Mobile Groove

Evolution, not revolution. That is what I witnessed first-hand as I walked around South By Southwest (SXSW) , the festival and conference hailed as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies.

In 2010, the Next Big Thing was location-based social networking, a mobile-megatrend CNN reminds us was led by the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla. Last year it was all about group messaging services such as GroupMe or Beluga. And this year the excitement is all about “ambient location” and “social discovery” — a new category of interaction that brings together all the GPS-enabled mobile apps that run in the background on our devices and alert us when like-minded people are nearby.

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.