Mobile Apps » mobilegroove

Mobile voice services have finally crossed the chasm thanks to the rise (and rise) Apple Siri — the smart, voice-enabled mobile assistant that connects with our personal data and the wider Internet to manage our daily lives. What is the real impact of Apple on the industry? Where are the opportunities for innovation? Who are the niche companies with good ideas and huge potential? And how will our requirement for a voice interface challenge mobile search and set new demands on customer service?

mobile voice, and we examine from a variety of perspectives, beginning with Bill Meisel, the industry go-to guy for all things voice.

By way of background, Bill is the founder of TMA Associates, an independent consultancy providing insights and supporting companies that want to incorporate speech technologies into their offer, or improve their own enterprise efficiency. Bill has also teamed up with the Applied Voice Input Output Society (AVIOS) to organize the Mobile Voice Conference, March 12-14 in San Francisco. With this must-attend just around the corner my co-host Rob Woodbridge and I dedicate this month to mobile voice and celebrate the 'Year of the Ear' — to borrow an observation from Mary Meeker's invaluable trends presentation.

Every week over at m-pulse we discus the companies and concepts rocking the industry and my pick was Scoopshot, a mobile crowdsourcing app (and ecosystem) that allows media companies to post location-aware photo 'assignments' to the community of app users. The upshot is user-generated content that impresses on two counts: media (newspapers, magazines, online) have fresh content and people earn money for their photos. What's more, the app is plugged into an ecosystem that manages right and makes payments.

It is refreshing to see such a well-executed strategy and end-to-end ecosystem, so I caught up with Niko Ruokosuo, the brains behind Scoopshot, which is also owned by Helsinki-based P2S Media Group Inc. Niko — acts as the CEO of the company and is in charge of the company’s internationalization efforts, business development operations and marketing — has a long track record in the media industry and held executive positions in companies including: the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, one of the largest media organizations in the Middle East, the Finnish magazine publisher Sanoma Kaupunkilehdet and the Los Angeles Times.

Will 2012 be the year of mobile commerce? If this is indeed a momentous year for mobile retail and transactions of all kinds, then what will happen to the mix of payment options and players currently jockeying for position? Should we expect a showdown between credit card companies, carriers, banks, aggregators and the likes of PayPal? In the midst of all the massive growth and disruption will we see mega-acquisitions, or are all the companies that could achieve $10 billion+ price tags in the first place taken?

This week's m-pulse catches up with Chetan Sharma, independent consultant and well-known industry authority, to discuss mobile mega-trends and deep-dive into the results of the 2012 Mobile Industry Predictions Survey. Each year Chetan asks us —the mobile industry — to weigh in on the most newsworthy events and companies, as well as vote for the breakthrough categories, developments and technologies sure to define 2012.

Rob and I also discuss our pick of hot mobile news and data points. I rant about the disconnect between the mobile and retail readiness of luxury brands (lacking to say the least!) and our willingness (even requirement) to interact with luxury brands via our mobile phones and tablets.

Will 2012 be the year we remotely connect to our smart homes using our smartphones? Can Intel crash the mobile party and make its mark with tablets that stand up to ARM-powered devices? Should we expect a shift in the operating system landscape in favor of Microsoft (with Symbian as a back-up plan)?

This week's m-pulse — the new vodcast series produced by Rob Woodbridge, founder and owner of UNTETHER.tv, in collaboration with MobileGroove — catches up with Kevin C. Tofel, Mobile site editor at GigaOM.com, where he covers mobile technology and the global wireless industry. Continuing our theme for January, we deep-dive into his list of 16 mobile industry predictions for 2012 and get his take on the week's hot mobile news.

This was a week for transparency in mobile with something for everyone. For consumers, there was movement on the privacy front with the Mobile Marketing Association releasing its Mobile Application Privacy Policy. The document is hailed as a first, providing precise guidelines that addresses the core privacy issues and data processes of many mobile applications.

For industry watchers, news from RIM and Apple gave us a deeper look at company performance and clues to the capabilities that likely play a lead role in deciding the leaders from the laggards.