More than one billion smartphones are in use worldwide, according to a recent mobile trends study conducted by Forrester Research. “Mobile is driving a second Internet revolution that’s even more profound than the first one,” wrote Thomas Husson and Julie Ask, authors of the study. “Mobile creates new value for consumers and businesses, alters cost structures, and disrupts ecosystems. That’s why marketers must move away from tactical mobile efforts to more transformative mobile marketing strategies in 2013.”
Based on key mobile developments in 2012, the fourth annual mobile trends report from Forrester, titled: 2013 Mobile Trends For Marketers: Multiyear Strategies And Larger Investments Define This Year, offers insights to significant mobile trends taking place in 2013, including:
- Mobile is emerging as a key business strategy enabler;
- Successes in the mobile ecosystem is eluding some incumbents and embracing newcomers;
- Consumer expectations are both high and conflicted; and
- Emerging technologies need standards and scale to succeed.
Keeping pace in 2013 and leveraging mobile to differentiate will require marketers to alter their approaches to creating a mobile strategy to better leverage customer engagement, according to the study: “Marketers must integrate their short-and long-term visions. Furthermore, they must anticipate the shifts in customer and business models that will take place in the next two to five years and where mobile [will be] a catalyst for change.”
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The 20-page Forrester report also discussed 10 ways marketers can be more strategic with mobile initiatives. For example, by:
- Combining a broad range of variables for rich mobile context;
- Addressing two separate use cases for phones and tablets;
- Rethinking smart products and creating new engagement scenarios;
- Expecting the lines between product, content, and marketing to blur; and
- Evaluating mobile maturity across regions.
Several game-changing mobile technologies were unveiled in 2012, but none are anticipated for 2013, according to the report ― though Forrester does predict significant progress in indoor mobile positioning in 2013. “While we believe that mobile technologies like GPS, NFC, augmented reality, image recognition, and 2D bar codes will offer phenomenal potential to enhance real-world experiences for consumers,” the authors stated, “they can’t do so in isolation,” but will draw from previous breakthroughs.
