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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Coming Mobile Business Revolution

Mobile is changing everything. From the time we wake up, to the time we go to bed we are constantly using our mobile devices. In many ways they have become an extension of ourselves. Not only is this mobile revolution changing the way we live it is changing the way we do business. You can just look at the app market which in the last few years has become a multi-billion dollar business. Furthermore, many businesses, namely those monetizing through advertising, are struggling to stay above water in combating the growing trend. Even companies like Facebook are struggling to define their place in a  growing mobile market.

My day started like most anyone else. My phone's alarm sounded, waking me up to my favorite Bowie song. I quickly jumped out of bed hit my workout app and started today's days routine. Afterwards, I jumped in the shower while listening to my "shower" playlist, mostly motivational gems like "Eye of the Tiger." I got the kids ready and ate, while scrolling through my Twitter and looking for news. We checked the bus schedule through the Columbia Transit site and the kids played an educational app while we waited for the bus. Your day may have started slightly different but with one theme uniting us, our mobile devices have begun to define who we are. Our interests, our work, our day to day activities are all directly reflected through our phones and the apps we use on a daily basis.

This mobile business revolution with its focus on apps has become big money for a great many of businesses, but has shaken up even one time industry leaders and forced them to adapt to survive. Facebook is a major player that has been adversely effected.  The app industry is slated to become a two billion dollar industry in 2012, a hefty feat considering it is only a two year old concept. Many of these apps are raking in money through advertisers fees and paid subscriptions the app gaming company Zynga is slated to be worth $100 million. To put that in perspective it took Google three years to break even and become profitable. Facebook has been one of the largest companies struggling to keep up. Facebook makes the majority of its revenue from ad revenue posting advertisements on it's site. However, Facebook can not effectively advertise on the smaller screen of mobile devices and with a majority of people now accessing their Facebooks from a mobile device this makes a huge problem for the site to remain profitable.

So, how can businesses stay afloat and capitalize on this growing market? Companies need to become mobile. Just like companies in the late 90's and early 2000's moved to websites to stay relevant companies in the 10's need to develop apps or in the least optimize their websites to be mobile browser friendly and optimize to advertise while still being user friendly. Technology is moving at such a fever pace no one is safe from the effects of stagnation if Facebook does not quickly and effectively find a way to capitalize on the growing mobile revolution they may to find themselves in the anal's of history. 
The Coming Mobile Business Revolution

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