Mobile technology is growing faster by the day and 2012 will be no different. The business website will go mobile in a big fashion and mobile website search engine optimization will become more critical. What this means is that your mobile website must be user-friendly. If it is not, you will lose ground.
Originally designed as scaled down versions of full websites, the mobile website is coming into its own. Mobile advertising will continue to grow and diversify. Already, SMS and MMS messages are in full use as are banner ads and mobile coupons. Mobile ad spending is expected to increase in 2012.
GPS based apps such as SCVNGR, Foursquare, Yelp and Facebook Places are becoming more and more popular. The advantages are twofold. Loyal customers are being rewarded with special offers and discounts and customers are sharing deals and sales with one another. More competition and growth is expected in this area. Video calling, already offered by Skype for Android smart phones, is going to gain widespread adoption. Free Wi-Fi has been around for a while and will expand in 2012. The availability of Wi-Fi brings new customers to businesses and is helping people to connect with brands.
QR codes are relatively new and its ability of turning a static piece into something fun and engaging is full of potential. You can, for example, use it to advertise an upcoming event. A person just scans your QR code and the event is loaded onto their iCalendar and voila, the advertising has been done.
The next thing to watch out for in 2012 is the advancing of mobile finances. Also called mobile commerce or m-commerce, retailers such as eBay and many financial institutions are piling up successes with their mobile apps. Square is a new tool which will allow you to accept credit card payments through a smart phone. Google Wallet`s tap and pay technology has also just hit the American market. It will expand to other countries and phones other than Android phones soon. 4G is here but it may take time to develop and will not be fully operational within the next year or so.
Blue Tooth is on its way to the health care industry. Cord and wires will be a thing of the past, as the doctor`s stethoscope will send signals to a screen nearby. GPS is also advancing. Traffic apps may be directly linked to traffic cameras and these apps will be able to send out updates to travelers to suggest alternative routes to their locations, for example.
Many more cool apps are on the up and up and your Blackberry mobiles will more than likely also surprise you with new technology.
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