3 mobile technologies coming soon 'golden eggs'

10 years ago, few people were interested in social networking, but now Facebook has nearly 1 billion users. The possibility of an upcoming explosion can also occur with mobile payments, location services, and technology for interactive reality (Augmented Reality).

From a certain point of view of the digital world, you can easily see who is possessing it. Google is at the forefront of online search, Facebook dominates the social network, Amazon chant on the retail market. However, these segments of the market are not quiet: Microsoft's Bing is still attacking Google's search, Google is thrust into Facebook's social network with Google+, Amazon's electronics market is still struggling. rise above eBay and many other online retail markets .

Anyway, these market segments are somewhat shaped, mature in the past few years. As for 2012, other more exciting 'wars' will break out, but in smaller, less well-known ' technology battlefields '. The Economist's Tom Standage predicts three new market segments: mobile payment, augmented reality and AR - augmented reality.

Perhaps all three of these areas are still not much interested, but remember that social networks 10 years ago are not interested by many people, but according to market research company Nielsen, now comes to goods. Hundreds of millions of users, accounting for the majority of online activity compared to any other activity. Like search engines, social networks and online retail, these three areas have the potential to transform user lives but they have not been much eyeed by technology companies. So who will pioneer?

Mobile payment

Maybe 2011 is not the ' time ' of mobile payments but there is one thing left in technology development that you can easily use mobile phones to pay for taxis in Kenya than in the US, simply because the country This developing Africa is the world leader in mobile payment systems.

This is also clearly demonstrated that the mobile network is extremely developed in developing countries, in which Vietnam replaces both bank payment and other payment methods. . For example, you only need to send a message with the syntax specified by the service provider and receive a message confirming payment of a certain service.

In developed countries, phone payments instead of cash and credit cards face many problems, conflicts between banks and mobile service providers, see whose customers are and who will pay for upgrades for a variety of terminal payment equipment (POS) at retail stores.

According to the mobile payment trend, there are two companies that we may need to observe in 2012. First is Square, a start-up of Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter. His company produces a small, square device for mounting in phones such as the iPhone and Android-based smartphones, and when that happens, the phone becomes like a credit card. There are also some places that apply this payment method.

This is a 'bottom-up ' way, showing the initial results, if not compared to how the ' top-down ' approach has been for many years.

Another company is Apple under Tim Cook's leadership. The company continues to achieve its targets and has completed the halfway of ' ideas' (digital music players, smartphones and tablets) and has shown the industry that they do so. Come on. Experts predict Apple will continue to move into the mobile payment market in 2012 when they embed a wireless chip into the new iPhone version.

Therefore, Apple can turn every iPhone into an easy-to-use electronic wallet, linking the entire system to a credit card, with a background of more than 200 million users using the iTunes service. If you say anyone can create a mobile payment infrastructure in just one night, opening up a whole new market, only Apple. (And to be able to bring back compatibility with older iPhones and Android-based devices, maybe Apple will have to buy Square again).

Another company that also operates in this market segment is PayPal, which currently dominates Internet payments through desktop computers. There is also Google, they just announced an e-wallet service in 2011.

Locate

Mobile developers have promoted advertising and sales based on their ability to locate users for years. Recently, many startups like Foursquare, Gowalla . have also tried to add features to mobile users who can share their current location with the aim of commercializing this information.

But in fact, location information will be most useful if you attach that information to other things like images, status and service offerings on social networks. Maybe in 2012 there will be many new ideas linked to user location information when many startups compete or link with big social networking companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google, then they will integrate location information of social networks into their own services.

Real interaction

Information will be displayed in real time on the device screen.

This is an emulation technology that puts information from the Internet to display in real time in the real world we live in. Currently, this technology seems to be just 'fun to be main ', you can see on some smartphone apps like Layar, Wikitude, Google Goggles . and on some device emulators like Nintendo 3DS.

But when location information and social networking come together, the actual interaction is a logical way to display this combination, for example on your phone will mark your friends in a festival. crowded, or even integrated into your glasses, the information you are talking in front of a conference, along with their latest posts on social networks.

Again, we need to know that these functions are what startups and big social networks are focused on, including search companies and hardware manufacturing companies. Currently, Apple is the most advantageous company, they have the latest technology, user base, equipment, and the popularity of users thanks to product design, ecosystem . Yes one day not far from Apple will offer a virtual reality sunglasses called iGlass.