I clearly remember that day in early 2003. Sitting in the office of T-Mobile The Netherlands, with a working demo of a ‘buddy finder app’ avant la lettre, built on a Windows smartphone. In many ways that pitch represented all the hurdles the mobile revolution still had to take to get where we are now. Fast forward to 2011: what exactly has changed and which traps remain to be avoided?
In the world of software sales, many companies are capitalizing the knowledge needed to select the right license from a very complex set of possible configurations. Although this expertise will still be required in the future, cloud computing and related pricing models should reduce the complexity for end customers, if software vendors allow it to.
Marketing has always been about influencing behavior, ensuring the desired action as a follow up of a carefully solicited desire. In many ways this influence is becoming more and more direct and local. But is it becoming more fun as well?