It’s become very clear that with the current speed of innovation happening simultaneously on multiple fronts (mobile, big data, consumerization, virtualization, social etc etc), corporations can’t keep the pace on their own. There is a clear shift toward appreciating the importance of ecosystems of partners, but a lack of understanding how to embrace and build an ecosystem.
If consumers want and expect services and applications for free they are going to have to give up something in return. This something is the data showing how they use the services and applications (this data is anonymized btw). Whilst it has the advantage of providing a better user experience targeting more relevant services and content it does carry the risk of confusion and abuse.
The importance of data is inherent. Identifying the right data sets, capturing this data before cleaning and de-duping the data is essential to begin working with it. Data is critical in order to provide a contextual user experience in a mobile world. With your mobile you have now the added dimension of space/location. Combined with time, mobility and a 3″ to 9″ screen, usage patterns and traffic derived from the data will provide much richer context in future services and greater monetization.
It’s no longer just about the mobile industry, businesses have recognized the importance of mobility. With more tablets entering the market, the competitive pressure for speed combined with the "instant gratification" generation, the adoption of tablets in the corporate world is rapidly increasing.
The consumer will buy their own devices as the competition in the mobile device space increases. This will drive down the cost of mobile devices fast. Huawei announced their Aspire model, ZTE was handing out tablets, TCL Alcatelonetouch was aggressively customizing smartphones for operators, Nokia announced their new phones, Samsung was omnipresent, Lenovo is just getting ready to enter the market and Blackberry is working on its own strategy… and these are just the big names.