I had the chance to make an unexpected stop at the JavaOne conference today in San Francisco, meeting with the Japanese team behind the promising new xfy technology. The product created a great buzz among developers who have struggled with the limitations of current development environments and inefficiencies. As a marketer, the most interesting point to note at the conference for me was that even though exhibiting companies were primarily companies with applications for java or built with java – there was also a large presence from all the major cellphone manufacturers, from Sony Ericsson to Nokia. They are all heavily investing in marketing their device’s capabilities when it comes to mobile applications. As far as I can tell the underlying message among all of them is consistent:
- We have lots of phones that play mobile applications (built in Java).
- We think people will be using them more and more.
- We can make a lot of money with this.
From a marketing point of view, it would seem that mobile apps are a potential delivery platform for communications messages that should not be ignored. It will be interesting to see how this new area unfolds.
