Smartphones shape our future
Just how much do we rely on our phones? Leave your phone at home for a day and test out that theory– the thought of it is horrifying. We are in the age of the biggest technology boom of the last decade. Sure, the internet has grown and social media has reached astonishing numbers in the past few years, but how much of that growth should be attributed to Smartphones?
Think about it. If you have a Smartphone, you most likely have quite a few apps that you use on a daily basis. Maps, Google, Pandora, and Facebook are literally at our fingertips whenever we want it. So what will make 2012 so different in the mobile world? How about the way that it shapes our business?
Mobile Retail was introduced to us in 2011, and mobile sales tripled as Smartphone users downloaded the eBay and PayPal applications. If you don’t already have a functioning website, now is the time to join in or fall behind. It will be wise in 2012 to set up your mobile site, and to think about investing in mobile applications for your company. It could truly make your business boom.
While you are making the most with your Smartphone, young tech-users and penny-pinchers are discovering the next best tools for the business world. Apps like Tango, Skype, and Facetime are allowing us to speak to one another face to face again– on the phone. So, why send your entire staff across the country for a meeting when both companies can opt to save money and begin weekly conference calls with these applications? Tango currently has twenty million users, and Skype has become a daily activity for schoolchildren. For those of you who are on plans where a certain number of minutes or texts have a limit, these applications are free and do not pose a threat on your wallet.
Speaking of wallets, what about the new mobile wallets? Get prepared for everything to 
go digital. Google wallet opened to the public in the summer of 2011, but Europe and the U.K. will soon have the same. This will allow you to swipe your phone at a public transport ticket barrier instead of carrying a travel card, or at a shop till instead of carrying a debit card. Mobile money transfer services are now not just an idea, but a reality.
So you left your coupons at home? Download apps on your phone that directly show sales and coupons from your screen. There are now apps that allow you to scan codes for discounts, such as the one Amazon introduced, allowing a 5% discount to those who bought items in store by using its price comparison barcode scanner. Are you tired of walking around a store looking for a price scanner? You can do that from your phone too. As if that’s not enough, Apple will introduce the Apple TV this year, which will hook up your existing box to the internet, and will turn your iPhone into a remote that may be able to respond to hand gestures and voice commands.
The most profitable businesses will have these apps and will be keeping up with the advantages of the Smartphone. Will your business stay involved?
By: Heather Via