Tilting at the mobile windmill

I spent the last couple years outside the mobile software industry instead working on a digital media company.  While I was away, some very interesting stuff happened.  Stuff like the App Store, the proliferation of truly smart devices, Android, and probably most importantly, the standardization of web services have all conspired to create a circumstance more ripe for mobile application development than we have had in the last 10 years.  Add to that the advent of virtual goods and technologies supporting micro-payments, and there’s a major opportunity looming in mobile!

Before I left enterprise softwate, several companies like Antenna Software, Dexterra, Vaultus and a host of others were attempting to capture the enterprise mobile application market with various forms of what amounted to mobile middleware.  But the amount of effort required to deploy a useful enterprise solution was only matched by the effort necessary to navigate a typical enterprise sales cycle dynamic.

Needless to say, no one was growing rapidly.  At least not rapidly enough for me to think it was a good place to be if I was planning on staying in startupville for a career.

So I transitioned to digital media.  The idea was that consumer internet companies typically know within a couple years if they are going to be a hit, so I thought this sort of time frame fit better with what I was looking for in my entrepreneurial endeavors.

Well, long story short, I’m back dabbling in mobile, to some degree, and the new world order has me bullish again on the space.  Consumer apps are as tough to monetize as ever, but the enterprise seems to be showing signs of awakening to the productivity gains that can be achieved from a true mobilization of the enterprise applications that keep the world’s largest companies humming.  Plus, more than ever, large companies are developing consumer facing apps that keep the connection to their users and markets tight.

Of course, I may end up feeling like Don Quixote tilting at windmills or maybe Charlie Brown lining up for another attempt at placekicking the football.  Regardless, this blog will be dedicated in part to my travels through this new mobile world order.  I expect to learn a lot as I travel through, as I always seem to.  And of course, I hope to share some of that learning here.