Warren Whitlock's Blog

I’ve been chatting with @matthewadavid for the past few days about the future of mobile apps, business use of the Internet, and what @jowyang calls “Social Business” (better than “social media, but still just a step toward where we are headed). Ever since we wrote about this in Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online  I’ve been seeking out these developers and pushing for the best marketing hooks.

Matthew has been getting a lot of attention for TheAppBuilder. You can now build an app that is ready to submit to app stores for iPhones, Android, iPad, and more in just a couple of minutes for free.

The apps are not the cutting edge stuff we hear about in the news, but add some function for anyone with a crowd of followers they want to send information to. We’ve been exploring just how far this meme will go. I brought up the problem of getting an app for every business, author and web site I use and then needing an app to keep track o them. Just how far can this sort of app growth go?

Matthew and I agreed that more functions will need to go into this type of technology and that there is a lot of growth available for businesses and vendors doing the simple starter apps before any limits there cause a problem.

On Twitter over the last couple of days, we discussed what the app to find the app would be, and some chimed in with ideas and companies. This will come soon enough.

The Dry Cleaning Problem

Any time I get talking or thinking about the future of mobile media, I remember the dry cleaner problem…

Let’s say I plan to go to an important meeting and the plane takes off on Wednesday morning at 6:00 Am. Getting ready for the trip, I decide I want my suit cleaned and take to my dry cleaner. He promises that he’ll have it ready for me on Tuesday afternoon, and reminds me that he closes at 5:00 PM.

If I get tied up with something on Tuesday after lunch, I can do several things. I can have someone else pick up the suit, squeeze the stop into my schedule, or hurry to get there at 5:01 and hope someone is still there. Or, I might just get so busy that I forget to do anything and wear something else.

If my dry cleaner is a good friend or I’m a steady customer, he can go the extra mile and watch to make sure I get my suit. He could deliver it to me, call my wife, or just stay open a few extra minutes. Doing any of these would require some communication between at least two parties.

In the past, that would me some phone tag, post it notes on my dashboard,, or interrupting another last minute meeting to get the suit handled. (not that big a deal, and I could delegate the whole thing, but I’m setting up the point)

Imagine a APP on my smart phone that would alert me with a sound, a reminder email, an SMS if I didn’t respond and finally a phone call to my assistant telling me I was forgetting the suit. Could be easy to code, and easy to sell as a must have for the executive with an important meeting.

And now for the problems.

1. The app would have to be told which communications method I prefer

2. The app would have to TURN OFF notifications for the next batch of dry cleaning.

I hold that #2 is where there is tons of room for innovation in the way we do business in the future. I don’t want to ever here from my dry cleaner for the normal batch of clothes, and frankly, I’d consider it a giant nuisance to have to install an app, accept updates and avoid the frequent pings about a sale on tuxedo cleanings.

I want my smart device to know that a reminder or task is vital and track me down.. then I want it to sit idle forever unless I have something like the suit incident come up again.

The value to me is small.

The value to the dry cleaner can be immense.

If a service business can make their best customer ecstatic about service, they will stick around, pay premium prices and tell others. The first dry cleaner to get a suit to me when I forget is going to be remembered like the Nordstrom that took back snow tires.

In the past the technology wouldn’t allow this sort of personalization. Presently, we have some limits. In the future, there will be many more opportunities for.

• An App that hides apps until you search and then takes over to get it out of the archive.
• Improved  language recognition. Imagine SIRI knowing all your apps
• Coordination between apps so my wife picking up the dry cleaning take it out of my phone’ responsibilities
• Master rules about locations, times and priorities that my system follows (unless I say I want something else. (don’t let me forget, but never interrupt a  meeting with Phil to tell me)

The future isn’t going to be about adding apps long. Right now, you can get a jump on the competition just by having a app Then we an put in all the hooks for smarter business, better customer experiences and new ways WOW our customers with fanatical customer service.

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