社交、移动淘金潮

    要在科技行业的激烈竞争中保持领先地位常常更像是一种暗黑艺术（dark art，20世纪诞生的一种艺术形式，以暗黑、野蛮和令人不安为特质，广泛渗透到多种艺术形态中——译注），而不是某种科学。每天都会有人发布新产品，而出于某种原因，一些产品大受追捧，更多的则一败涂地，籍籍无名。

    这一点在互联网和手机市场上表现得尤为真切：创意更好的公司往往一路高歌猛进，成为新的成功典范。在互联网领域，谷歌公司（Google）和Facebook就找到了创新之道，让众多竞争者无立锥之地。在手机领域，苹果公司（Apple）的iPhone和谷歌的安卓（Android）系统几乎让诺基亚公司（Nokia）和行动研究公司（Research In Motion）遭到了毁灭性的打击。

    这类公司不仅能预知消费者的需求，还能提前把握那些推动消费者购买的驱动力。对Facebook来说，成功之道在于创造更好的社交体验。对苹果来说，秘诀则在于洞悉消费者对手机的需求。

    此后，这类公司大获成功的两大要素——更好的移动性和社交体验已成为几乎所有产品的关键所在。时至今日，如果某种产品、或某个公司不把重点放在移动功能上，就会显得与潮流格格不入。同样，如果软件里不加上社交元素，人们就有充分的理由认为它犯下了大错。

    去年，针对企业在移动领域的探索对大家的日常生活有何影响这个问题，互联网研究公司KISSmetrics发布了一项研究报告。该公司发现，在2009年2月到2011年8月期间，移动浏览器在网络浏览市场的份额增长了1,000%，25%的移动用户希望每天能使移动设备至少访问一次互联网；如果电商开设了移动网站，互联网用户访问的可能性将增加51%。

    与此同时，社交媒体已日益成为这个行业至关重要的组成部分。市场研究公司高德纳（Gartner）7月称，今年社交媒体的总收入——通过广告、游戏、数字产品和其他来源获得——将达到169亿美元，相比去年的118亿美元大幅上升。而到2016年，这个数字将达到340亿美元。

    消费者显然是社交和移动潮流最大的受益者，但企业作为科技行业中一直以来推动变革的主体，同样受益匪浅。现在，各类大大小小的公司几乎没有一家不采用某种形式运用社交媒体。

    对各企业来说，撇下自己的网站，花更多心思推广在Facebook上的主页或Twitter推送已成为司空见惯的做法。如果要在开发移动应用和沿用以前的PC和网络浏览器两者中做出选择，他们一定会选择前者。

    移动和社交不光成为企业界的新宠，它们已经成了一种必需品。但是，真正能从这股潮流中赚到钱的公司却凤毛麟角。

    比如，谷歌已在社交市场上尝试了很长时间，但几乎每次努力都以失败告终。尽管它宣称自己的社交网络Google+广受欢迎，但实际用户数却始终饱受质疑。

    在社交这条道路上，就算苹果公司（Apple）也走得并不平坦。跟许多公司一样，苹果也决定在自己的某个产品中加入社交元素。结果谁是赢家？是iTunes。谁是输家？是用户。

    苹果iTunes推出的名为Ping的音乐社交网络虽然加入了社交元素，但对那些仅仅想下载点儿音乐的普通用户来说实在价值有限。而据苹果称，那些原本应该充分利用这一社交特性的音乐人，他们的使用程度也并没有达到苹果的预期。

    与此同时，行动研究公司和诺基亚却是围绕着移动性构建其整个商业模式的公司。但是，那些在竞争品牌手机中发现更多心仪特性的消费者却毫不留情地弃他们于不顾。而尽管无数的开发者希望从移动用户那里淘到金，却只有一小撮人最后成功俘获了移动用户的芳心。

    Staying ahead of the competition in the tech world often seems more like a dark art than any sort of science. Every day brings new product launches, and for one reason or another, some catch on with customers while many others fall flat.

    That's especially true in the Web and mobile markets, where companies with better ideas have come along and changed what it takes to be successful. On the Web, Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) found ways to innovate and practically eliminate competitors. In the mobile space, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, along with Google's Android, all but destroyed Nokia (NOK) and Research In Motion (RIMM).

    Those companies not only anticipated consumer demand but the forces that drive customer purchases as well. For Facebook, it was about delivering a better social experience. For Apple, it was about understanding consumers' mobile needs.

    Since then, the two factors that made those companies successful -- enhanced mobility and social experiences -- have become key components in nearly every available product. Nowadays, if a product or company doesn't have some sort of mobile focus, it looks old. And if a social element isn't tacked on to software, it's considered a mistake, and for arguably good reasons.

    Last year, customer-retention company KISSmetrics released a study it conducted on the impact of mobile efforts on our everyday lives. The organization found that between February 2009 and August 2011, mobile browsers had increased their share of the Web-surfing market by 1,000%. The company discovered that 25% of mobile users expect to access the Internet from their devices at least once a day, and said that Web users are 51% more likely to visit an online retailer if it has a mobile site.

    Meanwhile, social media has become an increasingly important aspect of the industry. Research firm Gartner said in July that total social-media revenue -- generated through advertising, gaming, digital goods, and other sources -- will hit $16.9 billion this year. That figure is up from $11.8 billion last year. And by 2016, it'll hit $34 billion, according to Gartner.

    Consumers are obviously the greatest benefactors of the social and mobile movements, but the enterprise -- long the change agent in the technology world -- is also playing the game. It's hard to find a single company, both large and small, that doesn't use social media in some fashion.

    It's not uncommon for companies to promote their Facebook pages or Twitter feeds rather than their own Web sites. And when given the chance to develop a mobile application or stick to the old days of PCs and Web browsers, they'll choose the former nearly every time.

    Mobile and social haven't just become favorites in the corporate world, they have become necessities. And yet, so few companies truly benefit from that.

    For example, Google has long tried its luck in the social market, but in nearly every case, its efforts have failed. And although the company claims its latest social network, Google+, is popular, its actual usage figures have been disputed.

    Even Apple has had a rough road with social. The company, like so many others in the industry, decided to tack on a social element into one of its products. The winner? iTunes. The loser? Users.

    Dubbed Ping, the social element delivers little value to the average user simply trying to download some music. And artists, who would want to leverage the feature, according to Apple, aren't doing so to the degree the iPhone maker would like.

    Research In Motion and Nokia, meanwhile, have entire business models centered on mobility. And yet, consumers who have found more to like in competing devices are ignoring them. And despite countless attempts to the contrary, only a precious few developers have been successful at captivating mobile customers.