• The Future of Mobile Applications is Multiplatform, Multimodal
  • The Future of Mobile Applications is Multimodal, Context-aware and Social
  • The Future of Mobile Applications is exposing and consuming Services on the Web – The Web as the Platform
  • The Future of Mobile Applications is an Iceberg
  • The Future of Mobile Applications is Open, Public, Connected and Useful

My view on the future of Web applications in general is about the Return of the Platform; this is Web itself and the application as platforms. About making web application aggregate-able. About consuming other services on the Web to build applications, and turning around and offering or exposing new services to others on the Web.

How this is exposed all depends on the target audience: enterprise (business) vs. consumer (more social network in nature). But in common is the collective nature of information gathering/generation, being it private or public, and how they are constructed and exposed (services on the web).

My view on the future of the Mobile applications is also about applications as platforms on the web exposing services to mobile clients to that are very good on the client side, while pushing (leveraging) services on the Web, but as we move forward, we are also talking about multiplatform/multimodal mobile applications (and services on the Web), where the mobile context as a whole is taken into account. Again, how these are exposed and consume will all depend on the target audience.

Think Multimedia, Multiplatform, Multimodal…

So what is bigger than "local" applications space? The answer is Web/browser-based applications space. And what is bigger than Web/browser applications space? The answer is voice space.

And what mode allows you (as applicable to your application) to remove the barriers associated with carriers and walled-gardens, and application distribution, and permissions, and signing, and device limitations, and so on? The answer is voice, as in voice-enabled applications. Voice is mobile. But voice may not apply to all mobile applications… or does it? Think about it… think multimodal.

And the future of mobile applications not only will be multimodal, but will be context aware, as in mobile context and social context.

And not only the future of mobile application development is about leveraging and exposing services on the Web (mobile applications are connected, end-to-end applications), and context aware, but most of the development for them occurs on the Web – as Jason wrote, mobile application development is like an iceberg.

The future of mobile applications (and the web in general) is about
transitioning to become Open, Public, Connected and Useful:

From Understanding Mobile 2.0:

“Web 2.0 is based on user intelligence instead of technologies, i.e. by giving users smart tools that enable them to apply human semantics to information provided, you get a more intelligent web. This can only be done in a massive (thus useful) way with open standards and protocols that are inclusive and inviting to everyone. Now, as I see it, this 'open-source' story is an aspect seriously lacking from mobile platforms.”

ceo