What's next in mobile innovation

The 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month saw conversations – literally – afloat; but unlike its previous years, the buzz was not on hardware, but on software, according to new research by Digitas and Brandwatch.The research monitored more than 330,000 social media mentions during the show and saw connectivity, apps and the cloud as the most popular buzz words: more than 17,000 mentions were on connectivity and connected technology, while close to 12,500 mentions surrounded the cloud, NFC, connected cars and connected homes.These numbers, however, do not surprise Digitas vice president for Asia Pacific, Erik Hermanson (pictured).“If you look specifically at the hardware sector, it has reached its tap in the past six to 12 months, so we won’t expect a big revolution in the upcoming year,” he said. “2013 will be an interesting year on the software side, especially with the upcoming launch of Tizen.”The possible new operating system is an act of rebellion against Google’s Android system, which has been balancing on a love-hate relationship with mobile phone manufacturers due to its limitations around customisation.Since the establishment of the Tizen Association in early 2012, NEC, Panasonic, Orange, Sprint, Huawei, Vodafone, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung and Intel have enrolled as members with news of the Korean mobile phone brand releasing its first Tizen handsets this year.The phone is rumoured to operate on Linux, and, unlike iOS and Android, prioritises HTML5 applications.“This love-hate relationship with Android needs to be dealt with because it’s not something manufacturers can really control; but with Tizen, you can really build an infrastructure around it and – as more people make it – they can use it to drive platforms like apps, music, film, and that’s where the meat is,” he said.Despite the domination of the two existing players, Hermanson said the new kid on the block will thrive with consumers since it’s an opened-source programme that allows manufacturers to add their own footprint in a way that’s similar to the current Android system.“Samsung has been smart to let people go through a gradual transition through their different existing models so people don’t feel like they’ve changed that much, so even with the new system, manufacturers can layer their own skin on top, which is what they’re doing now anyway.”As for developers, Hermanson added that Tizen’s open platform makes the programme coding similar to that of Android; he further suggested Samsung to share revenue with developers as incentive.“Hardware has been pushing boundaries, so it’s time for software to pick up and take advantage of what is available - to help connect to target consumers, bring value added services, and for things to get really exciting,” he said.“That’s where you’ll see innovation.”