When I discuss mobile technology on this site, I try to accurately portray the user metrics of mobile phone owners to share with businesses the opportunity that resides in mobile communication. Today I feel a strong urge to change it a bit.

Today I need to share the emotion that is involved in the relationship we have with our mobile devices, and to do this effectively, it needs to come from a personal level.

What does a mobile phone mean to me? You would think that people will probably lean toward a detached feeling. A device that is as essential as it is intrusive. Often it’s described as “Something that needs to make and receive phone calls”.

There’s one question that needs to be asked to fully understand the emotion, romance even, behind the relationship “people” (I’ll explain what I mean by people a bit later) have with their mobile phones.

What do I want from a mobile phone?

You will notice that I did not use the term need. My needs and wants are completely separated, yet intrinsically connected. That is the difference between the “people” I mention above, and the older generation of mobile users.

So what is it that I want so badly from a phone?

1. 1. A large display with touch screen capabilities
2.  
3. 2. Built in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Internet
4.  
5. 3. A sexy form factor
6.  
7. 4. Exclusivity – the phone need not be available to the mass market
8.  
9. 5. Multimedia capabilities with camera and video options – A place to store music, pictures and videos and play them back whenever I want on the large display in #1
10.  
11. 6. A phone that I can customize to my exact liking. That includes applications I want to install keeping me connected on my favourite social media websites, mobile banking and micropayment capabilities.
12.  
13. 7. Fast and real internet. Not some WAP sites. Browsing fully loaded websites as I would on my laptop browser. And being able to do so effectively wherever I am.
14.  
15. 8. Open, receive and send business documents. This includes Word and Excel documents, PowerPoint presentations and even PDF documents.
16.  
17. 9. Location based services. GPS. Google Maps. For when I’m lost or just to show people how cool our earth really is.
18.  
19. 10. RSS – the ability to save relevant articles to my device; to store information that I could read at a later stage and the ability to sync the entire process with a similar service on my laptop.

This is quite an extensive list, and reading through it now I notice that I did not even include the basic options like making phone calls, sending and receiving text messages and e-mail. Those are a given.

I’m not the only one madly in love with mobile phones. There are millions of us sharing exactly the same sentiment. Apple did a sensational job of poking at the soft centre of our core, exposing our vulnerability and emotions toward technology. We want more than we need. And that’s good. We learn from it. We fight with each other. We compare. We brag. We long. We live.

Do you then understand that when I give you the permission to send me information, when I download your application, when I visit your website from my coveted device, that I am in fact sharing my loyalty, showing my appreciation and love for you too?

If you, as business brand, can make it onto my mobile phone, then you Sir, have ultimately succeeded in your goal in acquiring me as a client. Client is not even the correct word. Brand Ambassador extraordinaire.

The moment you have made it onto my phone, we have become one, and I will go to the end of this world to defend your every move. Now isn’t that a nice connection to have?

The Apple iPhone has caused a tremendous amount of hype and publicity since its release a couple of years ago. Many mobile records previously held by longstanding perennials were thrashed within months. It has given the mobile industry a very hefty injection of enthusiasm and expectation.

Whether you’re excited about the sensational growth of mobile technology or slightly worried about the sheer pace at which it is happening, one thing we should be in agreement with is that we should largely thank the iPhone for it. While mobile applications have been available and developed for ages, it was Apple that turned it back into a desirable and vastly lucrative market.

In the process Apple resuscitated a market that was previously dominated, albeit rather boringly, by Microsoft and Nokia. The one thing that’s on every mobile enthusiast’s lips these days is applications.

On April 23, 2009, the billionth application was downloaded from the Apple App Store. A 13-year-old, Connor Mulcahey, subsequently won a MacBook Pro, a 32GB iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a $ 10,000 iTunes gift card, as promised by Apple as the contest reward.

Many people have prophesized how the digital world will soon be revolving around the axis that is the mobile phone. This is not new(s). I don’t think it’s debatable anymore either. There are many examples, case studies and projections made to support this theory.

One such projection published on the 28th of April 2009 estimates that “the mobile application market will be worth $25 billion in five years.”

But exactly why are mobile applications playing a larger role in businesses today?

1. The iPhone is leading the way in mobile internet browsing. With the astonishing publicity the iPhone enjoys, the application market has become a lucrative career for mobile app developers.
2. Media outlets are salivating at discovering the latest value adding application. A well developed application will virtually guarantee a developer instant fame with the publicity.
3. Other mobile phone manufacturers and developing houses simply had to catch up to claim a stake of the market share. Blackberry has launched their mobile app store early in April 2009, Microsoft is launching their own application store very soon and quick to follow is the Palm Pre app store.
4. It’s becoming critical to have a mobile version of your website, but it’s still cool to have a mobile app, so striking while the iron is hot guarantees loyal fans.
5. The people that carry these super phones have the power, and more importantly the technology, to influence thousands of people. If they catch on to your app, your business will enjoy droves of media publicity.

If you want to score big in the media and with your target audience, mobile applications in 2009 is the way to go.