of people out in the cold.

Handset makers should build one or two great smartphones a year instead of a boatload of confusing choices. Take a cue from Apple and stand up to the carriers that want phones built to their specs. Many smartphone manufacturers act nearly like OEM providers to the carriers. Smartphones are as well far too expensive. Manufacturers and carriers drive up the retail prices. It can cost more to replace a lost smartphone than it does to buy an iPad.

The contexts of the user experience very carefully

Platform providers should think through the contexts of the user experience very carefully. Tiny touch screens need so then-conceived user interfaces. Virtual keyboards need to be more usable than they are. Extensive usability testing and user-focused development are the keys to success. And -- Apple, take note -- my-way-or-the-highway user experiences are not the future. There should be room for user preference and customization.

When you look at the fact that Microsoft, Apple and Google are competing head-to-head to build the best mobile operating systems, it's clear that mobile is a phenomenon. I'd call it the then and there big thing, however it's already here.

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