So why do I find Neer interesting?

They have made smart and simple use of location. On top of that privacy and safety is very well played here. The user is in total control and no actual address is published to others. They go beyond only setting who can see your whereabouts, but also what days of the week and at what times. The locations you set up are then named by you, but without the address.

User interface is very simple and looks good.

Downside? Only Android at the moment, but for Neer that should be ok since it is the platform that’s really growing at the moment and it should be large enough to make it interesting. However no networked service can really flourish if it is not truly cross-platform.

And then of course – show me the money. I would love to hear their thoughts on how to make a business out of this. Sale of apps? Deal with carriers to bundle it in family plans? There are a few options, but they need to get to critical mass of installed apps as well which makes it tempting for them to just give away their stuff.

But I’m back. The plan I have in mind is to dig further in the areas where I am very excited about the potential there is for mobile centric solutions. One is completely and utterly entertainment related and one is life changing. Yes, I like extremes and do not see a contradiction there either. There is much to learn between different verticals.

Anyhow, the first area is online dating, where we will see an explosion in the mobile channel. In Europe during the last 12 months mobile access to online dating services has grown by 50%+ according to Comscore. Go figure. Disclosure: I run a company in this field – Acemob.

Secondly, many types of social business are well suited for strong mobile components. One thing I have done during my blogging break has been to study social businesses more. It has been very interesting and rewarding. I will develop some themed here over time. As a warm up go have a look at Ushahidi for a brilliant example of what can be done.

Stay tuned!

Image via Wikipedia

Russell at MobHappy is starting to gather input for his prediction for 2009. The start of the end of the mobile operator portal is my safe bet for these predictions. I would be surprised if there are any major MNO portals that operate the way they do today in two years time.

The second prediction is a condition for the first – mobile internet becomes a mass market product/behaviour. Not just mobile broadband for your laptop, but for the phone. People can now afford and manage the discovery issues to find what they really want with their mobile phone. They will not need to be guided by their operator in the discovery of the services, apps and destinations they want.

I will get a full set of my predictions out here in the coming days. It will be worth reading. Below you see some articles that are hinting at what I will include in my predictions for 2009.

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• Mobile Internet boom imminent, study says
• Social applications driving the mobile web
• Frost and Sullivan on mobile advertising

Now it’s beer-thirty and time to start the weekend. Have a nice one!

Anyway, CTIA or not, it is still the state of the industry as I see it.

We have many experts thinking and presenting theories – Strand, Juniper et al. you know them.

I am biased, but I tend to listen to people who are actually operationally active and doing the dirty work themselves. Yes, I am one of them, Yes, we tend to get tunnel vision every now and then, but we do live the industry and can provide a sobering insight to some of the external experts.

Why mobile content suck, this was also both the best conference session name and session itself at CTIA this year. Excellent moderation by Andy Nulman from Airborne Entertainment. Thanks Andy!

In short the people from the traditional media or more mature media niches are quite clear. The content is often crap. The experience clunky and the pricing often nothing else than a rip-off. Sobering statements. However painful they might sound like they are true.

So the stuff has to get better, easier to discover and use and I do not want to feel robbed after using something on my mobile. Ok, if that is what the consumer wants. That’s what you need to deliver.

This brings up the other side of the equation. We the content providers. Since most of us plan to pay our mortgages and eat three healthy meals a day, we want to make money. This requires business models that work. Preferably today and not in some undefined future. The big dragons can throw money around and see what sticks to the wall, spaghetti chef style. But the rest of us can seldom afford that. We have our dearly earned money that we want to reinvest to add value for all parties involved.

Thankfully the flat rate data plans are kicking in and the handsets are there with all the features available. That also increases the pressure on the content providers and producers. Then we have this “Next big thing” mobile advertising that we can use to make money from the services if we attract enough users. We do not have to be shackled to the “you-do-most-of-the-work-and-I-take-half”-business model which is the essence of doing your premium billing via mobile operators. So, there are no excuses anymore. It will come down to good services and content to be produced. Now the spotlight is really on us.

To summarise, the time is now for us in the content and service production business to deliver as well. This is easier said than done, but stick to simplicity, real needs among the users and use the comparative advantages the mobile has. No they are not screen size, input interface and processing power! But it is the thing we are most likely to always have with us, it is personal and private, always on and connected to the largest communications network in the world. I can think of a worse brief. Go create!