First day at the #w2e has been very good. It is hard to choose from all the very good tracks but I have tried to stayed tuned to the strategy track. There are so many things to pick up on but I will just quickly give my thinking on the general theme.
Mobile is not an additional strategy, it is the strategy. What strikes me is all the examples of companies that just do not get it, as in they do not have a site designed for mobile. Not even Apple. Similarly, companies seem to not look at device types. This strikes me as odd coming from a mobile operator in a previous life, where it was all about identifying the device.
Think about simplicity when thinking about mobile design. But as Jason Grigsby (@grigs) said, this does not equal dumb. Do not take away core functions just because you are trying to make the mobile site simpler.
I learnt a bit about API:s today. Not much news in that session but still very important. If you do not have an API you are missing the whole trend where data is king. Your API is how you will be selling through to your customers. Somewhere in the realm of 80% of traffic will come from beyond the browser.
API:s are the glue that binds mobile, social and cloud. It is a mechanism where you can get people, not on your payroll, to carry your experience and product to consumers. This is key to understand, because of the exponential change rate we are in, it is impossible to plan. The market is constantly changing. In order to make this happen, make sure you are re-mixable, look at your adjacents.
Being an advocate of open standards I got a very good insight into OAuth 2.0 and the upgrade that has been done to the protocol. It shows great promise and is already adopted by Facebook and Twitter (@anywhere) basically because it is so simple to get started for any developer.
The keynotes where of great standard. Loved the TED presentation and how it has evolved from conference to a platform for sharing ideas. Completely embraces crowd sourcing, free and open.
Last but not least, smule, have to love them. Impressive demonstration of their products and research.
Would you say that "API" is the most important factor to achieve a sustainable business model /revenue stream or will it require other components as well - such as a social context (friends recommendations), B2C traffic to tease users into consuming more of the services being offered?
ReplyDeleteThanks for a greast conf. update!
Having an API is an hygiene factor, if you do not have it you loose. You have to make sure that you can enable others to use your data, ensure that you are re-combinant.
ReplyDeleteObviously, having an API is just one of many pieces of the puzzle that has to be in place and it all depends on the business you are in and where you want to be as a company.