Opportunities to cash in on how users find businesses and offers is huge, but the bigger question is: what do marketers *really* need to do to deliver consumers a mobile experience they can’t resist? Some helpful guidance comes from Google in Germany, which last week took the wraps off its first Mobile Speed Leaderboards report developed with MMA Germany (the local council of the Mobile Marketing Association) and revealed the list of websites (belonging to top-notch brands operating in the country) that are literally leading the pack.

The explosion of mobile devices, the advance of increasingly improving wireless networks, and the adoption of cloud technologies by enterprises and developer companies alike, have moved the mobile app market into a boom phase. In the U.S. the Application Developers Alliance reports the App Economy is a significant driver, creating 519,000 jobs nationwide. It’s easy to imagine that demand for …

What do we really want from our branded, self-service mobile apps? The numbers tell a mixed story. Usage data shows we appreciate instant access to the companies we do business with via mobile apps aimed at taking the heavy lifting out of resolving customer service issues and questions. Meantime, a raft of reports suggests the appeal of instantly downloading the latest apps is losing its luster.

But rather than speculate about consumer attitudes toward customer service apps Nuance teamed up with Vocalabs to find out what consumers really think about their self-service apps. The findings are a wake up call for companies everywhere.

From marketing and advertising, to media and business, the impact of the always-connected, socially networked Digital Native on our society is profound. Michelle Manafy draws from her book Dancing With Digital Natives and personal observations to argue why the rise of Millennials forces a massive rethink of all systems based on command-and-control. Timed to this must-read BBC series on the Future of Work the key message in Michelle's work comes through loud and clear: The future model for everything (including work) is coordinate-and-cultivate. In this first column Michelle connects the dots in key data points to provide organizations advice on how they can motivate Millennials to deliver their best.

Businesses need to stay in step with Digital Natives. Yet it can be a struggle to choreograph an elegant dance when Millennials don't lead or follow in the "traditional" way.

The new edition of the International Journal of Mobile Marketing (IJMM) is live, chock-full of new content, features and research from contributors that (like all issues of this respected journal) quite simply sets the bar.

From a special section that expertly outlines the opportunities, challenges and attitudes around mobile marketing and advertising in India, to path-breaking research and models that harness our interaction with mobile social networks to drive frequency (and results!), this issue is the one if you are looking for a balanced mix of academic insights and practical business advice.

While reading the collections of mobile 2012 predictions is a great way to gain perspective, I miss deep analysis of these trends that allows us to plan and prepare for the developments likely to impact models and strategies far beyond 2012.

Understanding this gap — and the need to collaborate with many mobile authorities, rather than leave such a work to a single writer — GigaOM PRO has published a new report that provides us a valuable roadmap to navigate mobile for the months (and years!) ahead. I contributed the section on the future of mobile search, which I will explore later down in this post.

This year we have witnessed a seismic shift in how brands and agencies wield the power of mobile to deliver effective advertising, engage with consumers every stage of their daily journey and —ultimately — achieve business objectives that go beyond brand promotion and awareness to encourage commerce and continued customer loyalty.

The drivers are many and the impact is tremendous. The rise (and rise) of mobile retail, the advance of smartphones and connected devices, and the heightened interest among companies across all verticals (retail, automotive, finance, pharmaceutical — the works!) make it imperative for us as an industry and ecosystem to ask (and answer!) some tough questions.

Increased competition for customers from rival mobile operators, as well as a range of players from across the value chain, has turned up the pressure on telcos to think of new ways to keep prepaid users happy and loyal. Many operators are putting budget into campaigns aimed at increasing loyalty and improving CRM (Customer Relationship Management). But spend alone won't stop churn. Adhish Kulkarni draws from new research to provide telcos practical advice on how operators can get the edge with sharply focused mobile loyalty and CRM programs.

Mobile operators may be the best marketers of communications services on the planet, but now the time has come for operators to use those same capabilities to communicate more effectively with their customer base. With the majority of the world's mobile subscribers choosing a prepaid tariff, it's imperative that mobile operators develop strategies to reduce churn rates and maximize dwindling margins per user.

Give the customers what they want? The confluence of new technologies and business models, an exponential increase in the consumption and delivery of data, a deluge of devices and an explosion in apps and content makes fulfilling the number one rule of marketing harder than ever before.

Megatrends and shifts in the marketplace (primarily the massive move to mobile) are reshaping the customer landscape, providing people more choice and forcing the rest of industry to innovate in order to deliver people what they want, how they want it -- and at a price that is completely aligned with their individual needs, uses and budgets. (Translated: tailored, tiered offers and pay-as-you-go plans.)

Give digital natives what they want? It's not an option; it's a business imperative. These tech-savvy, empowered individuals (your customers, community members and employees) have grown up with the Internet and an abundance of applications designed to give them more of a say in how they create, access and enjoy content. (And don't forget that truly valuable advertising combines a sales pitch with useful content -- recipes, advice, etc.)

The advance of mobile takes this all to a new level, taking natives’ natural inclinations to interact to a new extreme. Mobile enables instant self-expression and turns up the pressure on companies and brands to deliver their marketing message via a two-way conversation within the context of what matters most to digital natives: their lives, their experiences, their networks, and their worlds. But delivering a message doesn't make for a conversation; marketers also have listen to what digital natives have to say. Connect the dots, and it's clear that permission marketing has earned a central spot in the mobile marketing mix.