MediaTel

In the latest Mobile Fix, Simon Andrews, founder of the full service mobile agency addictive!, asks whether Apple can continue to dominate the market; if Google stands a chance of creating a browser-based world; or if the search giant can possibly compete with Facebook...

Has Apple peaked?

Like many, we've probably over focused on the iPhone when talking about mobile.

For all the right reasons though; most of the momentum around mobile and smartphones is because Apple have launched a series of hugely innovative products. These have raised customer expectations around what they can do with mobile - and consequently drove the rest of the industry to respond.

But with the continuing grumblings around the iPhone4 and Apple's apparent desire to create a walled garden, we have to ask whether Apple can continue to dominate the market, or is mobile now mature enough that other players will share the responsibility of driving the market forward? Consider some stories from this week;

• Danish Telecoms analysts Strand point out that the iPhone 4 does little for anyone other than Apple, as most early buyers are replacing old iPhones.
• Nokia have refocused on smartphones with one of their top people leading a new charge; announcing the Fightback Starts Here - he says he is obsessed with getting Nokia back to number one.
• The amusing video around the iPhone4 obsession has got 3.5 million views.
• The new best android phone (the Droid 2) is getting really good reviews
• The developer base of Android is now reported to be bigger than that for Apple - and Hentry Blodget suggests that Apple is repeating old mistakes.

And now everyone has an iPhone (and you can buy them in Tesco) is the early adopter crowd looking for something new to show off?

Don't get me wrong - I love my iPhone (still a 3GS) and my iPad . And my MacBook Pro. But showing people a Nexus now gets a lot more attention. And the Evo and Droid will too.

The defining platform for any project we do continues to be the Apple OS - but we now wouldn't advise anyone to do iPhone only - it's crazy not to include Android too. And the case for extending to Blackberry and other platforms gets stronger and stronger - depending on the target audience. And having a version that works in the mobile browser is increasingly a mandatory too.

But to give credit to Apple, their success in Japan has led dominant mobile operator DoCoMo to change its policy on apps to emulate the Apple App Store approach. This is the mobile equivalent of selling ice to eskimos.

Our take is that we're getting to a mature mobile ecology, where Apple is just one of the key players.

Which means mobile strategy has now to be a little more than "lets build you an iphone app". Identifying which platforms are right for your brand and which approach will drive the best ROI requires smart thinking - from people who can architect a mobile campaign rather than just build it.

You Tube - Browser vs App

Google are now pushing the browser based version of YouTube as the preferable alternative to the YouTube app , which Apple "control". YouTube claims to be serving 100 million videos a day through mobile and they want to monetise that - without needing Apple approval.

As well as making good business sense, this move reinforces the Google view that content and services can be just as compelling in the browser as they are in apps. Google want - and need - the mobile world to be (HTML5) browser based, as that plays to their strength in advertising.

And their innovation continues with YouTube lean back - effectively a You Tube channel where you watch continuous videos - selected based on your profile. How long before some TV station starts running this?

Google vs Facebook

As analysts reduce the target stock price for Google - largely reflecting the impact of exiting China - Google need to find strong new areas for advertising. And as social continues to grow, Google are rumoured to be making yet another attempt to be a player in social with Google Me.

Facebook continues to grow quickly though and is making good progress, even in markets where there are long established competitors - like Germany and India. And they are catching Google's Orkut in those markets where it took off...

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