Is it the future or just for now?

Mobile applications are one of the whirlwind wonders to bemuse and bewilder the masses. Once pegged as "the future" there have been countless debates about whether or not there is money to be made on the mobile platform.

In a country like South Africa where cell phone charges are some of the highest in the world, its difficult to predict the future of mobile usage and the extent of it. As it is, there are a number of mobile and social networks that are available - the ones that are most readily used are the cheap ones. As a mobile culture, we've managed to overlook the percentage of our salaries we're paying to simply stay connected but we haven't quite forgotten that in this country, it is expensive to use a cell phone.

The scramble to convince mobile manufacturers to take your application as a standard function of the phone is one step in the right direction but there will always be a service provider that will determine the cost to the user to make use of that function.

So the question remains...how will mobile applications make any money? The world over, mobile users aren't prepared to pay extra for functions like mobile apps, certainly not when it comes to subscribing. So what is the answer? I think it would have to come down to some good old fashioned business tricks...

1. Give people what they want
2. Then give them what you've told them they want and finally...
3. Make sure that whatever you're giving them, its a good product.

One of the ways to really harness (and make money) from Mobile applications is to sell location based advertising. Location Based Marketing (LBM) isn't something that has really caught on in SA and it certainly hasn't been made full use of but it is a nice alternative for users who want to choose what they want to expose their wallets to.

It is probably true that as information gets passed onto users at such a high rate, so consumerism is evolving beyond being gullible, easily persuaded or without options. Sure, the good subliminal messages still work but now its time to start engaging with the buyers. They are the ones who hold the purse strings essentially so its time to start talking to them. That's the sentiment when it comes to big businesses engaging on social networks. So go out there, talk to your clients, believe it or not but they do want to hear from you.

Visit www.hummba.com to download hummba to your mobile phone and getting moving!