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Context the next tech mega-war


Johannesburg, 30 Jul 2010

Context-aware computing is set to have a transformative effect on business and will present forward-thinking companies with a unique opportunity to cash in on what stands to be the next tech mega-war, according to Gartner.

“By 2015, context will be as influential to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the Web,” says Nick Jones, Gartner VP and analyst.

Gartner has previously said the availability of dynamic and static information about the end-user - such as location, presence, behaviour, social attributes and other environmental information - will be used to improve the quality of the end-user interactions with devices, people and machines.

Jones says the most powerful position in the context business model will be that of context provider. “Infrastructure vendors will compete to become significant context providers during the next three years,” he notes. “Any Web vendor that does not become a context provider risks handing over effective customer ownership to a context provider, which would impact the mobile and classic Web businesses.”

Gartner notes that in the marketplace, Google is making a long-term play to be the biggest context provider, by offering with a mix of services including layering, location-based services via Google Maps, and search, all interacting with one another.

Nokia meanwhile is gearing up to become a preferred context provider, with context-aware enabling application programming interfaces already standard in their phones, Gartner points out.

Mobile network operators are also counting on a host of new apps. “The fact that some of them are opening up the source code to their location-based services is evidence of their interest in this new revenue stream,” says Jones.

He adds that while the broad-based appeal of context-aware computing will have a limited uptake in Africa in the near future, companies that are prepared to invest in development in this field will stand to win. “This is particularly true in the mobile space, given the significant mobile penetration in SA and some other African countries,” Jones says.

“A quick look at Facebook and how it has turned from a product to a platform should give you some indication of how people are shifting the way they are interacting with the world. There are already around 100 million Facebook users who access the service via mobile. This kind of economy of scale can be monetised by companies that are able to develop applications which can tap into the existing communities and offer businesses ways to reach them,” adds Jones.

Context-aware computing will be highly disruptive, particularly for retailers, financial services, media, healthcare and telecom organisations and Jones says these sectors are where developers should focus when designing new services.

“Context-aware computing stands at an intersection of technology and information trends. We expect this to be a significant business opportunity in the next few years and companies that are early movers in this space will reap the rewards.”

Nick Jones will discuss context-aware computing at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2010, being held in Cape Town from 30 August to 1 September.

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