Mobile: Fad or Future?

Thursday, March 4, 2010  //  3 Comments  //  Blog, Mobile 2.0, Mobile Apps, Mobile Recruiting, Mobile Trends

Keys, wallet/purse, and mobile device…

You guessed it, these are three most carried items that we never seem to leave home without. But, how did we get to this point?

Let’s pause and rewind…

The first commercially automated cellular network (the 1G generation) was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979.  Fast forward 30+ years and we are now living in an era where “mobile as the 7th mass media” is dominating all other channels (e.g., print, recording, cinema, TV, internet, etc).  In less than 30 years, we have gone from Motorola’s 1lb “brick phone” to smart phone devices that can now do virtually anything you can imagine, and then some.  It’s the dawn of a new era and there’s no sign of slowing down.

Back to present day,…

“Mobile is in fact, the fastest-growing Trillion-dollar industry in the economic history of mankind. That is why Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Dell etc are all interested to get in. The fastest-growing Trillion-dollar industry ever.”

- Tomi Ahonen, Mobile Consultant & Best Selling Author

Mobile devices have become the single most important carried accessory people cannot seem to live without.  Are you surprised?  According to a poll conducted by Synovate in 2009, most people would rather lose their wallets than their mobile device.  In another independent survey, 40% of respondents said they would rather lose their wallet than mobile phone.  With mobile adoption advancing at unprecedented rates, it’s difficult not to notice the changes taking place around us. In the not so distant future, you may even be able to leave your wallet and keys behind. In many countries, mobile devices are already being used as a payment system, where the use of SMS (text-messaging) is the mechanism for authorizing purchases. We have witnessed the mobile channel being used quite successfully through the “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999 to donate $10” campaign.  According to mGive, the world has contributed over $37 million via text message donations for Haiti. This is beyond a mobile fad – it’s simply amazing.

Technology (in moderation) can be a wonderful thing.  With such a powerful device in the palm of virtually every working professional, I often wonder why we (employers/recruiters) are not doing more to leverage this technology within our industry. As with most “new” things, I suspect it’s fear of the unknown. However, I’d like to know what you think.

Do you view mobile as a fad or the future?