This article was original posted on September 10th, 2012 on PSFK.com: http://www.psfk.com/2012/09/iphone-5-design.html

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The iPhone 5 rumor mill is in overdrive, but the focus of the speculation is misplaced. Looking ahead to the more connected Apple device ecosystem, I actually think that the iPhone 5 will be wider – not taller.

Industry insiders agree the new ‘taller’ screen has a 16:9 screen resolution. This is designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to start the process of updating the entire iTunes app ecosystem to a new standard that will ensure compatibility across a future version of the Apple device ecosystem that includes the Apple TV.

There is a new digital revolution underway in the living room. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Roku, Boxee and others are all fighting to own the new TV experience, but our collective focus remains on the smartphone and the tablet. This will change. So much so that I am betting the next phase of my career on it.

Gigaom predicted approximately 250,000,000 Smart TVs will be in play by 2015. Almost half of US based consumers do not understand what a smart TV is according to the YouGov Smart TV Study. Apple, regardless of your opinion of them, is exceptionally good at bringing innovative products into the mainstream. The all but confirmed release of an updated Apple TV, that includes full integration of Apps along with a next generation user experience, will bring the desire to own a Smart TV into the mainstream. The new technology frontier will be forged by Smart TVs and with it I’m expecting an opportunity to arise as significant as when smartphones or tablets became mainstream devices.

But let me say this again, it is not just about another device coming into the market (iPhone 5, Smart TVs), but rather what the interrelationship is between all of the devices and what the long-range roadmap in play to connect everything looks like. The all-but-confirmed release of an updated Apple TV that includes full integration of Apps along with a next generation user experience will bring the passion and desire to own a Smart TV into the mainstream.

The future of consumer electronics will revolve around the connected ecosystem. iPhone and iPad owners will flock to the Apple TV to complete their digital ecosystem as their devices become increasingly interconnected. Android users although excited and inspired by the Apple TV will seek a compatible experience for their ecosystem in the Google TV. The best thing that will ever happen to Google TV is Apple TV.

It is my prediction that in the next year we will continue to see more shifts in aspect ratios around devices, both tablets and phones, as we move to a more complete and connected ecosystem. Will we see this in the rumored iPad mini? Perhaps, but unlikely. Instead, I think Apple will update the full size iPad and then follow up with a new iPad mini aspect ratio at a closer time to the TV. One thing not in question, however, is the pending Smart TV revolution that will enter the mainstream (and our living rooms) and the that implications for changes in consumer behavior will be profound. The revolution will be connected, integrated and require new standards. The iPhone 5 is just the beginning, but one of the most important steps we’ve seen yet.

I love apps on my mobile devices. Some might argue I have an app addiction with literally 15 to 20 apps being bought a month between my iPhone, HTC Desire, and my iPad. Since apps are reviewed by the app stores I don’t worry about my devices crashing and if I don’t like them they’re easy to uninstall so I’m always to try out apps by businesses and brands a like.  In fact it’s pretty normal fair these days for brands to be creating apps and games and distributing these (typically free) brand experiences through the app stores. In fact I find they tend to make their way into almost every digital pitch these days.

Why then did desktop applications as brand experiences never take off?

Adobe Air made it easy for Flex and Actionscript developers to create multi-platform desktop apps and yet the world of desktop apps as marketing experiences never went mainstream. There are so many clear benefits including being an ongoing engagement with consumers on one of their most personal devices that they might spend hours and hours a day on.

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Google announced and released instant search today, a feature that combines instant dynamic results with predictions to instantly populate the page with results as you type.

• Dynamic Results – Google dynamically displays relevant search results as you type so you can quickly interact and click through to the web content you need.
• Predictions – One of the key technologies in Google Instant is that we predict the rest of your query (in light gray text) before you finish typing. See what you need? Stop typing, look down and find what you’re looking for.
• Scroll to search – Scroll through predictions and see results instantly for each as you arrow down.

Here’s a video that explains Google Instant in greater depth:

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In an increasingly global world, it’s not unreasonable to believe that some tactics used in developed markets will be successful in China. But it’s also important to recognize that new trends or even new uses of familiar tactics make every market different, a fact I was reminded of after moving to China three months ago.

For example, advanced analytics tools for monitoring the social media space will dramatically change the approach to social media and the value placed on it by marketers—once they arrive in emerging markets–just at they did recently in developed markets. The expansion of market leaders like CIC, a digital media research and consulting firm in Shanghai, will help drive this change.

China’s digital marketers can skip some of the mistakes made in other more established markets as they go through a huge digital growth spurt and probably develop new tools (and associated mistakes) on their own. I expect the same thing to happen with some tactics.

As a westerner living in Shanghai, I’ve certainly had to re-evaluate what I understood about China, including the way to approach digital marketing when taking on the world’s largest internet market. Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:

1. There is plenty of life beyond Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
And that’s a good thing, since these banned sites are non-players in the Chinese market. Although the social media space is fragmented, there are major players with hundreds of millions of users that rival even the biggest players.

Although a myriad of players exist in this complex social media space, start by learning about platforms like Kaixin (social network), Sina Weibo (micro-blogging), Youku (video sharing), and QQ (instant messenger). Re-learning the platforms can be challenging, but is possible for non-Chinese speakers by accessing them through Google Chrome with its automatic language translation function. The brand communications principals behind authenticity, transparency, and value in social media still apply, though.

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