The List: Key trends of interest for Myplanet and our clients that we expect to build into “areas of expertise” over the coming year and beyond. A key theme for 2011 is “everything is mobile.”
Area 01.
Social Commerce
Nobody shops in a vacuum. While 2010 saw many social buying concepts hit the mainstream, this year will see greater adoption by traditional brands and retailers along with plenty of great new ideas.
Area 02.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality has already spilled out of Sci-Fi onto smartphones. Making money from AR remains elusive, but expect killer apps to emerge for smartphones and tablets in 2011 as the technology improves.Learn More
Area 03.
Location-Aware Services
Foursquare and Facebook Places have already given location-aware services high visibility, but are still of limited usefulness. This will quickly change as QR codes, near-field communication, and more precise location-finding tools combine with GPS in new and innovative ways.
Area 04.
Mobile Payments
Near-field communication (NFC) will be built into most new smartphones this year, starting with Google’s Nexus S. This will, over the coming several years, replace the physical credit card as the non-cash payment method of choice and usher in a broad array of ingenious new payment services.
Area 05.
Gamification
As peoples’ relationships with their technology gets personal, expect game dynamics or “gamification” to spill over from personal fitness into everything from banking to manufacturing.
Area 06.
Apps Everywhere
“Apps” are slowly leaking out of the mobile phone world, as evidenced by the Google Chrome and Mac app stores. Packaging apps for the various markets will become a headache-inducing—albeit necessary—job.Learn More
Area 07.
Global Markets
Myplanet continues to focus on thinking global from day one, and we expect our global business to increase substantially in 2011.Learn More
Area 08.
Everything is Mobile
Mobile will no longer be a “secondary” consideration as mobile internet traffic skyrockets and the usefulness of smartphones and tablets increases.Learn More