14 March 2009

PhocusWright Sessions @ITB 2009

Sadly I could not spend as much time as I wanted to with the PCW crew. What I saw (and then cheated by watching the stream (Thanks Phil!) made it worth while. Another good show chaps. Seemed to be more subdued than last year. The whole ITB show seemed to be very busy on the first day but was dead by Friday Afternoon.

However I am seeing a disconnect between what I perceive as the real world and what some of the panelists were saying. Frankly I don't think its Mobile's year. Not for the way that Travel can make money out of it. Sure there are some VERY cool apps on iPhone and now even Crackberry has some interesting apps. But its not that useful. Now I need a kind of traffic cop on my iPhone view top. And even after playing with an iPhone for quite some time - I have gone back to the Crackberry - better for what I need - Email.

Where I am still very uncomfortable is in the persistence that the "cool" elements outweigh "smart" elements. Thus I still dont see a long term huge value in UGC, Mobile, Social Networks and the like. This doesn't mean that there cannot be good uses, but I find it hard to sift through the "noise". And I know customers do too.

One area I am absolutely in sync with is that Context is critical. (I just cannot quite bring myself to say its King though).

What people say on platforms and then what they say in backrooms and coffee places are once again clearly different.

What are clients and their business partners are saying are very different. Cut costs, preserve value and do way more with way less. Many projects involving UGC just quietly died. Social Networks... no time. Mobile - why?

I see a big 3 Cs emerging.

Consistent, Context and Cheap.

And you?

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