We’ve developed a few iPhone apps since the AppStore opened July 2008. Just out of curiosity and for the fun of it. Our latest app is Fit to drive? –  designed to increase awareness of drinking and driving.

We’ve had a lot of debates too – also with sceptical clients that still consider iPhone and apps a passing trend – let’s wait and see if that lasts. No reason for iPhone optimised websites either. Hey, approximately 2/3 of total mobile surfing happens on an iPhone. Go to the café next door, ask two people – one with iPhone and one without – whether they have been online with their phone. The iPhone user will say yes, the other is likely to say no.

Our feeling is that it will not only last, but skyrocket. Apple currently dominates this new market because it created it. App-thinking defines the future for a lot of services delivered on mobile platforms. More than 2 billion apps  downloaded, turnover beyond EUR 2 billion and –  60 million iPhones sold according to TechCrunch. This tells us that those who still don’t believe in apps, better start believing.

What is more, if you add the numbers of iPod Touch sold, it becomes the fastest growing  hardware platform in consumer tech history. The iPhone, the apps and the unbeaten user experience of the iPhone have created a new opportunity space. Of course, leading today is not the same as leading tomorrow but it does make the other tech kings shudder.

Creating a successful app-store isn’t as easy. Google and NOKIA are trying hard. Apparently even the Danish AppStore grosses more in a single day than  Android Market in a year. What about Ovi?. Long way to go but together with Apple they’ll create a whole new category of on-line experiences.

Our point of view? iPhone or not, don’t miss the train – deliver your existing or new service via a mobile app. It’s key to your future.

At a seminar in Copenhagen the other day, Joe Pine from Strategic Horizons told about ‘services you didn’t ask for’ which triggered some thoughts on service experiences in general.

At Designit we’re currently quite focused on the global trend towards self-service and DIY. Self-service – in most cases – actually also happens to be something you didn’t ask for, and rather insisted on not having. But new divisions of labour between service provider and service buyer are here to stay, so it might be worth thinking about!

All sectors and markets experience a shift in user behaviour and service perception towards a preference for self-service and DIY. Not only for user but also for service provider this means new opportunities.

Even ‘mission critical’ industries like health care will become self-care in a couple of years from now. Take prescription drug vending machines for example. Chance is, that we’ll end up prefer self-service. And be surprised how self-service-capable we are – at least if the self-service experience is well designed and with user-capabilities in mind.

Within DIY activities the trend also shifts and creates new markets. Have a look at these two examples. Why not source back your typical DIY tasks (if you are a male) to a service provider. Here is the EasyCarWash offer reinventing carwash experience: Park your car at work, book a wash and enjoy a hand-washed car when you leave the office. A standard car wash consumes minimal water and costs approximately €15 so its benefits are both economical and environmental!

Or book a multi-handyman on the internet and get all the stuff done that used to require serious DIY-skills or two or three different professions + coordination. We tried it and it works! Next thing, I guess, will be a mobile hairdresser in the Copenhagen office saving time and probably cost too.

New, reinvented ‘service agreements’ between the service giver and service taker is the future. These new services are services that you did’nt ask for, but end up loving them and recommend them to your friends. Their logic is irresistible – and that’s why they’ll grow and change the game in the sector.

So, all you big established service providers with dated business and service concepts – rethink, get into the new game – or loose it!

The website “search me” have released a magnificient way of brosing the web. Instead of traditional textual search results the user’s presented with a cover-flow-ish graphical displays of the results. Very nifty!!!
Check it out at: http://beta.searchme.com/

Just take a few moments to relive an amazing old-school computer game – Mario Kart- now re-programmed in a web-version using JavaScript.

The game uses the canvas element to do most of the rendering and should work in both FF2, FF3, Opera(9.27 and beta) and Safari 3.1.1. There are a few glitches in Safari in the kart sprites, but other than that it should be playable. It’s not tested fir IE support yet, though..

LINK: http://www.nihilogic.dk/labs/mariokart/

Flick Software research is about to release a beta version of their iSwish software.

So now Windows Mobile users can have the iPhone interface on their devices. If it works, it’s super cool – but as with many things where Windows tries to replicate Apple UI, it just isn’t as good as it sounds. And hey Apple fans – remember that imitation is the greatest kind of flatter…

Watch the video

A bit untraditional and just a tad “over the edge”, but to me it’s still a very funny concept on how to use interactive web applications to raise money for a good cause – in this case to cross out male cancer…

To make your own cock-a-dooddle visit:
http://www.cock-a-doodle.co.uk/

As described on engadget, Monster Media has created several innovative kinds of interactive / ambient displays that extend our perception of commercial in the urban/public space by directly engaging the user/consumer in the commercial.

With this approach a completely new path for innovative commercials has been paved.

Engadget describes it this way: “we’ve most certainly seen window-based advertising used to lure the untrained eye to any manner of wares, but Scion‘s latest iteration certainly takes interactive promoting to new heights. In order to market its limited edition tC Release Series 4.0, it partnered up with InWindow to cover a series of street-side windows with bubbles which reacted to movements made by captivated individuals walking by. Granted, the installation isn’t nearly as addictive as say, trying to wrangle up every single Pokémon, but it definitely managed to hold the attention of a few geeked-out civilians. Check it out for yourself, the video’s right after the jump.”

Do check out the video demos on the Monster Media website.. You-ll find some amazing stuff there…

Adobe just released their first online photo editing software called Adobe Photoshop Express. It’s based on Adobe Flash and you can experience it at www.photoshop.com/express and try it out the many photo editing features.

This may just be one of the best current examples of an Rich Internet Application (in my opinion)..

UPDATE:  And the blog ReadWriteWeb has now released an article about how Adobe is going inline with many of their applications. Very interesting if you ask me.. Read the article!

Whooo! Check out Google’s corporate website. Super simplistic, non-corporate and totally anti stylish. But OK, if a service or a product has enough substance, style becomes less important. Or apparent lack of style becomes the style in itself. Just a thought, but this no nonsense approach has lots of potential if you ask me:)

Adobe did it again – a great campaign video..

Check it out at http://adobecards.com/