18. Where Mobile is Going in 2013:
Five Trends To Watch
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App growth will not slow down. According to Forrester Research, the world has begun to move
away from the Web and the PC, toward an app Internet where powerful local devices, such as
the iPad, are running programs that transparently link to resources in the cloud. The app Internet
market was recently estimated to be worth $2.2 billion, according to George F. Colony, Forrester’s
Chairman and CEO, who predicted in a blog post that the market will expand by 85 percent.
Users will more than ever expect a highly integrated experience as they move from the Web, to
the mobile device, and back. Kindle’s Whispersync provides an excellent illustration; it allows
readers to pick up from where they left off, no matter if they are reading online, on a Kindle device,
or in a Kindle app on an iPad. The result is a seamless content consumption experience – and a
closer-than-ever approximation to what users expect when they're reading in print. For publishers,
too, the benefits are significant; rather than having anonymous users, publishers will now be able
to profile their audiences, build user histories, and make further reading suggestions with targeted
products. With individual user counts, publishers obtain a wealth of user metrics.
The cloud is coming to the office. Dropbox, Box.net and other cloud storage devices will allow
users to connect to their media wherever they go, including their preferences for viewing.
Consumers were the first adopters of this technology, quickly followed by the enterprise.
Content curation is king. The fixed container of content is a dying breed. In 2013 and beyond,
publishers will let users make the content their own to make more meaningful use of it. To make
their apps truly sticky and useful, publishers must allow professional users to take the content
deeper and deeper into their workflow.
The digital textbook is how the new generation of students will learn. The opportunities in the
education market are tremendous and transformative. The way content is used is changing, with
e-textbooks and new textbook-type apps leading the way. Interactive charts and graphs,
embedded audio and visual media including video, and real-time sharing and live discussions are
among the many new ways students will interact with each other, their instructors, and even with
their textbooks' authors. The days of book-filled backpacks are numbered. In the future, kids of
all ages will expect the content to be live, updateable, interactive and social.