The rise of smart devices like the iPhone and iPad has led to an application goldrush, with companies racing to stake their claim. In the early days we saw a few lucky pioneers strike gold, but like most gold rushes, the obvious targets were quickly depleted. Digital prospectors lured by the promise of gold are now arriving to find a very different market—one rife with competition and few obvious deposits to mine.
Recent studies have shown that we tend to limit our usage to a few core applications and the bulk of apps never even get opened. So despite newspapers and magazines hailing the iPad as the saviour of the publishing industry, does it really make business sense to jump on the application bandwagon? If not, what are the alternatives?
In this keynote, Andy Budd will look at the current state of the mobile web, how we got here and where we go next. He will explore the new opportunities that have opened up for the field of user experience design, but will caution that not every mobile experience needs to start with an app.