Fast forward one year. We’re just in 2013. The following are the highlights of 2012:

• the app was established as a business critical channel for client interaction
• business apps were used primarily for transactions, selling products and services, and strengthening brand
• from company internal perspectives, social collaboration and business intelligence initiatives leveraged the new channel established by app phones and tablets
• in the second half of 2012, HTML5 became a mainstream option in app projects enabling not only a higher rate of reuse between app phone platforms but also new responsive and adaptive web implementations
• Microsoft, IBM and Adobe are now at the forefront in cross platform HTML5 developer tools, closing the opportunities for niche vendors
• new iPhone and iPad models were released and kept Apple’s market share on steady levels in competition primarily with Android, although the Apple app market and ecosystem proved to still be stronger and vibrant than its competitors’
• Android became the largest app phone platform, but its tablet siblings continued to struggle below ten percent of the market
• Windows Phone established itself as a strong third platform and managed to grab twenty percent of Q4 sales
• Microsoft made a strong come back with a bold new Windows 8, that will have components spaning across server, desktop, the new Xbox and the coming Windows Phone
• NFC (Near Field Communication) continued to be mostly a hype, since it takes time to change methods of payments given the vast hardware infrastructure investments required across all channels

Here is a list of online resources that illustrate best practices on all levels, including user interface, wireframes, and source code. I’ve kept these links on different places (mail, Tweetfavorites, bookmarks etc), with this post I get my own point of reference… Maybe you can benefit from it too…

• iOS Inspires Me: iPhone & iPad app icons, app interfaces, app websites & resources
• Mobile Design Patterns: Best practices from popular apps and how each app does common tasks (splash screens, lists, login, photos, sharing, notifications, etc)
• lovely ui: Mobile UI Elements
• App Sites: App Sites is a showcase of beautiful iPhone, iPad & Mac app websites.
• Landing Pad: Beautiful iPad app design
• pttrns: Best practices from popular apps and how each app does common tasks (splash screens, lists, login, photos, sharing, notifications, etc)
• iDev Recipes: Detailed design walkthroughs including source code
• Android Patterns: Android design patterns on wireframe level
• Lessons from mobile web design: How to make your mobile web site work and stand out
• Josh Clark Presentation: A collection of presentations by App Guru Josh Clark
• Josh Clark on touch interface: A video recorded presentation

I just couldn’t resist this. Recently I tweeted about “The Top 10 Unusual Hotels Around The World”, and this Boeing 747 was listed in the article. Located at Arlanda Airport…

It’s the weirdest/coolest place I’ve stayed at. The aircraft has been in service with Singapore Airlines, Pan Am and many more. I booked the cockpit and I found out after I arrived that the reservation also included the entire upper deck. I had the cockpit and the upper deck all to myself. I wish I had found out before, I would have invited friends over!

The cockpit has a double bed, bathroom with shower, and a TV… but who needs a TV when you can connect to your inner child pretending you are the captain and try the controls, buttons, switches and instruments. (Yes, I did and my teenage kids laughingly called me on that before I told them about that detail…)

Just outside the aircraft you can see planes take off and land. Authentic atmosphere to say the least.

Before I closed my eyes I thought about the distance this “room” had travelled. All the countries and cities. I guess the room and I connected, and we silently shared intercontinental experiences. I had fewer.

Disclosure
I had a meeting at the airport which continued the next day, which is why I stayed at the airport. The cockpit is ridiculously expensive, so I paid the difference between a traditional hotel room and the cockpit from my own pocket.

I am excited about Windows Phone 7.5. Finally, it looks like Microsoft has found a recipe that works. The phone has a unique user interface, which boldly is introduced into the future desktop Windows 8 too. App developers are showing more and more interest. Nokia is onboard and from what I can tell from those behind the scenes, the soon-to-be-released Windows Phones by Nokia look like a million dollars.

But Microsoft has to get its act together on the single most important aspect of the Windows Phone marketing: the name of the product.

Microsoft officials and partners have to agree on what to call it, and then be consistent. Depending on who you listen to, the product name is: “Windows Phone 7.5″, “Mango”, “WP”, “Windows Phone” or even “Windows Phone 7.1″ (if you’re talking to a developer). That’s five different names, and I might have missed one. I am fully aware of the background for each different name option, but there’s no reason to be inconsistent moving forward.

Just take a look at this most recent Engadget article about Windows Phones. How many different names for the product is mentioned? Appropriately, the subject matter of the article is Microsoft setting aside $44 million for Windows Phone marketing…

A recent study showed that 45% of customers in a phone store don’t even know that there are Windows Phones. Microsoft can’t afford confusing the customer and the market anymore. It’s time to call out the name. Windows Phone. And if it’s important in the context to provide a version number: Windows Phone 7.5. No more “Mango” and no more “WP” and no more…
Get it right now, please, Microsoft.

There’s been a lot of reinventing (and inventing) going on the last three years. Can you figure out who did what?

• What company reinvented the telecom industry by providing handset makers an open platform, leading to the retirement of countless proprietary platforms and leading to less fragmentation?
• What company invented a new form factor?
• What company is in the process of reinventing itself by killing its own platform and partnering with its long time foe?
• What company reinvented itself by killing its own platform and rewriting a new from scratch?
• What company reinvented the telecom industry by showing how the carrier is just a bit pipe?
• What company reinvented user experience through radically improving graphical user interface and the introduction of multi touch?
• What company reinvented software distribution through a global app store that supports micro payments?
• What current major mobile market company has yet to reinvent anything?

I recorded my iPhone Tracker animations and created this video of my app related travels. I included some photos from the meetings, as well! Enjoy!

These maps illustrate my App Roadshow travels! All over Europe, US and Mumbai, India. Nine months, fifteen countries, one hundred customer sites. The chart data comes from my iPhone that tracked all my trips, and I used the iPhone Tracker to create the maps.

Global map

Europe

The US

The Netherlands

Sweden

My 15 year old daughter asked recently me what I say to those who believe apps are a step backwards in evolution. I went silent for a second. How do you make this perfectly clear even to a 15 year old?

I said to her.

Those who say that apps are a step backwards use a type of philosophical reasoning. Instead of acknowledging reality, what people like you and me actually do, they argue how things ought to be. The fact is that most users of app-phones like to buy, download and use apps. It can be an inspiring and fun exercise to discuss things on a philosophical level, but whatever conclusion we may arrive to does not change reality.

To entertain the discussion, I said to her, they are right in that the web is a great vehicle for functionality and information. I doubt anyone would argue the contrary. The web enables immediate and instantaneous feature updates, and has an unparalleled reach across geographies and devices. The web beats any App Store on immediacy and reach. Even the app-phones enable better use of the web than any other mobile devices have done before them.

However, the app holds three critical benefits over the web and it will take many years before the web can address these benefits.

• User experience. Apps are substantially easier to design to give a superior user experience. It’s not a coincidence that the best looking features on app-phones are apps and not web pages.
• The App Store itself. Just as in real life, we like to go the store, or mall, to buy stuff. We know where to go, and there is no need to drive around randomly to find what we need. The web is that random.
• Money. This is the most important benefit. The app ecosystem includes the ability to easily and globally buy and sell apps at very low cost. With just a tap, we can buy an app for less than a dollar. The web has had twenty years to figure this out, but is still nowhere near to enable a global one-tap-marketplace like this.

To add another philosophical dimension to the discussion, just for fun. What if the web is just a step in the app’s evolution? I remember the issues client-server brought along related to keeping applications updated. Distribution was a mess, and so was the shared components on the PCs. The web solved all that. But what now, when we have an app distribution mechanism that actually solves the client-server problems? Is the web as a platform for transactional functionality soon gone? What if the web just was a temporary stepping stone? I don’t think so, but it is an interesting thought, is it not?

I concluded my answer to my daughter in saying that the discussion is more polarized than it has reason to. We do both. I’ve seen her surf web pages on her app-phone, and I do too. In fact, most app-phone users use the web browser often. And I have seen all the apps she uses, and I showed her some of my favorite apps. We do both. We use both apps and the web.

I said, the discussion is philosophical and inspiring, but in reality the app market has just been born and will grow up to be a great sibling to the web. We will continue to use the web, and we will continue to download, buy and use apps. Perhaps we will at some time look back at this discussion and smile at ourselves.

Then I smiled at her and she smiled at me, and we went out for a walk with our dog.

Tomorrow I will give a talk on Webbdagarna. The event draws 1,000 online/web/marketing/IT gurus. And me.

I’ll say a few words on apps. Like that they weren’t really planned. They just happened, like most other major shifts in culture. We predicted but we never knew when the stars would align. Not even Steve Jobs knew, he admitted.

So, now we have a new channel for business development. Marketing. And new ways to provide users mind blowing new tools. Some businesses strike gold. Some don’t.

The two hottest trends are apps for transactions and apps for BI. And it takes app strategy to win.

And I’ll say that mobile web vs native app is a brain dead discussion. Do both. No time for religion, not even the HTML5 one.

… and I will play the flute.

Some of my favorite apps are those that make traveling easier. These are my top three travel apps.

• Booking.com – Perfect hotel booking app. Find the best rates, best rooms, best locations, and most importantly: read reviews from previous guests. I only wish booking.com could keep track of all my bookings historically. This app is alive. It gets frequent and valuable updates.
• WorldMate – I forward all my itineraries to trips@worldmate.com. All flights, hotel bookings etc then all appear in the app. Everything in one place is perfect, I get booking references, departure terminals, early information on delays, etc. The app comes in handy for currency conversion, tip calculator, weather forecasts etc. Clean user interface.
• Taxi Stockholm – Works only in Stockholm. This app gets the taxi booked from where you are in seconds. The booking is quicker than dialing their phone number. The user interface is in need, however, of a face lift.