This recent El País article talks about a new trend, an obsesssion with the question WHERE (no longer the "HOW of the first half of the 20th century, or the WHAT of the golden age of pop, nor the WHEN of the revival age") and it got me thinking about the importance of geo-localization, its implications and consequences.
• Beyond cell phones. Most people still think of "cell phones" when they hear the word mobile. We could break free from this, go past the container and start thinking about the "cloud", seamless easy independence and the greater consequences for our everyday lives. In this aspect I really like the work that Jan Chipchase is doing for Nokia in understanding the intersection of culture and technology.
In my limited understanding, as cloud computing advances it will mean the end of expensive software, bulky hardware and a lot of human labor. Cloud will give users more choices, more freedom and more mobility, although it will also take their privacy.
See: Mobileme, Kogi Korean BBQ and as Wired points out, imagine its consequences for the gaming industry.
• Local will be the star (well... in combination with International).
As a consequence of this WHERE trend, people will start taking more pride on their local surroundings (local economies, entertainment, news etc. and that greater pride may -hopefully- lead to a greater care of those). Mini-urban-nations will surge with strong and distinct identities.
• Forget about making reservations, this obsession with WHERE will bring spontaneity to our lives. The moment is definitely NOW, and with the infinite number of maps and apps that allows us to share and explore real time, the WHERE can be unplanned and more impulsive.
• The dangers of the oversharing of information are rather bothersome in this case: Please rob me could easily turn into please-stalk-me, please-kidnap-me and other horrifying derivatives.
• A great challenge for marketers still. Mobile has been around for quite some time now and people are talking about it as THE emerging medium (the craze measured in millions of dollars, euros, pounds to be made). However, why do I still feel like we are newcomers to it?
- OMD for Dockers iPhone app could have awaken the monster
Steve Jobs recently said it quite clearly: "Mobile ads suck", I think most of us will agree with him on this one. The problem is that the fixation with the medium canibalizes the message. Perhaps we need to stop thinking about creating and adapting executions for the reduced screen sizes and go beyond those. Go back to basics and see how we can genuinely fit in people´s lives and in people´s use of mobile technologies.
