To most people, when the term “Android” is mentioned, the first things that come to mind are lasers, light sabres and clumsy robots in a galaxy far, far away.

But over the last couple of months things have changed and the traditional science fiction interpretation of Android has evolved from those LED tin men with robo-voices, to something even more advanced. In essence Smartphone’s will evolve from PDA’s with reception into CGM & web focused pocket rockets.

Google has launched Android, a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications and will challenge the likes of Symbian OS  as well as Windows Mobile for mobile OS supremacy.So what is going to make the Android stand out from the pack? Well, for starters, the phones. Slick, stylish and packed full of functionality these phones alone sell the Android. Secondly; the full Google package including the Google branding, Gmail and Calendar are all pre installed. Lastly, but not at all least, is probably the most exciting of the lot. Flash will be integrated into the newer phones, launching with the HTC Hero, and will change the mobile web browsing landscape by putting content, that was limited to desktops and laptops, into the palm of your hand.

Apart from the sheer coolness that Android brings to mobiles, there are a couple of marketing channels that it has opened up as well (I always enjoy a bit of a marketing plug) So, as the Android is a Google initiative there is obviously a revenue stream connected to it and it comes in no other form than Google’s  AdSense. Developers will be able to insert the AdSense code into their apps, and Google will do the rest. This will give advertisers access to some of the most effective geo-targeted advertising available to them, once the testing is done.

Exciting times lie ahead for the mobile space, and if innovation can carry on with this curve it might just break through the existing barriers we have in SA and open up a whole new world of mobile.

Over the last couple of years mobile commerce (m-commerce) has been built up and broken down numerous times. Its happening then its not, we have the tools then the infrastructure lets us down and just as we believe that it is possibly possible then consumers feel the credit crunch and credit cards aren’t king anymore.

So where does that leave us now? Is this actually going to happen – are we actually going to be able to make purchases via our cell phones sometime in our lifetime? We are left with quite a positive “possibly maybe.” Its a tough one to call.

So lets look at where we stand. Our telecommunication infrastructure is developing and most of it has become quite stable with 3G available in most major areas of South Africa. David Gould, mShopper’s CEO, says that on average online retailers prices are 20% less than their brick and mortar counterparts, which is very welcome in our current economic climate. Consumers are doing their bit by equipping themselves with the tools needed to shop via their cell phones as the  World Bank statistics show a 70% annual growth in mobile subscriptions since 2005, we also have solid & tested shopping carts( like OSCommerce, Magento & Zen Cart) at our disposal and payment methods too, aren’t limited to credit cards anymore with options like Fundamo, EFT’s and even SMS banking/payments.

This doesn’t mean the end of traditional retailers though, it is just another opportunity. Mr Hung LeHong, research vice president at Gartner, suggests that retailers should differentiate themselves by “providing multichannel capabilities, such as enabling mobile-phone-generated orders to be picked up in a store or allowing consumers to save mobile-phone-created shopping sessions to be later continued on a Web browser,” [Cellular news.com]

So, it seems that we geared for m-commerce to take on the traditional brick and mortar retail model with everything laying dormant, waiting for the consumer to say “its time!”

Interaction on the internet has long been cloaked in dark veil of uncertainty as to who you are actually communicating with in the end.

We have all had to throw caution to the wind, at some stage, and place a certain amount of trust in that the “person” we are communicating with, and hope they are actually who they say they are. Phishing has taken a huge advantage of this trust. The people behind all these schemes have taken one element that we all use as a measuring stick to trust and that is recognition. We recognise the names, colours, logo’s and brands, in essence, that they duplicate. We have all dealt with these brands and therefore don’t expect anything underhand.

As is human nature, we have adapted, we have become cautious and we are now aware of the tell tale signs to uncover fraudulent behaviour. Just like we all know that NO bank will ever ask you to confirm your account details via an email. Lesson learnt.

But a new age has dawned in the digital world – Social media identity theft.  Recently Twitter has had to address this issue in the media, with a lawsuit filed against them by Tony La Russa, the St. Louis Cardinals manager. An account was opened in his name and tweets were made concerning his team. In his lawsuit, La Russa said the fake tweets were “derogatory and demeaning” and caused emotional distress.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone  on the Twitter blog as well as bringing to light the micro blogging companies’ plans to release a new system, called Verified Accounts, which seeks to eliminate future account fraud. The beta version that is being experimented with aims to validate accounts through link backs from an official website of the claimed account owner and then awards a special seal that confirms the owner claim. In other words, if you link your business website to your Twitter account, it will use this information to confirm that that the account actually belongs to you and your business, and then places a special seal on your Twitter profile.
Twitter has said that the Verified Accounts system will initially only be available to public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes, and other well known individuals that are at risk of impersonation, but that once the system is in place that it can be applied to business profiles.

The business application of the new system could eliminate incidents like that of James Cox and CNN. Although this was not malicious and came from necessity on the users part, it could easily have been mismanaged, like that of the La Russa imposter.