As mentioned in a previous post, there hasn’t been a bigger or better disrupter in this century than the now former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

iPod. iPhone. iPad.

Game-changers.

In my weekly column on mobilegroove.com, I asked what should marketers make of disruption and how should they react?

As always, the key is to time your participation so that your brand is out of the gates once the disruptive activity settles and it’s clear which technology or tool is winning the race. Jumping the gun doesn’t guarantee a head start in the right direction. There are graveyards full of innovative technologies and devices that failed from the get-go and never gained the traction we expected. Remember Digital Audio Tape and Betamax videotapes?

In mobile marketing and advertising, just because something can be done, doesn’t mean you should blindly spend against it before its time. (An example is Augmented Reality, a technology packed with ‘wow’ effect but lacking in mainstream take up.)

Jobs’ iAd is in that same category.

Apple’s closed mobile advertising network (closed because you can reach only those people on the iOS platform) has been a large disappointment for many advertisers and others (like me) who looked at Apple’s move into mobile advertising as a milestone and a much needed push to move the industry along.

But don’t close the chapter on iAd just yet. Despite his resignation, there are indications that Jobs may not be done tinkering with iAd.

You can read more of my thinking as well as my take on BlackBerry’s newest devices here http://www.mobilegroove.com/steve-jobs-steps-down-at-apple-whats-next-for-mobile-marketers/

I was among those asked by Mobile Marketer to assess Steve Jobs’ influence on mobile marketing and advertising.  Here is what I told the Rimma Kats:

Steve Jobs’ biggest influence on mobile marketing and advertising is in the way the iPhone and iPad changed behavior.

Never before had we had such pleasing user experiences and access to content on our terms via the real Web and the revolutionary App Store.

For years, I’ve been waiting for a Web page to load properly on my BlackBerry.

[Mr.] Jobs’ contributions in those areas will be remembered more fondly than in Apple’s iAd efforts.

IAd will go down as a milestone because of the reported $300 million that Apple paid for Quattro Wireless to build out the iAd network.

While iAd has been short on return for brands, Apple’s dollars and efforts have validated the mobile advertising business models pursued by many others.

You can read the whole article here http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/manufacturers/10807.html

By sheer luck, I found myself sitting beside a high-flying technologist on a flight last week from Silicon Valley to Seattle.

This strategist had been promoted by Microsoft five times in 18 months only to leave for an international position with another global technology leader.

He is about to go out on his own but is slowed by an internal debate about which of several ideas he wants to try to bring to market.  The commonality in all of his possibilities?

The business has to disrupt.

There hasn’t been a bigger or better disrupter in this century than Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who today announced his resignation.

iPod. iPhone. iPad.

Game-changers.

Jobs changed our behaviors. More importantly, he changed our expectations of personal technology, lifting a bar that few to none have been able to match.

He certainly didn’t hit them all over the fence. For one, Apple’s iAd network has been a large disappointment for many advertisers and others like me who looked at Apple’s move into mobile advertising as a milestone needed to move the industry along.

Will Apple disrupt without the King Distrupter? Time will tell.

Atop my list of mobile best practices is the need to stay current on consumer behavior and interests. This summer has brought fresh data that has ramifications for all of us conceiving and executing mobile programs.

Here are a few numbers and their importance to us:

Stats: The average Android consumer in the U.S. spends 56 minutes per day actively interacting with the web and apps on his or her phone. Of that time, two-thirds is spent on mobile apps while one-third is spent on the mobile web (Nielsen).

Meaning What? You’ve likely heard notable analyst Mary Meeker’s prediction that more will access the web via mobile than via PC by 2015 http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/mobile-web-stats/. But this is 2011 and it would be foolish to spend exclusively on the web on Android devices. Instead, consider a mix of app and Internet. You have time to worry about 2015.

I look at many others in my latest imediaconnection.com post http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/08/22/the-latest-plethora-of-mobile-data-means-what/

The discussion included the use of mobile to make dollars work harder and be more measurable, plus the value of permission-based mobile loyalty clubs and how mobile learned lessons from email’s road to spam hell.

According to Travelocity’s Beth Murphy, VP of Global Product Marketing, younger consumers want to do everything on the handheld as opposed to a tablet. She says one reason there is no iPad app yet is that “we want to do something groundbreaking”.

More from Travelocity: the handheld “basket size” is higher than online because people use mobile to buy.

24 Hour Fitness gets 12 percent of its revenue via its web site with upsells like personal training sessions. For now, mobile is just for memberships and is providing no, pardon the pun, lift. It sees no cannibalization by way of loss of web traffic or sales. “But a bit of it is anecdotal”.

Kelly Blue Book gets paid by individual dealers for driving calls tracked by a separate phone number.

Reasons why Century 21 is seeing success via mobile: high profile launch at a realtor convention, weekly training webinars at the start, personalized apps and keywords for brokers.

The ongoing Mobile Insider Summit in Lake Tahoe has scored with brand case studies that haven’t been told at every other mobile show.

Michael Callaghan, VP of Digital and Strategic Marketing (is there any other kind?), believes that mobile gives Century 21 an opportunity to modernize its brand.

“On the 40th anniversary of Century 21, we want to go from the old fashioned gold jacket to mobile and innovation,” he said.

Michael said that 10 percent of Century 21's marketing budget is for mobile.

Century 21 agents, who are independent contractors, can get own branded app and text keyword.

According to Michael, Century 21 mobile users want "precise information that is immediate and robust - they are not browsing"

One of Michael’s lessons – he originally picked the wrong mobile vendor, "someone who didn't know our business". 

“It’s more than finding an app maker,” he said.

The retail experience has changed forever now that people rely on their mobile devices for product information while they shop.

The impact of mobile on shopping and commerce was also the focus of proprietary research I introduced last June. My findings highlighted precisely how consumers use their social networks to get input and advice at a brand’s “Moments of Trust”.  The result is profound impact on sales and loyalty.

Interestingly, Yahoo has released insights that confirm my findings and help us better understand the impact of mobile Internet on mobile shopping and purchases. Yahoo teamed up with Nielsen to interview 8,384 U.S. residents ages 13-64 via an online quantitative survey. Of this sample: 5,313 were mobile Internet users who access information related to at least one of 12 product categories. 3,071 were PC/laptop Internet users who access information related to at least one of the 12 product categories and could not access any category Internet information on a mobile device.

So, what is the place of mobile in our shopping experience? Yahoo findings indicate mobile is at the center of the in-store action, making mobile devices a great advertising vehicle for retailers. In fact, a whopping nine out of 10 mobile users have accessed the mobile Internet while they were actually in the store. What’s more, approximately 50 percent of in-store mobile web activity is related to shopping. And people also share while they shop. Almost half (48 percent) of in-store mobile users take and/or send a picture of a product they are considering buying to a friend or family member.

Among the key findings:

• 51 percent of consumers indicated that they do make a purchase after doing research on their mobile device.
• On average 16 percent use their mobile phones for shopping research, but interest for this in the next 12 months is extremely high at 57 percent among mobile Internet users and 41 percent among non-mobile Internet users, on average.
• One in 5 mobile shoppers who have seen advertising during the shopping process say they always look at it. The key to being successful in mobile shopping advertising is to make sure the ads are informative.

It’s 100 degrees in many places, but towel off and lock in your mobile strategy for the holiday season. Marketers and retailers alike have to ask (and answer) some tough questions: How will you influence your customers at the point of sale? Are your salespersons ready for shoppers who have instant access to information, product reviews, and competitors’ prices? Is there a plan for consumers who are using mobile to speak about your products and services (or just let off steam) via their social networks? You can forget the holidays (and celebrating anything any time soon), if you haven’t figured even the basics of where mobile fits in your business.

More from my MobileGroove column http://www.mobilegroove.com/lock-down-your-mobile-strategy-now-for-holiday-season/

Mobile Marketer asked me about Victoria's Secret and mobile. So I had to do some research.

My comments are here -- as if you will leave this photo anytime soon.

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/10674.html

So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be really hard. We’re gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day.

Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What’s it look like?

I know what you’re saying. Aren’t you the guy who spewed venom in your tweets over the last several months? And have you forgotten the words you used to describe your BlackBerry Bold and the RIM executives behind it? They weren’t words found in a love letter or in movie lines like the ones above.

But I’m back.

I tried it without you. The list of what I didn’t miss stretches from here in Seattle to Waterloo in Canada.

Web experience? Are you kidding me? I dance every day for my ability to reach the web on my iPhone. I stopped trying to get to the Internet on my Bold two years ago when I missed my flight trying to see if it was on time through my BlackBerry.

Apps? Ummm, do you even have any? And if you do, are there any that will make me forget the innovation put forth by every other handset manufacturer?

So why am I here?

Oh, did I miss my QWERTY keyboard. For nearly a decade, my fingers flowed ever so gracefully, banging out those all important emails.

“Dear Waste Management. Please bring a third receptacle.”

Poetry.

And the push emails. I became ill when my iPhone sent me some emails in real time – AND MADE ME ASK FOR OTHERS.

You do one thing better than anyone. And I can’t quit you.

I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Just one request as we live out our days in bliss.

Throw some Canadian bacon grease or WD40 on the trackball. Don’t make me move out of the house again the next time the damn thing freezes up.

Article first published as An Open Letter To BlackBerry on Technorati.