2014 is the year of mobile. There has been an explosion in innovation and potential. Advancements in areas such as smart health, smart homes, smart cars, wearables and the internet of things is rendering the notions of mobile as we knew it obsolete. Ironically perhaps, is that the actual physical mobile device itself is becoming less of the focus of mobile marketing. The industry is seeing a wider, more sophisticated range of ingredients being thrown into the mix, demonstrating that mobile is actually just the precursor to a host of interactions that had never even crossed our minds a decade ago.

There are two key areas in the mobile space that are gaining particular traction at the moment. The first is the innovative OS software that is providing a more intuitive way to engage with mobile devices. Secondly, we are seeing voice and gesture command taking us beyond the touch screen and into new forms of interaction.

OS wars

Given the homogenisation of devices, it comes as no surprise that software, content and OS is becoming the great differentiator.

Never before has so many new mobile OS’ been released in rapid succession. Does the world need so many? Firstly, smart phone owners may not be able to afford Apple’s iOS or Google Android, both of which are cleaning up on volume but have dropped the ball at the lower end of the market. You would be a rich man if you could pick the winners, but here are a few that have caught my eye.

Firefox

Powering the $25 smart phone, we have the most impressive of the new entrants – the lightning quick Firefox OS. With Firefox OS "Unleash the future" tag line, the HTML5 based software ticks off mobile, tablet and desktop. The company has obviously had a successful first year: selling in 16 countries, across four carriers including; T-mobile, Telefonica, 4 OEMs and LG.

The software is best described as ‘child friendly’ and leverages pre-existing behaviour. To improve search, the top of the screen features a bar with ‘I'm looking for_____’ that is able to deliver contextual results. So, if the user is looking for Adele then the resulting icons all deep link to the relevant results within the apps.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is simple and easy to use. The open source nature can be viewed as both good and bad, but at least with its heritage there is a degree of developer familiarity. The user-interface involves a magic-edge, meaning the user can swipe from off to on in each direction on the screen to bring up menus. This naturally makes interacting speedier once you get used to it. It also boasts the ‘Scopes’ feature that enables menu personalisation and app categorisation. As with Firefox OS, the search also generates contextual results.

The OS appears to work well from low and high-end devices. Interestingly at the high-end, Ubuntu can help turn the device into a ‘super phone’. Users can connect a mobile or tablet to both a monitor and keyboard to turn the device into a PC equivalent. Ubuntu is also convergence realised, running both native apps and HTML5.

Mobile app innovation: voice and gestures

Israel is hot when it comes to groundbreaking mobile apps. Two companies in particular are pioneering new interfaces across voice and gestures which are set to be big news for mobile marketers.

The first is Wibbitz, which was awarded Best Mobile Publishing Product. The service turns written news articles into audio and visual experiences. Secondly there is CamMe, a free camera app for iOS. The gist of the app is to let the user take photos by gesturing. This makes it ideal for those consumers who love to take wider-angle selfies or ‘groupies’. The app is like the timer for the user’s phone camera, but much better.

Where next?

From Israeli app developers pioneering mobile sensors to create powerful new behaviours and a raft of interesting OS’ sporting new interaction techniques mobile marketing is going through a major shift. We are set to see these innovations disrupting the Android monopoly on the middle and lower end of the smart phone market and revolutionising the way we interact with our mobile devices and beyond. 

 

By Chris Minas, Founder of Nimbletank. 

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