Sometimes humor provides an instructive lens into business reality! The Onion just did an entertaining article entitled “iPhone Left in Hot Car for Three Hours“. With classic Onion wit, they indirectly observe how deeply personal mobile devices have become to our lives.
As I commented in a recent Kelsey Group panel, never before in the history of technology have people slept with a computer.
The bold new world of mobile devices with open applications and fast networks forever changes the way consumers will use the technology. We, in turn, need to adapt our thinking on how we engage users through these devices and applications.
This isn’t about a screen that needs IYP reformatted to do YP searches. In fact, search is tangential to the shift. This is about a rapidly morphing form of active, location-aware communications that is deeply personal. It ignites commentary, conversation and interaction. It’s not about “driving more searches that find advertisers”, it’s about inserting the advertiser into the conversation.
The future of local media and mobile is not about “mobile search”, it’s about live interaction with and among consumers. If we think of this as a search problem, or as a new screen format, we’ll miss the fundamental opportunity to participate in the consumer conversation; it’s this dialog that will envelope and drive the shopping opportunity.
