Disrupt: What’s hot in the mobile space

• DNA-TeAM Disrupt to delve into key areas that entrepreneurs need to be on top off
• Sharing that will go on to enrich both panelists and audience

WE kick off our 2013 series of DNA-TeAM Disrupt networking and sharing sessions with ‘Mobilize Your Business Model’ at 5.30pm sharp today, Jan 22.
 
You could say we are playing it safe by going with the mobile theme, but if you search on YouTube for ‘future mobile communications,’ you will see that we are nowhere near the predictions portrayed in the slick videos done by the likes of Nokia or Samsung four or five years ago.
 
I, for one, am still waiting for my flexible, bendable smartphone. Forget about projecting holographic images; I’ll settle for a battery that can keep pace with my life till I get home for dinner.
 
But lest I fall into the trap of going down the hardware path, let me step back and see what’s on the horizon. For sure, everything that can be mobilized will be. Payments is the obvious one, especially in the United States, and with the Digital Malaysia initiative’s Enabling ePayment for SMEs and Micro Enterprises entry point project, we’re not that far behind.
 
One truism of consumer and business tech trends around the Internet and mobile seems to be that anything that has traction in the United States, will inevitably gain traction elsewhere. eBay just reported that it ended 2012 with US$13 billion in mobile commerce payments. Not surprisingly its CEO says that “The mobile revolution is here and it’s changing the way consumers pay for everything.”
 
But I think our Disrupt session will reveal to participants that there is much more depth to the mobile evolution than just payments. Healthcare is going to be big. In fact, such is the impatience of mobile chip maker Qualcomm, that the company is offering US$10 million under its Tricorder X Prize to whoever can come up with a device that brings healthcare to the palm of your hand.
 
Our panellists – Naveen Mishra, industry principal, ICT, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan; Nimal Manuel (pic), principal at McKinsey & Co in Kuala Lumpur; and Karan Ponnudurai, chief innovation officer of Celcom Bhd -- will give us a lot to think about on the key trends in the mobile space that all of us entrepreneurs need to be on top of. And, I am sure, they will learn a thing or two from the ensuing rich discussions that go on at our Disrupt series too.
 
So, to ensure you have ringside seats, do RSVP for this evening’s sharing and learning session and we’ll see you at 5.30pm sharp.
 
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