Future Trends in Mobile Technology

Future Trends in Mobile Technology

Panelists Answer questions submitted through Pigeonhole

Moderator: Steve Papa, Founder of Endecca & Investor

Panelists:

Purnima Kochikar, Director of Apps & Games, Google Play

Bob Davis, General Partner, Highland Capital Partners

Susie Kim Riley, Founder & CEO, Aquto

Rajesh Mishra, Founder & CEO, Parallel Wireless

Led by moderator, Steve Papa, panelists gave a survey of the key trends in mobile technology and addressed the following questions:

1. What is the opportunity with Payments?
1. Payments are not the problem, credit cards are easy enough - Purnima Kochikar 
2. NFC payment systems require vendors to install new hardware, making it very unapproachable - Susie Kim Riley
2. Changing the Risk Profile of Entrepreneurship?
1. There is a huge supply of creativity, but, entrepreneurs in different parts of the world fear failure. In Japan, entrepreneurs lose credit profile if their businesses fail. - Purnima Kochikar
3. What are the challenges and opportunities of reaching the next billion users? 
1. Users in emerging markets see mobile engagements in "bit" sizes, need to package business models to - Susie Kim Riley
2. US-style pricing models will not work in other parts of the world.  Compounding the expenses of traditional carrier plans are additional costs like electricity, making the technology  - Bob Davis
4. How will the internet of things change the mobile landscape?
1. The internet of things is the most interesting trend in mobile technology.  Estimates of 20 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020 - Bob Davis
2. Carriers will have to change their product offering in order to meet spectrum requirements - Rajesh Mishra
5. Will Infrastructure be able to support demands required by next billion users and internet of things?
1. Phones are only used 10% of the time, yet they are consuming data 100% of the time. We need to figure out how to more effectively allocate spectrum  - Rajesh Mishra
2. The numbers tell us that there will be a crisis in internet availability, but, confident that smart entrepreneurs will find the solution - Bob Davis
6. How to balance agility + sustainability in the mobile world, where businesses have such a short half-life?
1. Entrepreneurs need to have a larger vision (i.e. Uber is not a transportation company, but, a comprehensive logistics platform) so that can roll-out new services and features - Purnima Kochikar & Susie Kim Riley
2. Content is fickle and it always has been, mobile just makes it more obvious - Bob Davis
7. How to Handle Privacy Concerns? 
1. First task is to prove to users that metadata can be anonymous - Rajesh Mishra
2. Users will opt-in to share data if they get something in return - Susie Kim Riley
8. Android vs. iOS
1. Closed systems do a great job educating the market, but open systems always win in the long run - Bob Davis
2. User experience is key, whoever masters this will win - Rajesh Mishra
3. Poor user experience on low cost Android phones ruins the user experience - Rajesh Mishra
4. This debate will continue forever - Purnima Kochikar