The Trick to Marketing on Smartphones

This week, my column on iMedia Connection deals with how we ought to make the best use of platforms like the iPhone.  The most successful programs on smartphones aren’t the push-model WAP junk or SMS spam we’ve all come to know and loathe, but rather app-based programs that provide community and conversation over content.  Here’s the money quote:

Many iPhone apps are free, and thus mine is cluttered with plenty of them. Yes, I do occasionally check the weather, the stock market, and use the Safari web browser to access content. More often, though, I’m using Twitterific to tweet from the road, using Facebook’s mobile app to approve friend requests and upload mobile photos, or making use of location-based services like Loopt.

Yes, there’s always room for mobile apps that provide content, but the ones that will scale quickly and will integrate more closely into the lives of people who download them will be the ones that provide utility and community, not straight content.

With Apple snaring half the smartphone market and that market growing as quickly as it is, it won’t be long before we have something with real scale, folks.  And as compelling as some of these apps are, I’ve got high hopes for the mobile platform in the coming months and years.