Friday afternoon: An old colleague of mine drops by to talk about an opportunity.
He's EVP of a smartphone app development company in Toronto. Its play is developing apps for retailers and entertainers that will enhance the customer experience and drive customer loyalty.
I spent the morning with an entrepreneur trying to capitalize on smartphone apps. He also has a novel idea. He's trying to connect the dots between branded promotions, customer loyalty and this quickly emerging technology.
Earlier in the week, I reported back to a client in the mobile industry on, among other things, the current state of smartphone apps, and how it could capitalize on opportunities in the space. The week before it was a university, thinking about new ways to communicate with younger stakeholders.
It feels like the beginning of dot-com all over again. Executives, entrepreneurs and consumers know apps are going to be big. There is a consensus among those I talk to that we've only scratched the surface of the potential. Gartner, according to an article recently published on CNET, projects apps will be a $6-billion industry in 2010.
But there is enough uncertainty to give some folks pause while others plow ahead.
The Score was an early entrant into the apps space. While some larger players in sports media held back, the mid-sized firm took the plunge with ScoreMobile iPhone Edition in October, 2007, long before the iPhone launched in Canada. The app lets users receive stats, live blogs, sports headlines and real-time updates on their favourite teams and leagues throughout the day. Not only did the company ride the learning curve fast, it also gained a first-mover advantage, quickly becoming one of the top downloaded apps for both BlackBerry and iPhone – and it turned that advantage into new customers, revenue and increases in year-over-year profit.
As the owner/operator of private business, with lots of fires to fight, should apps be on your radar? Maybe. Exploring opportunities in apps doesn't rate higher than addressing cash flow problems or continuing to sharpen your value proposition. On the other hand, entrepreneurs were likely asking themselves the same thing about "websites" in the late '90's – simply dismissing the notion is probably foolhardy.
If you are not already familiar with apps, here is a short précis: An app is a program downloaded to a smartphone or other mobile device, meant to serve a specific purpose. Webopedia defines apps in terms of enhanced connections to the Internet. That's true, as many apps do a better job of providing users with a rich, interactive web experience for a particular company, brand or entity. I also think consumers see apps as games, utilities (turning the phone into a flashlight) and better access to information (such as sports scores and weather).
Apps are either paid for by consumers, or are free and have advertising embedded.
Special to the Globe and Mail
Mark Healy (P.Eng, MBA) is a partner at Torque Customer Strategy, a boutique consultancy focused on go-to-market strategy. He is a regular speaker and media contributor on topics ranging from marketing to managing professional service firms, and he has completed more than 100 engagements in this space over the past five years. Mr. Healy is known as much for his aggressive sense of personal style as he is for intense and engaging conversations. He lives with his wife Charlotte and their bulldog McDuff in Toronto.
Mark Healy