Mobile Apps - What Are They Good For?

Listening to the industry leaders speak about the application market in mobile, I am convinced the debate around the mobile web boils down to two camps - those who believe that applications will replace web browsing and content discovery and those that believe it won't. At the root of this tension appears to be two things: 1) whether apps will be valuable enough to consumers to monetize to the degree long tail websites have been for advertisers, and 2) how to measure success of an application after the initial transactional download.

As I hear the various stakeholders - carriers, application developers, content publishers - debate how the value chain must develop to service revenue goals, I am struck by how mobile applications serve so many purposes for marketers. For some, mobile apps are simply a part of an integrated marketing campaign, meant to service new customer acquisition goals. Other mobile apps help national advertisers localize offers through the use of the phone's GPS or cell tower coordinates.  A mobile app may simply add new chapters to an existing consumer-product brand story by offering opportunities to create or retain loyalists in a deeply entertaining or innovative way with the brand.

So, mobile apps - what are they good for? Read some of my thoughts after Rutberg WI09 here.