Race for innovation is replacing today’s tech with tomorrow’s apps

Today’s hottest trend is tomorrow’s has-been. That ruthless maxim in business competition is raising ferocity to a whole new level, as popular, useful platforms that have been embraced by millions are slowly getting laid off by the wayside, replaced by innovations that are redefining the use, functions and foundations of the digital landscape.

This is not a mere matter of one brand bumping off another, like what Facebook did to social media sites Friendster and Multiply (Anyone remember them?), nor is it a matter of one more ingenious product making its predecessor look clunky and irrelevant, which happened when Blackberry lost out to the iPhone.

The one differentiator among the innovations today is their ability to cross multiple platforms — enabling users to do in one device, software or site what they were only able to do in another. Barriers are being lifted, says CIO Today, and the apps and technology that users will flock to are those that can link them from one digital ecosystem to another. One example is the threat that messaging apps are posing to the traditional email.

An App Annie study says that Android users between the ages of 13 to 24 are spending three times more on their messaging apps like Viber and Whatsapp than their 45-year-old-and-above parents who still prefer to communicate through email. The attraction in using a messaging app lies in its multi-functionality. Snapchat, for example, allows users to easily and quickly send streaming videos to another while they chat and message — something that would take longer in an office-based or web-based email.

Apple, which has changed the game by which music buffs get access to their favourite tunes, is now blazing the trail when it comes to online readers’ digesting and downloading the news. Not too long ago, readers went to the news sites of their favourite publications, e.g. The New York Times, Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, or downloaded these media platforms’ apps to be able to keep up with their reportage.

Digital Trends says that Apple is adding a more personal dimension to news reading while giving users an even greater access to content. Through its Apple News, news-hungry aficionados can now personally curate their own news feed. They can still tag their favourite publication as their Favourite in another tab; however, they can now select the kind of articles they want to read first, as well as the publication or news site it is coming from.

Instead of clicking on one news app to another, all users have to do is use Apple News and see real estate and restaurant stories from New York Times and Huffington Post streaming into their news feed. To get ahead of social media sites where users also post their favourite news items, Apple News is arranging content partnerships not just with the big players mentioned above but with the smaller content providers, independent publications and individual bloggers.

Broadcasting and Cable says that Apple News will be facing off against formidable competitors like Facebook’s Instant Articles and Snapchat Discover. One trend is clear, though, says writer Jon Lafayette. “Just as search engine optimisation boomed during the first half of the 2000s, and social marketing optimisation exploded in the late 2000s, the next big digital cottage industry will be built around publisher platform optimisation.”

“The way that people will digest information will always be changing,” says Dom Einhorn, the CEO and founder of the finance and business news app Born2Invest, which curates news from various parts of the world for its international audience. Since its launch a few years ago, Born2Invest has enjoyed a growing community of readers, mostly millennials, who browse the app for all kinds of business topics, from finance, stock movement, to tech, and real estate. “Our readers want to personalize their news. They want something specific to their needs, and they take note of those categories on our apps. They don’t want the old newspaper model, which is one-headline-fits-all-publishing-platforms.”

E-learning is also undergoing its own evolution. Classes of tablet-carrying and smartphone-using students have begun the migration of the print textbooks into these devices. Now, these learners just have to click on an app to download a book, answer a test, or write an essay. However, this model commonly known as e-textbook might be replaced once e-learning is interlinked with a cloud-based platform, says Business 2 Community.

A wired classroom will not just make data or video transmission faster, but it can connect teachers with their students, and the students with each other. In the same way that virtual employees collaborate each other online without meeting in one specific physical place, virtual students can interact with their professor or their group mates through chat and Skype.

Assignments can come in the form of video reports, instead of word documents; once uploaded, the class, regardless of where the students are individually based, can comment and give feedback.

Although marketed more for corporate training than schools, Playerlync is making headway with their digital device designed specifically for sales agents and sports players. Both groups of professionals have to be coached regularly, but the demands of the job make it difficult to assemble them in one physical conference room. Playerlync’s software has all the course materials online for the students to study.

The brave new world of technology was never made for the lone wolf. The winners in the forthcoming arena are those who can anticipate and address the need of millions of users to multi-task several platforms, connect with kindred spirits, and remain connected at all times.