Thursday, December 02, 2004

Trends and Killer Apps to come

One of the best newsletters I have found for new trends to come. They cover all avenues. They seem to have great timing for a new trend and when they start talking about a trend, I know its around the corner.

BUY, BUY, BUY
OK, so let's talk consumer empowerment. Is there a single consumer left in Cape Town, Seoul, London, Vancouver or Dallas who does NOT check a plethora of opinionated or know-it-all websites before spending serious money on camcorders, hotel rooms, golf gear, cars, dating, or vintage sneakers, online AND offline? Is a MASTER OF THE YOUNIVERSE-in-purchasing-mode's first stop NOT www.planetfeedback.com or www.askanowner.com or tripadvisor.com or www.dooyoo.co.uk or www.guenstiger.de or www.mm.co.kr or www.buscape.com.br or epinions.com or ebay.com or www.elcheapo.nl or amazon.com or kelkoo.com or the thousands of other curators (read: blogs), forums and bulletin boards striving for the kind of transparency that should scare the ... out of every business professional?

So how do businesses take back control?

Fact is, the debate about your prices and your offerings and your services and your quality has moved online, with millions of consumers joining the conversation. And they talk to each other, not to you. By the way, this phenomenon too is going mobile, 24/7: consider Amazon.com Japan's new 'Scan Search', which enables consumers in any real-world store to point their cell phones at any product's barcode and then get instantly directed to Amazon.com.jp on their phone screen where they can view the (no doubt lower priced) item, and have it sent to them straight away? It's the tip of the iceberg, with Google now sending users any answer they desire by SMS (THATS NOT SURFING), Yahoo rolling out a new mobile portal, etc.

The use of the internet with a PC versus a mobile are two different animals and companies need to realize this. With a PC you are looking for info, document....with a mobile you will be interacting (buying movie tickets, clicking on a For Sale sign).

The database is now physical and interactive.


The shift and merge are coming..who will see it first?

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