Commerce in the Connected Era - What are Consumers Using Mobile Devices For?

Smartphone or Tablet? Shopping or entertainment? Social Networking or Business? Search or Post-purchase?

The mobile revolution has taken the world by storm in 2010-11, and the signs for continuing growth are still looking good, with the mobile wars between Apple's iOS and Google's Android getting fiercer and fiercer.

But, if you are in any kind of business today - tech or otherwise - there's no escaping the impact the mobile devices have begun to have on it. Businesses - and their IT - are in a mad scramble to figure out what to do, to get a share in this pie. Just like the hype around cloud computing, there are no easy answers, but this interesting survey by Nielsen tries to provide a hint to answer the questions above.

It's a good report, and could be a helpful tool for helping that organization identify their strategy to how to just get that market share away from their competitor.

Mobile commerce Note: Unfortunately, the Nielsen report originally referenced in this post has been removed or is no longer available. We're sorry about that, but instead, include another trends report below.

Technology Trends in eCommerce 2010 2013 from Andrew Braun

Happy reading - and feel free to post your comment if you used a mobile device to read this one. LOL!

Mobililty Applied - The Supermarket In Your Hand

As the number of mobile devices the world over continues to climb higher, and statistics show the ever increasing rise in smartphones and tablets over the first-generation phones, frankly, one can't help but wonder, how all these things will really come together. For whom? Well, for both consumers and businesses alike.

It's easier for consumers as they find novelty and amusement in the 450,000+ Apple iPhone or Google Android apps on App Stores (see this excellent peek into how the Mobile influences your 24 hours). Game providers (ala Angry Birds) are probably singing their way to the banks. But what about the remaining 449,000 apps? Who is really using these?

What we see here is the 'Long Tail' phenomenon at play. And, while this has indeed become possible with the innovations and platforms provided by companies like Apple and Google, no doubt, the million dollar question that's asked in enterprises is - what can we do with this new disruptive force?

Well, one company appears to have got it right - and superbly too. Tesco, a leading UK retailer, has demonstrated an amazing way to make a difference to the lives of Koreans in the way they live and work. This video (below) explains exactly how, and in so doing, Tesco has become a leader in this new geography, a true sign of innovation powering growth in unchartered territories!

Big Data Architecture(s)

"Facebook is the world's largest social network, with a user population exceeding 800 million and 2.5 billion photos uploaded a month (2009)." Twitter is the largest micro-blogging site in the world with millions of messages exchanged everyday. "About 5 billion mobile devices are in use (as of 2010), the world over, and that doesn't even include everyone in the most populous countries of the planet."These are staggering facts by any standard...
This is the digital age, and we are using technology everyday - rather, every second of the day - to connect, collaborate, share, with the people who belong in our social sphere, be it for work or fun. And, with the rise and affordability of means of capturing and sharing digital information at the click of a button, there is just an extreme burst of data that flows through the guts of the Internet (and systems) today.

A new age is beginning to dawn where the ability to process, analyze and visualize these vast bits of data will lead to newer insights into the way people are leveraging the technological innovations to improve their personal as well as business relationships. It is this new paradigm that is aptly called BigData, and is here to stay.

The great presentation below walks us through the internals of what make up such Big Data Architectures, and also provides a peek into the (earlier) architectures of Facebook and Twitter.

Big Data with Not Only SQL from Philippe Julio

Thanks to Philippe Julio for sharing this presentation.

The Rise of the Social Enterprise: Enterprise 3.0 is on the way

Ever since the dawn of Web 2.0, there has been a revolution that's underway. The new(er) web has been dramatically changing the way folks live, work, interact - whether for accomplishing their work or personal goals. And, this is all enabled by the rich internet platform that is only likely to get richer, with the advent of cloud computing, social media and mobile devices. There's unlikely to be a disagreement on that one.

And, there's no doubt, that while individuals on this planet are increasingly embracing this new, social web, through means such as [no prizes for guessing!] Facebook (oh, yeah, and now there's Google+) and Twitter, there is a lot to be said for the same in the capacity of say, an employee, a customer or a partner. Enterprise-adoption of these "social" channels is on the rise, but has been slow to pick up since the past few years, barring may be examples of a few who hopped on to the Social Media bandwagon.

Last week, at Salesforce.com's premier event, Dreamforce 2011, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's Keynote presentation showcased a strategic vision for the 'Social Enterprise', a coming together of sorts of Cloud Computing & the Social Web for the Enterprise (aka Enterprise 2.0). The messaging and presentation was engaging, crisp, and invigorating ( a la Steve Jobs, may be?).

In case you missed this major, annual event of the pioneer of Cloud-based (SaaS) services, then check out the presentation (and don't forget to tune in to the keynote video too).

Dreamforce 2011 Social Enterprise Keynote @benioff @salesforce

Hope you enjoy it. And, should we say, don't hesitate to socialize this, if you like it. Cheers!

What's different in Google+ compared to Facebook?

Ok, so there's a lot of discussions that this can trigger, and it has been so, in the online world. Is Google's launch of Google+ too late to catch up with Facebook? Is Google concerned with the rise and rise of Facebook? (well, yeah - duh?). Is it facebook's turn to be concerned now?

Oh, well. We think that there's enough of all those debates and views being discussed, and that's probably adding to the 'unanticipated capacity' that Google+ experienced a day or so after it's launch. So, we thought, let's not add another to the lot, but let's get under the hood, and find out what's the difference in Google+ going to be vis-a-vis Facebook.

Thanks to NixonMcInnes, here's a quick look at what Google+ is all about. Well, there's nothing about facebook in there, for it's unlikely that you'll not be in the 500+ million who already know how facebook is!)

Google Plus briefing notes

View more presentations from We are NixonMcInnes

(PS: Hmm, it appears, Google+ apparently seems to share - or is it called leverage? - a few things that were in Google Buzz. Most likely that's not pure coincidence. But hey, does it matter - it's Google, after all!)