Warning: geek post to follow!
I'm big on predictions about the future. I like to say that I know what the future looks like, I just don't know when we're going to get there. That's safe; Nostradamus has gotten away with it for a long time.
I've been in the digital realm so long, I can't remember which Web version we're on. I remember Web 2.0, 3.0, but I can't remember if we've officially crossed over into 4.0 or not. I do, however, have a good idea what the next Web will look like, so I'm going to memorialize it right here.
There is a trend just beginning that will guide everything for a good while. It will come as no revelation that smartphone apps are proliferating at a breakneck pace. We owe that primarily to Apple and the iPhone. Frankly, I never liked the idea of the walled garden approach to anything (and I say that as a former cable exec who lived under the walled garden strategy for a long time), but it really works for Apple, since they've opened up the Apple OS for so much creativity. The single screen size makes programming a whiz too. That's no criticism of Android; it's open source and that's cool, but I think they're still going to be challenged by the various screen sizes and manufacturing requirements.
That said, I think there will be an avalanche of mobile apps-in fact-it's well underway. I also think there will be mobile apps that write to an external database that have a Web interface. Mobile meets Web. Web 4.0. We'll be entering data on our iPhone and Android apps that will provide utility while we are out and will store that information on a database that can be accessed via a Web interface. Maybe calendar events that are entered and interfaced with Outlook are the first of what will be commonplace. That's the Web 4.0 world, I'm thinking.
Here's another prediction: creators of mobile apps will start to promote the apps themselves through online and offline media. Today, Apple hocks the apps that others create as a way to sell more iPhones. The day will come when the creators will advertise to promote the apps they want to sell. I can also see a day when Apple coops the advertising with the app creators, because the more iPhones are used, the more iPhones they'll sell.
There are just too many smart people inside Apple to not have thought that one through. So the opportunity may be to reach out to mobile app creators with marketing ideas to move their apps by presenting their utility and advantages to the would be users.
