Want to be the go-to guy or gal on your team with the flashiest new apps? The one dressing Instagram photos with never-before-seen filters and stamps, using emoticons our Japanese counterparts only released yesterday?

It can be time-consuming to stay current in social and digital media, so here are some effective ways to quickly surface and assess the hottest toys.

1. Assign yourself playtime. My playtime is Sunday evening after “Mad Men.” I pull out my iPad and iPhone and I furiously start downloading new apps. I jump over to the Featured and Top Charts sections of iTunes to see if there are any new additions. I download them, bring them to the forefront, launch them, create a new account, follow the top accounts (if applicable), invite a few friends and make time to revisit them later in the week. If it’s a photo app, I try out some photos and push them out to Facebook to see how they look. If it’s a news app, I load it up with my interested topics and see how it populates.

Interaction with apps is important. You need to understand the functionality before you make a recommendation. And don’t just bury your new downloads in the graveyard, i.e., the last page of apps.

2. Subscribe to folks who do the research for you. Having been part of the tech PR community, I am (somewhat) responsible for having jammed reporters’ inboxes with pitches about startups. The good folks at TechCrunch, Mashable, The Next Web, ReadWrite and countless other online publications filter through all that noise to help uncover the next big thing. So listen to them, they’ve done their homework.

A few worth noting: I closely follow my buddy Ryan Lawler, who is responsible for introducing Uber and BlackJet to my vocabulary. And Mashable’s Emily Price posts a weekly app roundup of top mobile apps.

Determine what you like to follow on the medium that’s easiest for you to use, and stay on top of it.

3. Identify a network to discuss and share your latest finds. New York Tech Meetup holds monthly events where tech companies demo their products to a large group of tech enthusiasts. Digital LA holds events for “Silicon Beach” startups to showcase their products. These are two examples of larger organizations, but you can replicate the experience with a close group of friends or coworkers. Identify networks both online and offline where you can share exciting discoveries with others. Pass around your phone or pull up the site on your desktop. Don’t just chat about it – do it together.

Yuna Park is Associate Director of Social & Digital Innovation at 22squared. Follow her @yunapark, and follow the agency @22squared.

If you were to go back in time and interview any leading advertising guru, it is likely he or she would never believe that advertising through a phone could work, let alone increase business for clients.  Yet here we sit in 2013 with mobile advertising dollars surpassing $9.6 billion per year.

In addition, one of the world’s largest companies Facebook, has recently declared mobile ads are a more viable channel than television ads.

Are the days of million dollar Super Bowl commercials, and celebrity pitches out the door?  Far from it.  But the truth is that mobile ads and specifically mobile branded apps, are becoming a go-to advertising and marketing tactic for some of the largest companies in the world, as well as small businesses.  From increased interactions, in-depth demographic data and deeper understanding of customer habits, there are many reasons why mobile ads and apps are a powerful new tool for marketing departments:

Mobile Devices Are Where the Customers Are

One of the most effective reasons to embrace mobile advertising is the ability to reach a rapidly expanding audience through a direct channel.  Advertisers interested in mobile ads, can tailor their ads specifically for the device type, operating system and even the specific update version.

Whereas, television ads were never truly optimized for HD television rather than standard definition, mobile ads have a customizable element.  Data regarding device type and OS of choice can give additional insight to who a brand is targeting.  With that information in hand, marketing departments can direct advertisements with increased precision and accuracy.

Last year, Priceline.com was in the news for personalizing offerings for Mac users.  Data about visitors to Priceline.com detailed how Mac users pulled in higher average salaries than Windows users.  In response to that data, Priceline offered more costly and expensive deals to Mac users.  The same can occur throughout mobile advertising, given that there are certainly demographic differences according to mobile device type.

Branded Apps Spur Customer Interactions

Starbucks has been a high profile adopter of mobile apps and mobile ads.  They have recently adapted one of their most popular offerings, free download cards for iTunes apps, into a mobile app as well.  Offers can only be obtained with a downloaded Starbucks mobile app while in-store.  The idea is to increase in-store visits and increase interaction with the Starbucks app, both of which contribute to business growth.

Branded apps are an effective means to spur physical visits to locations while simultaneously providing a touch point for customers to interact with a brand on the go.  An app created for consumers by an enterprise is a long term living advertisement which not only reaches customers, but gathers data about how customers interact with your brand and competitors.

Data produced by a mobile app is incredibly valuable for marketing to understand demographics and customer habits.  A single ad placed on recurring schedule for a TV show can only reach a viewer so many times for so long, and advertisers do not have exact statistics on how long each viewer sees it.  On the other hand, an app’s back-end can gather interaction data that can help you better understand the relationship your brand has with customers.

From Banner Ads to Branded Mobile Games

In addition to offer based apps from brands, there are increasing amounts of branded games that reward users with deals.  For example, Skittles has a branded app game that rewards a user for reaching certain levels or achieving high scores.  Ideally the user will receive discounts or free items and remain directly connected to the brand, and the brand will be connected to the customer.

Data regarding the way a user interacts with the app can show in depth details about how users shop, communicate on social media and respond to your outreach through the app.  When comparing this new model for advertising through mobile and the old method of banner ads and pop-ups, the main factor is that mobile ads produce valuable demographic data while older methods offer nothing like that.

Banner ads and pop-ups were essentially nuisances for users trying to access a website, and provided very little information regarding how the users interact with the ad. Specifically with mobile apps, the content is directly integrated with the advertising pitch.

Extended Reach and Long Term Interactions

Essentially, mobile apps and mobile ads provide direct access and interaction with customers in a way that traditional advertisements feasibly could not.  Advertisements, traditionally, stop functioning after the brief period of exposure witnessed by prospects and customers.  Mobile apps and mobile ads embedded in apps, allow for continuous interaction with a brand as well as the stockpiling of pertinent marketing data.

Not only are mobile ads and in-app marketing tactics being embraced as traditional advertising alternatives, the new tactic produces reciprocal value thanks to the data that is collected.  Marketers can now conduct real-time marketing analysis by monitoring the usage data of branded apps and interactions with mobile ads embedded in apps.  As mobile continues to dominant the computing and media consumption landscape, the channel will soon mature as a necessary bottom line outreach strategy for marketing departments across the globe.

You think ads in mobile apps are annoying, don’t you?

I believe that the popular backlash against digital advertising stems from poor targeting practices. Bad targeting usually means bad advertising; good targeting means matching people with messages that are actually relevant to them. In fact, Adblock Plus found in a survey that 75% of its users were willing to see responsibly-targeted, unobtrusive ads.

That’s why it’s high time mobile apps take advantage of data to make their ads more relevant.

Most app developers are gathering mountains of data about users’ interests that could be combined with “interest graph” data from Facebook, Twitter and other interlinked social networks to target ads based on what a user actually likes. By doing this, app developers could dramatically boost engagement with their ads and charge a premium for their audiences… not to mention make mobile ads a little less bothersome.

To demonstrate this concept in action, I’ve looked at four popular apps that are not already targeting based on interest data, with a few ideas on how they can get started. Some may disagree with my suggestions for changing their most beloved apps, but I believe that ad targeting done well will enhance user experience, not detract from it.

1. Pandora

Pandora users have become accustomed to irrelevant ads; as one reviewer said, “the app was great, but the ads were ‘completely useless’.” Most of Pandora’s in-app advertising revolves around intermittent audio ads based on a user’s location, but few ads take into account a user’s tastes or preferences. Obviously, just because two users live the same town doesn’t mean they’re interested in the same thing… so why doesn’t Pandora move away from geo-targeting to much more nuanced interest graph targeting?

For Pandora, this means analyzing first-party data (playlist seeds and music ratings) and combining it with third-party data (other interest graph data, such as what a user likes and who they follow). By integrating a user’s thumbs-up and thumbs-down ratings with interests identified from her Facebook and Twitter data, Pandora could easily present ads for products and services she would find relevant.

2. Flixster

Many ads on Flixster promote current movies playing at nearby cinemas, or special offers from advertisers such as LivingSocial. Users get interstitial screen takeovers based on location, and lots of ads for Flixster features and content. Other ads seem completely untargeted, such as LivingSocial pop-ups and Rotten Tomatoes banners.

Flixster has a ton of valuable data about its users (location, types of movies they like, movies they’ve seen and rated etc.) that they could be using to target ads – and they aren’t even doing this simple type of targeting. The app could also go above and beyond targeting based on its own data to include third-party interest graph data from Facebook and Twitter. Combining Flixster’s own interest data with information like which celebrities its users follow on major social platforms could help advertisers reach people who might be interested in TV premieres featuring their favorite movie stars.

3. Yelp

Yelp is one of the most popular local apps around today. Millions of users launch Yelp every day to look up reviews for restaurants, stores, attractions and more. And guess what? Yelp doesn’t serve mobile ads at all! To be fair, Yelp’s monetization strategy focuses mostly on getting local businesses to pony up for “enhanced” listings, but the world’s most popular local reviews app could be doing so much more to monetize its mobile traffic. On the Yelp website, users see relevant promoted events and businesses on the right side of the screen, as well as some targeted advertising – but on the mobile app, nothing.

The thing is, Yelp knows what type of restaurants, shops, events, and attractions you frequent, as well as your location, places you’ve reviewed and more. For its mobile app, Yelp could combine a user’s location, searches, and review history to deliver highly relevant ads. What’s more, Yelp could integrate third-party interest graph data to identify users as “moms” or “sports fans” to create even more relevant ad experiences.

4. OkCupid

OkCupid is another mobile app that serves no ads. This is a company that uses sophisticated data mining to make sophisticated dating matches. It asks users dozens of questions to create their unique profiles, and has data on age, interests, location, preferences for a date, opinions, chats, messages etc. Yet OKCupid does not use this data to serve targeted ads on mobile. I’m sure the daters on OkCupid would be an outstanding audience for ads for relevant local restaurants, bars, comedy clubs, theatres, and other outings, not to mention ads for clothes, makeup, accessories, and other must-have items for actively-dating singles.

OkCupid could start by mining the rich dataset it has on all the singles using its service to create targeted ads based on location, interests and age. It could also combine this information with third-party interest graph data to attract a wider range of advertisers, beyond those that fit the “dater” profile. For example, they could help auto brands find in-market auto shoppers, or help airlines find frequent travelers.

These advertisers could even gear their creative towards this audience to make the ads relevant to the app experience, with ad copy such as “Don’t take her out in your old clunker. Check out the new Jeep!”

The most significant finding was that adding indoor location technologies to retailer mobile apps improves shopper engagement by five times. And while it’s been known that these features are beneficial for both the shopper and the retailer, this data shows that indoor location has a significant, measurable and positive impact on in-store shopping.

The data resulted from a year-long A|B test conducted by Point Inside with the goal of understanding the influence of indoor location technologies on shopper engagement. The test involved identical retail apps where one had indoor location technologies and the other did not. Collectively known as “store mode,” these capabilities include indoor maps, product locations and efficient routing through the store.

The data covers 2012 and is aggregated from multiple clients. The test included more than 1 million sessions from more than 25,000 unique users.

Turns out it’s the integration of the physical store with the app that drives the increased engagement. Store mode connects the in-store mobile shopper to the store and, in doing so, delivers significant value for both the customer and the retailer.

Shoppers can more easily find the products they want by seeing the products’ exact locations as pins on an indoor map. Shoppers can also view an entire shopping list mapped in the store, showing the most efficient route covering everything on the list. All in all, it delivers a more efficient and enjoyable experience.

Retailers benefit greatly, too: they can see customer’s shopping lists and use it to create a more compelling shopping experience through personalized offers and product suggestions. Store mode also provides deep analytics into in-store behavior, including the where time is spent in the store and the efficacy of promotions.

The increased engagement drives better connections between retailers and shoppers. Customers get better service and value. Retailers gain a better understanding of their customers and increased loyalty. Retailers also get increased sales and more efficient marketing programs.

Additional results from the study include:
• The study also shows the fastest growing segment to be shoppers who used the apps 5 or more times in a month. This segment more than doubled in size throughout the year.
• In comparing the use of coupons, those who used the app clipped more than four times as many coupons as non-app users.

In-store shopping still accounts for more than 90% of retail sales, and with more than 80% of smartphone owners using their mobile devices for shopping, the new world of shopping is already here. Pretty solid math that shows retailers have a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of store mode capabilities in their apps and increase their customer engagement five-fold.

Take advantage of it before your competition does.

During a period when online publishers were already improvising monetization efforts to compensate for the rise of programmatic buying, mobile introduced yet another variable that would further complicate the situation, forcing a shift in focus. Already squeezing every last cent out of online CPM’s, mobile traffic immediately made its presence felt as online audiences were no longer restricted to a computer screen as a means of accessing their favorite digital content. As a result, mobile traffic began cannibalizing impressions from the desktop impressions, further impacting an already depleting bottom line. Digital publishers reliant on online advertising revenue were suddenly dealt with a brand new form of supply to figure out and monetize immediately, or face a slow death at the expense of mobile's rapid growth.

By properly understanding the psyche of the mobile user, and aligning approaches to meet what consumers demand, these basic mobile guidelines for publishers will not only help your properties produce a mobile experience that maximizes mobile audience engagement, but also the revenue stream that follows:

· Content is king, and this is especially true in mobile. When determining how to slice and dice online content for the mobile screen, hone in on the content that matters to your audience and make it compatible for their mobile viewing pleasure. For this content to be considered mobile compatible at least two requirements must be met. First, this content needs to be easily found and identified by the user upon initial visit and, second, it must be made native to the mobile screen. Simply shrinking pre-existing content, which then requires the mobile visitor to pinch and zoom to engage with information is a mobile property’s worst enemy. In fact, a recent study commissioned by Google found that 79% of mobile visitors that find a mobile site difficult to use would immediately leave to find a suitable replacement.

· Mobile is a “need to know now” medium. Unlike TV, Radio or PC, mobile users carry this Internet connected device with them at all times. This reality feeds our instincts for instant gratification, so it’s only natural that a mobile user is accustomed to immediately being able to access desired content or information. Within seconds, a mobile device can be leveraged to find the nearest food, access the latest sports scores, lookup tomorrow’s weather forecast, watch a trailer, or purchase movie tickets. To reproduce a successful mobile experience for your organic audience, their immediate asks must be met.

· Which is better, App or Mobile Optimized site? Depending on who you ask, there is an argument to be made for either as each format comes with an inherit set of benefits and limitations. When deciding on which to adopt, it is advised to let the content influence the decision-making. For example, apps are conducive to rich content experiences. Publishers with an audience who primarily consume video, music, images, and social media are more likely to reproduce a favorable mobile experience for their audience through an app. On the other hand, a well-designed mobile optimized site may be best suited for content that is research or task oriented. Whereas apps are largely utilized for consumption of media or leisurely browsing, mobile web audiences are typically on a mission in search of facts or specific information.

· Monetization of mobile is very possible. For most publishers reliant on ad revenue, low mobile CPM’s and ad fill rates are top concerns of this medium. That said, many publishers who find themselves in this situation can look to experience immediate gains by examining mobile monetization shortfalls and adjusting appropriately. For one, just because a site can be accessed from a mobile device does NOT make it mobile optimized. All too often I come across web based properties simply trying to milk their pre-existing ad demand by serving online formatted banners within mobile based viewing sessions. Plenty of mobile demand exists, but a "mobile first" ad serving infrastructure must be in place to start reaping these benefits.

Given that mobile traffic already accounts for 20% of all daily U.S. Internet traffic and, with sales of mobile devices also surpassing PCs, this shift in traffic from desktop to mobile is not destined to slow down anytime soon. For those ill-prepared to fully absorb this continual transition, the good news is that it’s not too late for publishers to adopt a successful mobile strategy, regardless if they are starting from scratch or purely looking to improve upon current framework.

Following up on our list of Top 10 Mobile Marketing Initiatives of 2012, it's time to look at some trends we'll see emerge and/or evolve in the year ahead.

Among the most prominent (not necessarily in this order):

5. Mobile Advertising Picks Up Speed (For A Time)

According to Forrester Research, mobile ad spend will boom next year - to $15 billion. Why? Because consumers now spend 10% of their media consumption time on mobile devices, yet mobile attracts less than 10% of ad dollars. The firm reasons that the old school Internet's ad growth from 8% of spend to 22% of spend means mobile must follow course (even though marketers get less and less from that increased Internet spend). But, the firm says, even a small step toward closing the gap will mean big dollars for this medium.

I'm not completely convinced. As a marketer, I find mobile advertising a bore (even some of the newer, much hyped expandable ad units). As a consumer, I find it all a snooze fest.

Mobile's far more powerful than just trying to replicate ad models from the old school Internet and slapping them on a small screen of a phone, or even the larger screen of a tablet. But there's just too much potential revenues at stake so, in 2013 at least, mobile advertising will be a hot topic. Until it's someday not (or is at least recognized as one small, nearly insignificant sliver of the amazing things you can do with mobile). But as Ad Age points out today, 38% of click-throughs in mobile are from fat, clumsy thumbs.

The pub goes onto talk about some ways mobile video and native mobile ads within apps like Foursquare may see success. But in my view, Coca-Cola's Re:Brief integrated campaign is probably the best example of mobile advertising combining with social & traditional media to work cohesively in a compelling manner.

And, as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, using mobile to not just promote but enhance your product - turn it into a mobile service, ala Nike+ and other successful initiatives - is what will define winners and losers in many categories next year and in the decade ahead.

4. QR Code Stores Proliferate (Just Not in The US)

QR code stores in subways and elsewhere seem to have been the surprise hits of 2012, and could seriously take off in 2013. According to shop2mobi, 300 of these virtual stores launched last year - and 2,000 have already been planned for the next 12 months. Still, while these are huge in South Korea, China, Germany and elsewhere, QR codes themselves still mostly elicit quizzical looks from consumers, when they generate any notice at all. I could easily see commuters in New York or San Francisco taking advantage of these kinds of offerings. But it may be a while before they stand any chance in most of the US - and by the time that happens, we'll probably be onto whatever will replace QR codes next.

3. Mobile CRM Gains Strength As Transaction Capabilities Advance

Here's a winner: Use of mobile for customer loyalty programs like Starbucks'. Look for more brands to move beyond just using mobile to replenish cards to having mobile become the entire platform for loyalty. Look for transaction capabilities to advance, and adoption rates to follow suit.

2. More Brands Make the Mobile + Social + Local Connection

The big trend here is that more brands will stop viewing mobile and social as (just) cool new ways to connect with consumers, and start viewing these channels as cool new ways for brands to enable consumers to connect with one another - moderated and empowered by the brand.

In my piece the other day on social media trends for 2013, I point to early examples of this, including Vail Resort's Epic Mix app, which connects real friends in the real world in a highly social, physical world brand experience.

This past year, one look only at Heineken's personalized concert QR codes to see how ad hoc mobile + social + local branded experiences can take shape.

Look for more of this in the year ahead (especially as it pertains to things like social television viewing) - along with a new syllable, as we move from SoLoMo to SoLoMoCo with the addition of Co, which stands for Commerce. In a mobile roundtable I hosted this last August, SAP CMO Jonathan Becher and I discuss what this new dynamic might mean to brand marketers and retailers alike in the year ahead.

1. Augmented Reality Gets Really Cool

One look at my list of Top 10 Augmented Reality Initiatives 2012, and it's clear that AR - while quite gimmicky today - holds great promise for brand experiences via mobile and elsewhere. One of my favorite things about mobile AR is that it gets to the heart of the mobile ad debate.

In my view, mobile is far more powerful as an activation mechanism for communications we experience in other media - in print, television, radio, direct mail, outdoor and so on - than it is as an ad platform in and of itself. Mobile AR is an experience activated by the consumer, at his or her own initiative, at the point of communications impression. And it delivers something that literally can't be achieved in any other medium.

Not that many consumers are going to go download an AR app and start using it in 2013. But as standards emerge, these kinds of brand experiences will become more common - and will make up some of the cooler components of integrated campaigns in the year ahead.

And personal finance is something that could use a little attention in the US. Many Americans are currently mired in debt and some 16% have no idea at all of what their spending habits are.  What is of more concern is interest in personal finance, it seems, tends to deteriorate as people age and finances become more complicated. Only 10% of baby boomers are truly engaged with their finances.

The Rise of Mobile Apps for Personal Finance

In many ways, the ways in which users are now able to revolutionize their finances are endless. Thousands of different applications currently exist. For example, the most popular personal finance app, Mint, helps their 9 million users who want to keep track of their spending, like Jennifer Hudson, make a budget and track their spending by category, which makes it much easier for users to see when they are overspending. Mint also informs users of their purchases over time by using historical data and, because of this, users are able to stay focused on their goals. Users will be able to see every time they splurged on a purchase and every time they choose to save. This helps keep the “cheat” purchases in perspective.

Many users say that what makes the program successful is the fact that it is based in the cloud, so they can access it from many different devices. Users are able to get real time balances on their phones, so purchases aren’t piling up without their knowledge.

In addition to budgeting, there are mobile apps that help consumers make smart decisions when complicated math is involved, like buying a home or a car. Two of the most popular are Mortgage Calculator for Android and CalcsFree Mortgage Calculator for iPhone both help users get quick calculations of the real cost of their purchase, an activity that helps consumers avoid purchases that are beyond their means and helps identify predatory salesmen.

One unexpected result of the rise of personal finance apps was they helped curb the tendency for Americans to eat in restaurants. There has been a downward trend in American restaurant spending since the year 2008. In 2010 Americans spent $2,505 less than they did in 2009 in restaurants.

Note, Not a Lifestyle Revolution

However, mobile applications are not the silver bullet in the battle against credit card debt and the poor state of personal finances in America. Personal finance apps cannot make you use them – many of those who download these apps only use them for a short while and because of this, the applications do not make any long-term improvements to their finances

Apps can also be harder for older users. Currently twice as many in Generation Y use apps compared to baby boomers even though baby boomers have far more complicated finances. Min users, for example, generally do not have a home mortgage. This leads market analysts to believe that most Mint.com users are not baby boomers as 76% of baby boomers own their own homes

Mobile applications also do not give counsel on how best to use money or which investments to make, although they can deliver share prices to user. And, the biggest complaint of all, mobile applications don’t foster good decision-making. Apps can only show users the money they’re spending; they cannot prevent users from spending it.

Recommendations for Personal Finance Apps

·    Creating a Budget:  Mint.com
Considered the best aggregator app, Mint can be used on either iPhone or Android and provides consumers account balances in real time and helps users divide up their expenses by category to help them better understand their spending

·    Getting the Best Price: ShopSavvy
Used on either iPhone or Android, this money saving app turns user’s phone into a camera that searches the Internet to see if there is a better price available

·    Finding a Deal on Everyday Purchases: Shooger
Also available for both Android and iPhone, Shooger has a database of over 80,000 coupons and a multivariable search system that allows easily navigate the database. This app also allows users to set up alerts that alert them when favorite stores get release new coupons.

The statistics¹ are overwhelming. This year:
• There are 1.2 billion mobile Web users worldwide
• All mobile phone users will reach 242.6 million
• 94% of smartphones users will be mobile internet users
• Mobile internet users will reach 113.9 million
• Mobile shoppers will reach 72.8 million
• Tablet users will reach 54.8 million
• iPad users will reach 41.9 million
• In the U.S., 25% of mobile Web users are mobile-only

We all know mobile is big and we all know it has enormous marketing potential. What many advertisers don’t yet know (and what’s probably more overwhelming than these statistics) is the most effective way to harness its power.

It’s understandable given challenges such as complications with the myriad of handsets and technologies available, privacy and spam concerns, tiny supplies of valuable ad inventory and obstacles to streamlined mobile commerce.

It’s also understandable why this year, mobile ad spend continues to represent a mere 1 percent of total worldwide ad spend.  And why last year, more than half of companies surveyed (58 percent) said they don’t even have a mobile strategy primarily because they’re not sure how to get started².

What we all seem to clearly understand, however, is that the more consumers buy and use smartphones and tablets, our ability as marketers to leverage this action-oriented medium is critical to our success.

The Evolution of Mobile

Even though it seems advertisers don’t have the best handle on mobile marketing (yet), the industry certainly has come a long way.  Early innovators laid the groundwork for some of today’s most successful campaigns and today’s innovators are laying the groundwork for future success.

In its simplest form, mobile marketing started with rudimentarily optimized mobile websites and text message marketing, followed by targeted banner ads, followed by search giants Google and Yahoo in the mix, combining results with local mapping and click-to-call features.

In its present form, there are apps and ads in video and multimedia, in search and social, and in technologies such as QR codes, Augmented Reality (AR) and Near Field Communication (NFC).  Marketers push the creativity envelope using device technologies too, such as accelerometer, gyroscope and touch interface to name a few.

Post-2012 promises to bring greater interactivity and creativity, enhanced ad value, improved targeting, advanced search and fully optimized content.

In our industry, the evolution of mobile marketing has followed a similar trajectory.  In particular, there are several noteworthy auto”mobile” strategies demonstrating how marketers are closing the gap between auto brands and the billions of always-on consumers who never leave home without their mobile devices.  Following are highlights.

Car and Driver, Toyota Get “App-Happy”

In recent years, Jumpstart has worked closely with its publisher partners to develop leading-edge mobile applications designed to effectively and conveniently reach in-market car shoppers.

These efforts include our work with Car and Driver to develop an iPad app combining the magazine’s in-depth car reviews, car comparisons and award-winning automotive editorial with fully interactive, high-resolution car videos, photo galleries, graphs and charts, and up-to-the-minute news feeds.

And to combat the dangers of texting while driving, Car and Driver launched the Txt U L8r app sponsored by Chrysler, to automatically reply to – and read aloud received text messages – to prevent drivers from taking their eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel.

Automakers are relying more heavily on apps to market their vehicles, including two newly-launched this year by Toyota for its Prius C.  One featured in Words with Friends and the other in Urbanspoon enables users to play spin-the-wheel and spelling games focused on the new hybrid.

The apps are an extension of mobile ads featured at sites like Yahoo, YouTube and Amazon (and around digital partnerships with Facebook, Pandora and Hulu to name a few) and are based on the popular board game Life to demonstrate how the Prius C can help owners overcome life’s obstacles.

Road & Track, Cadillac Tap Barcodes

In another Jumpstart partner venture, Road & Track has integrated 2-D barcodes into its print issues, enabling readers of the nation’s longest running automotive magazine to “point and click” on steering wheel-shaped icons to instantly access exciting videos related to content featured there.

Cadillac has also integrated barcodes into its marketing efforts, launching a sophisticated QR code campaign earlier this year for its XTS through inside front cover ads in various print media, including Fortune.

When QR codes are scanned, readers are directed to mobile landing pages to view XTS photos or videos, to find a local dealer based on zip code or device GPS, or to link through to the automaker’s social media sites.  Unique codes and dedicated URLs enable Cadillac to track user engagement.

Kia Rio, Land Rover Push the Mobile Envelope

Earlier this year, Kia launched a full scale mobile campaign to promote its 2012 Rio to younger buyers through ads, apps and dedicated mobile microsites.

Through the Flixster iPhone app, users were directed via ads to optimized mobile landing pages (where they could browse photos, learn about features and build their own Rio), and to other Rio multimedia content at YouTube and Facebook.

Kia also launched tablet-centric apps and mobile sites enabling users to build Rios, find local dealers, browse multi-view images, and research the vehicle’s full lineup of features – and Kia’s full lineup of cars too.

And late last year, to reach a younger audience for its newly-launched Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover used fully-interactive touch-and-motion sensor iAds on iPhone and iPad.

The ad units, featured through the iAd Network, allowed users to build their dream Evoque by changing features such as body style or color with the swipe of a finger.  Images of their dream car could be captured and saved as a wallpaper or attached to an email to be shared with friends.  The ads also enabled panoramic views of the vehicle’s interior when a device was rotated or tilted.

According to the automaker, users engaged with Evoque ads for astoundingly long periods of time – nearly a minute and a half on average – and had purchase intent 2.5 times higher than those responding to an Evoque TV ad.

Ford Dealers Selling Through iPad

Ford has equipped its dealers with Showcase app-enabled iPads to improve customer service and streamline sales.  The app is designed to assist dealers in helping customers find the Ford vehicle that’s right for them.

Showcase includes a finger swipe-enabled photo gallery of Ford cars and trucks so employees can highlight a vehicle’s features digitally and in real-time, while providing information about the models that are in-stock and available at dealer lots – complete with trim-level info and pricing.

It also highlights videos of Ford vehicle technologies in action, including its popular Sync system.

Essentially, the automaker’s app for iPad is a lightweight, virtual product brochure dealers can carry with them in the showroom to assist with servicing their customers and ultimately, selling cars.

2013 AutoMobile Marketing Trends

Video among mobile users continues to catapult the industry forward as carriers evolve to successfully meet bandwidth and speed demands. This coming year, look for video to play a much larger and more sophisticated role in automaker and dealer mobile marketing initiatives in search and display, and in local mapping.

Look for more advanced tracking capabilities to emerge next year as well, as marketers better understand how, when and where people use their mobile devices to research and shop for cars (down to the days of the week, the times of the day, and what sites they visit in the process).  As marketers’ abilities to track and define user engagement improves in the mobile space, so too will our ability to find and target automotive shoppers.

Lastly, expect improvements in the optimization of mobile websites and an upsurge in mobile ad inventory in 2013 as marketers glean a better understanding of how people consume and engage with content through more sophisticated tracking.

Increased scale will make mobile targeting more efficient and valuable to both publishers and advertisers while becoming more contextual and relevant to users – ultimately boosting audience engagement in the process.

Nick Matarazzo is CEO of Jumpstart Automotive Group

¹ AMA 2012:  The Year of the Mobile Roadmap http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Documents/ebooks/mobil-%20roadmap-2012.pdf

2The Association of Strategic Marketing 2011: http://www.associationofmarketing.org/

AtTask – When traveling for work, it can be difficult to stay on top of everything that needs to be done, but AtTask allows users to take their office with them.  The AtTask app helps users stay up-to-date on all ongoing projects, keep work requests refreshed and keeps users connected with their coworkers.   This project manager software is a must-have for professionals.

Office Plus – Since many people use Microsoft Office for preparing documents and presentations, the Office Plus app is great to for those away from the office.  The app allows users to view Excel and Word files straight from their phones.  A lot of apps that are compatible with Microsoft Office only allow users to access files in read-only format, so Office Plus is great in this respect since users can edit and create files.

QuickBooks Mobile – Free for Intuit users, QuickBooks Mobile is a great app for managing one’s business on the go.  With QuickBooks Mobile, users can manage invoices, create and send professional estimates, create sales receipts and more.  Instead of staying in the office to manage things, users can take care of everything straight from their phones.

ScanBizCards – With some jobs, such as car insurance appraisers or traveling salespersons, it is imperative to have contact information for clients and business partners at one’s fingertips.  Many people pass around business cards, but if someone is in a profession where he deals with a lot of people, it can be inconvenient to carry around all that information on the go.  This is where the app ScanBizCards comes in.  With this app, the user can snap a picture of each business card he gets and the app will convert the scanned information to a new contact in the address book.  So not only does the user get the benefit of having all of his office contact information at his fingertips wherever he goes, he doesn’t even have to type it in himself.

Microsoft Lync 2010 – Staying in touch with colleagues is a must with any job and many larger businesses install instant messaging programs like Microsoft Lync on their employees’ computers so they can easily send short messages.  For someone who is traveling and needs to take their office with them, not having access to such instant messengers can hurt productivity.  Fortunately, the people at Microsoft offer the free Microsoft Lync 2010 app for users with Lync accounts.  This makes it easy to keep in touch with one’s manager or coworkers at all times.

Why the decrease? The staggering numbers listed above may be to blame. Smartphone users are overwhelmed by the variety of mobile apps available. What app is best? Should I download the free app or spring for the paid app? I should probably download an app to complete x, y and z, right?

While the iTunes App Store isn’t likely to disappear any time soon, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sift through the 500,000 apps in the App Store, let alone other app sites. If a business “category” is already heavily populated, you might not even find an app that would be best suited for your needs.

After all of this back-and-forth, you have probably downloaded more apps than you can use which are now taking up precious memory on your phone.

The app clutter becomes overwhelming resulting in what I like to call “app-athy.”

How should you avoid this app overload? Here are a few questions to consider:

• Why am I getting this app? If it will result in time saved, increased productivity or entertainment, hit the install button. If you’re having difficulty stating the benefits, it probably won’t make your life any easier or more fun, and you can probably operate without this app.

• When will I use this app? If you can’t list three situations or features of the app that you will use on a regular basis, skip the download. A flashlight or level app may be handy, but if you aren’t stranded in dark rooms, camping or involved with home improvement projects often, these apps are just taking up space.

• Do you use the Web version of the app on your computer? If you already use the features and functionality of this application in a browser format, you may be more likely to use the app. This is probably why Facebook, YouTube, Android Market, Google Search and Gmail are the top five mobile apps according to a May 2012 Nielsen study.

• Is the website better than the app? Many apps are more difficult to navigate and don’t provide all the bells and whistles of the brand’s website. Since mobile apps provide the same content as the website, why bother with the app? Businesses need to make the app simpler and more efficient than the website. For example, an app used for directions should have GPS capabilities to determine your location instead of having to enter your address or zip code.

If you already have pages upon pages of apps and numerous folders filled to the brim on your smartphone, it may be time to reevaluate your app usage. Otherwise, you could always download apps like Greplin or Pixable to help you manage your current apps. An app to use an app.

Don’t be surprised if you have to go to ther-appy.

But if we look at one internet giant that recently went public, there might be some hope. TechCrunch reports that Facebook’s mobile Sponsored Stories seem to be gaining some traction, earning 13 times the click- through rate and 11.2 times the money per impression when compared to its desktop ads, and 1.93 times the click-through rate and 2.65X the money per impression of Sponsored Stories on desktop browsers.

We are still very much in the early days but if Facebook can make it work, then other brands might take notice.

Advertisers must understand, though, that the war for consumer attention in mobile won’t be won by sticking with traditional ad units.  Marketers who engage their users with compelling content that goes beyond conventional mobile advertising norms will be the ones to stand out from the rest of the pack.

What do I mean? Here are a few tips for brands, developers and publishers.

Big Brands – Leverage Unexpected Mobile Real Estate and Rethink Your App Strategy

There’s more to the mobile ecosystem than advertisements. Branded applications that are smart (more on that in a bit) can be just as effective towards the consumer. Apps from brands like Pizza Hut which generated $1 million in sales when in launched in 2009, prove that branded apps can work. Another great example is the Starbucks app – the mobile commerce element of the app makes it indispensable for users. In fact, during 2011, Starbucks says that the app generated $110 million dollar’s worth of card reloads.

The unifying thread between these apps is that they provide utility for the consumer, which is critical in today’s increasingly crowded mobile ecosystem.

Brands/App Developers – Think Like Publishers

Brands need to understand that in today’s environment they are more than brands, they’re content creators and publishers. The reason why big brand applications have failed is because they haven’t provided users with a reason to come back. Apps should be about more than providing news. They should provide users with the ability to share their love for the brand, as well, be it through photo, video or other rich media content.

Publishers/Advertisers – Be Ready for the Ramifications of Responsive Design

Advancements in HTML5 and responsive design will change the way content is displayed across all screens. With this huge industry sea change just around the corner, marketers will have to change how they approach mobile marketing – advertising units will likely change as this occurs.

Publishers who want to provide their users with engaging mobile content should consider the way they display their content and realize what outlets like USA Today and the Boston Globe have realized – that responsive design and HTML 5 are the future of mobile web development and as a result, the future of mobile advertising.

There’s no question that the mobile marketing space is going to grow extremely fast over the years to come. What isn’t 100% clear yet is whether apps or the mobile web will win the eyes and hearts of consumers. One thing is certain, though: marketers should bet on engagement and not just ad units.

For the record, Rachel Pasqua, Organic's new executive director of mobile marketing, thinks the QR code is like cilantro: You either love it or hate it.

You'll hear more pronouncements like that, presumably, in the upcoming book Mobile Marketing in One Hour A Day (Wiley) that Pasqua is writing with eMarketer analyst Noah Elkin (listen here as Elkin interviews me about QR code best practices for a recent analyst report).

In part two of my interview with Pasqua, we begin a discussion about this month's Super Bowl advertising and mobile's varied role as an activation or response mechanism - starting with audio activation ala Shazam and yes, more about cilantro.

Q&A: RACHEL PASQUA, EXEC DIR, MOBILE MARKETING, ORGANIC (PT 2)

Click Here to Listen to: Q&A: Rachel Pasqua (Pt 2)

(3:32)

On the heels of its designation as Ad Age's "Comeback Agency of the Year," Organic has hired Rachel Pasqua as its newly-minted executive director of mobile marketing.

In part one of my recent conversation with Pasqua, we get a sense of mobile's role in the post-modern marketing firm, and how it will help Organic stay on top of its game (full disclosure: Organic Chief Creative Officer Conor Brady wrote a rave review and cover blurb for my latest book).

In coming days, we'll review mobile's role in this month's Super Bowl advertising - and what it all could mean for mobile integration moving forward.

Q&A: RACHEL PASQUA, EXEC DIR, MOBILE MARKETING, ORGANIC (PT 1)

Q&A: Rachel Pasqua, Exec Dir, Mobile Marketing, Organic (Pt 1)</a
(3:32)

There are a number of reasons why season apps that are rushed to market can be risky for a brand, including:

• Post-holiday obsolescence: When companies stop updating an app after the holiday is over, the icon sits idle on a user’s device until deleted. Apps that are visible but un-usable can create a negative association with any brand.
• Rushed timeline: Holiday-themed apps are often based on short-term thinking and not necessarily quality. Submitting something that isn’t polished to the App store, for example, can damage your reputation with Apple and taint future submissions of your more long term projects.
• High cost: Brands that change their apps to fit each season can get themselves into a costly cycle – if you want to change the icon of your app, you have to change or update its function too. It’s not as simple as swapping an icon image.
• Loss of primary market: If you develop an application that is simply not strong enough in polish, quality, entertainment value or longevity, the user will delete it from their phone. After that point, no matter how many fixes you did after the fact (remember you rushed it to market) those users are already gone and will not see your update. The biggest downside is not just the bad impression you left, but those users whom were the first to download your app are often the most likely to have brand affinity, those whom are motivated to get your application on day one. Those are not the people you want to discourage further interaction with.

While brands should carefully consider how a seasonal app will resonate with consumers, a well thought out, successful app can increase brand interaction. Some advice for the holiday season:

• Respond to a holiday not be the holiday: Successful applications change as the seasons or holidays appear, but are not one-off events. Great examples are retailers like Target whose applications change for Christmas, but that same application moves into more of a utility mode until the next themed time such as Valentines or Father’s day.
• Highly personalized social content: Holidays are inherently social events. Applications that allow for fun or cute pictures that are personalized see better results than stock images or canned material. For example, the sending of an e-card that is branded is old news, where as inserting the end user into the photo that goes on the card and is wrapped in a nice shell that is easily shared on Twitter, Facebook and email is a better plan. Even better is if the outgoing message encourages the recipient to respond in kind.
• Leverage incentivized downloads: Maybe your best response is not to write or commission an application yourself, but to give a gift or incentive within an existing application. Many games for example have ad systems where the end user can receive the in-game currency for either downloading your main application or watching a holiday themed ad you produce. Why not drive your main business instead of a throw away application you might regret. Get started by looking at companies like Tapjoy and flurry.
• Real world rewards: Think about providing real rewards to other applications. In this rather new scenario, mobile gamers can achieve real rewards from your brand, for completing objectives within the game. Your consumer feels good for obtaining the reward and you see response rates without the development cost of the application itself. Companies like kiip is a good place to start.

To ensure success, marketers should brainstorm seasonal apps in advance and work the mobile strategy into the bigger marketing plan in order to budget accordingly and prepare for potential limitations.

Walmart Launches Shopycat, A Social Gift Finder Built On Top Of Facebook | TechCrunch

This is really smart on several levels. For one, Walmart has taken a more open approach to their gift finder, integrating product recommendations from competing stores, thereby increasing the validity and accuracy of their app. At first glance, I found this to be very helpful simply in terms of quickly gauging what people’s interests are.

I also like how Walmart is setting themselves up for Facebook ecommerce down the road. Some interesting things from a giant not known for cutting edge marketing innovation.

50% Of Ecommerce Site Visitors Are Logged In To Facebook | TechCrunch

This is big. Many brands are still treating their website and social media properties as separate entities. Sure, they might cross-link, but the bigger opportunity is in integrating things like Facebook Connect. When you consider how much money some brands spend driving traffic to their website, and then consider what a great CRM tool Facebook is, it really makes sense to integrate the two as tightly as possible.

Global vs. local social media strategies / We Are Social

The question of whether or not to have multiple Facebook pages is a big one for many brands. This is some good direction for answering that for your brand.

Body of Research « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang

This is a great list of resources, and if you’re familiar with Jeremiah’s contribution to the collective thought pool on social media, you’ll probably bookmark this immediately.

The Top 10 Marketing Infographics of 2011

It’s time for those year-end lists, and perhaps the most appropriate one for digital marketers is the year’s top infographics.

Seed Views vs. Viral Views: A Social Media Sharing Case Study

A simple but very strong case study for the power of social media sharing.

Facebook Will Help Writers Get Subscribers Via Their Own Sites – Liz Gannes – Social – AllThingsD

This should be a big boost to content publishers who want to quickly build their subscriber list, as it basically eliminates the need for someone on their site or blog to go over to Facebook to subscribe to their feed. It will also allow them to more persuasively customize how they entice their readers to subscribe.

A Tiny Pacific Island Is Now Powered By Coconuts | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Not exactly new media marketing, but I love the idea of using coconuts to recharge my iPhone.

Social Marketing Optimization (SMO) | Social Media Today

An outline for how to approach strategic planning for your brand’s social media activities.

Condom Ad Disguised as Facebook Friend Request From Your Future Son

Agencies are always willing to bend a few rules to create some recognition. Sure, this violates the user terms, but it’s also a very clever stunt and one that’s sure to garner both the agency and the cause a lot of great PR. And if you take the poll, you’ll see that (as of this writing) 74% of people find the ad clever or funny. Pretty remarkable given the public’s general sentiment towards advertising.

Separating You and Me? 4.74 Degrees – NYTimes.com

This really demonstrates how quickly any brand-related message could peel through the Internet, eventually hitting a large percent of the FB user group, while also likely generating multiple impressions for many people.

How to Turn Your Instagram Photos Into Wall Art

This is a nice partnership deal between the fast-growing Instagram and a photo printing service. Both should benefit from this ‘clicks-and-mortar’ combo. Companies without a natural online-offline relationship should consider such partnerships to expand their touchpoints.

Facebook Tests More Variations On Sponsored Stories

If there’s one ad format I’m most curious about, it’s sponsored stories. This is the leading edge of content marketing, and while the creatives are less than dynamic, they’re bringing together interesting elements: The story, the people related to it, and even what they’re saying about it.

Steve Jobs Was Right: Google IS Turning Into Microsoft

If you follow the tech battle among the 800 lb gorillas, this is a good read.

Here’s How People Look at Your Facebook Profile — Literally

This really replicates much of what’s been known about website page viewing (e.g., content at the top gets viewed the most), but it’s a quick read and is certainly worth the separate social media analysis.

Can Gamifying a Restaurant Get You Better Service?

Gamification has garnered a lot of buzz, and many of the projected use cases proposed have been pretty obvious. What I like about this is, it’s employee focused instead of customer. That may sound backwards, but employees are far more likely to use it when they’re the ones getting the potential bonus.

Is Content Marketing an Asset or an Expense?

A very simple premise — is content an expense or an asset. I really like the way this post frames content as an asset. While I’m not a CPA, it continues providing value long after it’s posted, which seems to be the trait of an asset.

A Note to Our Readers About Comments – NYTimes.com

Henry Ford said something to the effect of “If we’d have listened to our customers, we’d have designed faster horses”. Steve Jobs was known for paying very little attention to what his customers said. A quick read of the comments shows how resistant people are to change. Comment threading has been widely practiced on numerous leading online publications, and from experience, I’d say to good effect.

Daily Wrap: Path is Awesome and More

Path is an app with a very fluid timeline presentation. I think the UX definitely needs some attention (but then what startup’s UX doesn’t).

‘We Are the 99 Percent’ Joins the Cultural and Political Lexicon – NYTimes.com

A fresh look at the 99% meme, which is as close as the OWS movement came to a clear position.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It does involve a special app - which is asking a lot of consumers. But for those interested enough to download it, the experience is fun, lively and goes at least a little way in helping Beetle seem more modern and (almost) masculine.

I do hope the app comes with a dealer locator and the ability to customize a Beetle using AR, along with the ability to schedule a test drive.

This particular initiative is from Canada, and is part of a larger social+mobile+who knows what else that will run through November 26.

What's your take? Does it get you revved up for the Beetle? Or inspiration in reverse?

Read more, here.

Facebook Friends Don’t Let Friends Forget Them | Fast Company

With the explosion of social media and brain research, some very interesting findings are coming out. As the article notes, data on our social network size has never been more easily available than with Facebook. Interesting times ahead, for sure.

Egypt’s Top ‘Facebook Revolutionary’ Now Advising Occupy Wall Street | Danger Room | Wired.com

World revolutionaries uniting and working together. You couldn’t ask for a better example of how social networking technologies are increasing the rate of change in the world by connecting people who previously would have had a much more difficult time meeting and exchanging ideas.

NYT: We Can All Become Job Creators

Starbucks is launching a program to support local entrepreneurs: In this initiative, they’re basically taking on government’s responsibility while launching a powerful brand campaign. There’s a lot to like about this, not the least of which is simply taking initiative.

Amazon Rewrites the Rules of Book Publishing – NYTimes.com

I’d think this sets up a very interesting premise for brands to support writers that are covering an area of interest. Sure, there will be conflicts, but really, any more than what we already have in the media?

5 trends that will shape the future of mobile advertising — Mobile Technology News

Mobile’s growth, while perhaps overshadowed by tablet use, is still strong. These trends are focused on the paid media side of mobile, and much of it is really about bringing existing technologies to the mobile space, making use of mobiles location-based info to add relevance.

A Duet with Siri [VIDEO]

Probably not how I’ll be using Siri, but it’s an interesting product demo.

Toyota Uses Facebook Game As Promotional Vehicle

There have been promotional driving games before, but Facebook is a big differentiator here. There’s a big download, though, and I wonder if that’s going to play well in the instant gratification world of social media.

Gooood Morning, Nerdinam: FlipZu Makes You An Instant Broadcaster | TechCrunch

This could be an interesting offering for someone looking for audio content. It’s essentially the audio equivalent of a Ustream.

How to Really Listen

I really like this POV on what listening is really about. There’s listening, and then there’s really hearing. Corporations need to focus on really hearing people more than ever before, because if they don’t, people can sense it now more than ever before.

The best thing about text message marketing is the likelihood that your message will actually get read.  In fact, 94% of all text messages are read immediately upon receipt, even the promotional ones.

Getting the message right in 160 characters is key.

But, once you’ve got the readers’ attention, how do you keep it and make them act on it when you only have 160 characters, including spaces, to work with?

Here are some best practices to be the master copywriter for the short message.

• Get straight to the point.  With 160 characters, you really have no choice.
• Use short and simple words.  No need to impress anybody with your Ivy League vocabulary.
• Think in terms of teasers.  Those messages on the home page of Yahoo that just force you to open them.
• Talk about benefits.  You probably won’t have room for the features part.  How much weight they lose or how much better their car will handle with new tires.
• Use the shortened text format that is already acceptable in personal text-speak.  It will make your message seem more genuine and not a sales pitch.
• Adding an embedded URL or phone number for quick access via a smartphone is a great addition, but don’t sacrifice the basic understanding of your message to add it..

The day will come when open rates of text messages start to decline, but for now, they remain high, even among those who receive a lot of promotional text messages.  Take advantage of those high open rates by maximizing the effectiveness of your promotional text message copy.

That’s the long and short of it.

Bob Bentz is president of mobile marketing company Advanced Telecom Services which provides text message marketing, apps development, custom QR Codes, and mobile web sites. Follow Bob Bentz on Google+ or on Twitter @BobBentz.

Let's take a look at the San Francisco Chronicle and the Financial Times.

San Francisco Chronicle gets an iPad app.

Let's take a look at the San Francisco Chronicle. About a year ago, I heard Phil Bronstein being interviewed on the radio lamenting about how newspapers screwed up a decade ago by making the choice to give the content away for free.

So, it's clear where his head is at.

I am still a subscriber to the Sunday Chron. I like reading the paper over coffee Sunday morning. I like doing the Monster Sudoku puzzle in pen. I like passing the local section back and forth with my wife and chatting about Willie Brown's column. I like reading my buddy Al Saracevic's sports column.

What's more, my wife tunes into SFGate (the online version of the Chron) every day. She even keeps it as her launch screen on her browser.

So I was intrigued when I went to SFGate.com on my iPad this weekend and a full screen ad popped up directing me to the new San Francisco Chronicle iPad App.

As a subscriber, I can get the app for free—and get some exclusive content with it. Great.

However, if I'm not a subscriber it costs $59.99 a year. I could also do $6/month.

Or I could read SFGate.com for free.

Hmm. Which would I choose? Unfortunately for Phil, I, like most Americans, am a cheapskate. I'm accustomed to paying $2 for an app, not $60. So, I'd stick with SFGate.

And all that exclusive, rich, juicy, yummy content? Well, not only won't I get to see it, neither will Google.

The Financial Times gets a web app.

This weekend, I saw an add for the new Financial Times "web app" at at app.ft.com in Fast Company (not only do I still read newspapers, I still read magazines) and had to check it out.

While the world is going zig, FT is going zag.

Like the Chronicle, it provides a great, rich experience. Like the Chronicle, it provides special content for paying subscribers. Unlike the Chronicle, it does so using HTML5 in a browser.

The Chronicle—like most in the industry—is investing in a walled garden. But, apps cannot be accessed when people search for content on the web. Or click on a link shared in an email.

FT has already gone down this path. They were one of the very early iPad apps available in the App Store. I actually downloaded it specifically because it was one of the only news apps available at the time. By being a first mover, they gained a competitive advantage and I read a newspaper I had never read before.

But I, like your average mobile device user, only access a maximum of about 10-15 apps on my device on a regular basis. Once you take away Safari, Mail, Address Book, Calendar, Google Maps, Twitter and Facebook, there's not too many available chances for FT to become a habit.

Today, FT has gained a competitive advantage again. By dropping their mobileapp for a web app for mobile, they have set a course that I think many publications will eventually follow.

Why?

First, their user sacrifices almost nothing. With HTML 5, they are able to create a very robust, intuitive and sleek interface right in the browser. The experience for the user is great.

Second, their content is discoverable. A small part of content is discovered by audiences browsing publications websites. Obviously, sharing is important, but the lion's share is through Google. In a mobile app, however, there is no such thing as SEO. Content is just not discoverable from a search engine. FT makes this a non-issue by creating an app that looks like a website.

Third, they smartly use responsive versioning for specific devices. The app.ft.com url only works on your iPad and iPhone right now. Because it is just set for two fixed screen resolutions, they are able to maintain control over the user experience while delivering the efficiencies enabled by media queries. In my last post, I initiated a debate about the efficacy of responsive design. This is an example of responsive design done right.

Fourth, they are not beholden to anyone.. FT does not need to get approval from the Apple Store. Or any other store. They can do whatever the hell they want to do with their app and publish it in real time. If they want to change things, they change them—no waiting for people to download an update.

Finally, they use HTML5 capabilities to market toward engagement by instructing the user how to add the app to their home screen. That's such a simple thing, but will prove to be very effective for making the web app as readily accessible for the browsing audience as the mobile app is currently. That means the FT web app can have an icon on your iPad or iPhone home screen just like a regular app.

(Actually, any page can. I recommend you try it out right now with the Traction Blog using the same instructions provided by FT in the image below.)

It's the experience that matters.

I predict the Financial Times will be successful and the Chronicle will not. Here's why:

The Chronicle is trying to solve a revenue problem with their mobile strategy. They have been losing income because people don't buy newspapers as much anymore. When digital came along they (along with every other local paper) lost the natural geographic exclusivity they had so long enjoyed in San Francisco. The web made geography irrelevant so people had the option to turn elsewhere for news.

The Chronicle could have done some soul searching and looked for what they truly stood for and how that might have broader appeal to an audience beyond the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate. They could have reconstructed their brand to be a national or global content powerhouse.

But they didn't, so now they are throwing a Hail Mary pass to try to rectify the situation. Hail Mary passes aren't a good strategy for winning football games.

On the other hand, The Financial Times is trying to solve a customer problem with their mobile strategy. By being innovators, they have learned about what actually does and does not work. They have been thoughtful about breaking down barriers between their customers and their content. They have been focused on the user need, not the business need. Ultimately, this is why they will win.

At the end of the day, it is the experience that matters. Developing a browser-based app like the Financial Times has done does the most to optimize that experience—not just in a "swish, whiz, look at that fancy menu" kind of way, but in a holistic, intelligent "how does this fit into my customer's life" kind of way.

Which way are you going to go?