The incredibly rapid development of mobile has a strong influence on all key market players, innovations, and new mobile trends that have been intensively internalized this year.

The mobile Internet conquered the mass market

The share of smartphones sold via operator's total range is now well over 50 percent. In addition, more and more of these smartphones are brought to market by large retail chains. Besides, the hurdles for consumers using the mobile internet are less, due to lower data flat rates. Therefore, each customer-oriented company should have its internet presence optimized for mobile so that it is perfectly usable and presentable on mobile devices.

Mobile services become more useful and relevant

Only valid performance figures of the intrinsic use of services and content can improve existing information and entertainment. Thus, measuring the relevance, as well as an accurate usability and conversion tracking of mobile applications and mobile sites, are a must for all businesses today. What’s for a while already a matter of course on the Web, is entering now the mobile Web and app economy. With the rapid increase in mobile apps and sites, no vendor can afford to waive the optimization for maintaining a competitive edge.

Language revolutionizes the control of apps

The future of the whole market is characterized by intelligent speech-based applications. At the same time, the advancement of voice control requires entirely new design parameters for the mobile screen. While the existing apps are based so far solely on voice recognition, real "language achiever" among the applications will simplify mobile life for many clients- purchasing a train ticket and reserving a seat while sitting in a taxi just by voice, for instance, is expected to be normal on many devices soon.

Social campaigns must run mobile

The mobile utilization of social networks is already growing rapidly, therefore, social media campaigns need to be designed for mobile use, too - although in the mobile channel, they are usually not visible via the website or mobile apps. Thus, customers need to develop a strategy on how to reach the visibility on the mobile channel in the future.

Mobile belongs to an intelligent media mix

In the wake of the rapid proliferation of smartphones and tablets, mobile will become a key customer touch point for brands of all industries. Mobile marketing will allow companies to talk to the relevant customer in the right context, at the right place and the right time, so that they can pick up the customers with mobile advertising exactly where they are.

Reach for mobile advertising grows strongly

The mobile use of content on smartphones is a mass phenomenon. The number of smartphones globally in use crossed 1 billion this year and is expected to double by 2015. Thus, we will hopefully see the market for mobile advertising grow, too. In addition to a potential shift in the use of social networks to mobile devices, new services and brands will be created that previously have not been known in the market. That’s the reason why established brands urgently need to participate in the mobile channel, if they are not already doing so.

QR codes gain relevance for businesses

The technology of QR codes prevails on a wide scale and gains increasing relevance at the intersection of consumer information and product. In the coming years, however, QR codes will be gradually replaced by Near Field Communication (NFC) solutions and mobile devices without pre-installed software detection for QR codes and NFC chips will most probably lose out against the competition.

Mobile commerce stimulates e-commerce

The proliferation of smartphones in the population will help mobile commerce breakthrough and, thus, continue to strengthen e-commerce. M-commerce solutions provide chances to conciliate the digital world of shopping with real life. For m-commerce, a seperate set of rules apply along with different user behaviour. Providing employees with smartphones and tablets, for instance, will be an important factor in the future regarding employee satisfaction and loyalty to the company. Employers can gain a competitive edge by offering their employees the attractive concessions of using mobile devices. Employers also need to understand that customized mobile applications are becoming increasingly important if not indispensible for employees with high mobility, such as sales.

By Daniela La Marca