By Joe Procopio

Smell that? That�s optimism. It�s wafting back into the atmosphere like the promise of spring. Of course, at the moment, with all the snow and freezing rain and windchill, it�s tough to fully visualize that sunny day down the road but there�s a vibe, call it post-election stabilization, call it the return of exuberance, heck, call it late recognition of an economy that�s been bouncing back for a while now � my point is that the rusty door of technology is swinging open again. There�s work to be done and money to be made.

Question is: Where?

Let�s begin with where not. Security, for example, is a saturated industry. Not that the problem is solved, mind you, spam and viruses still run free. The issue here is that there are already a lot of hands in that particular cookie jar, and when Microsoft starts writing checks, as they did for Giant, you can pretty much paint the window shut.

Further, there�s just not that much to do. Monetizing the adoption of common sense, while seeming like a windfall, is really just a fool�s rush. If you can package and sell:

1. Protect your email address.
2. Don�t open any attachments that you don�t ask for.
3. Quit surfing porn.

…then I�m wrong and you deserve your million bucks.

And while the experts cough and sneeze over Nanotech, I�m beginning to wonder if any of them know what it is. And if so, would they explain it to me? I�m told it has something to do with sewing or injecting or stapling cell-sized chips or processors or Mini-Macs into other things, like sweaters or people or Trapper-Keepers.

I�m relatively sure that to get in on the Nanotech millions, you have to have advanced degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, and Ancient Greek History (for well-roundedness), plus an MBA and a couple of PHDs. You also have to start a company yourself and convince a number of venture capitalists that knitting an iPod into a tube sock is not just a media thing, it�s a Nanotech thing.

Speaking of saturation, while iPod dominates the mobile music market nicely, including the content and delivery mechanisms, the aftermarket is ablaze. IPod in the car, iPod in the living room, iPod on the beach. Apparently Apple couldn�t figure out how to orphan this device like it did so cleverly with its line of personal computers, so maybe there is some synergy there for the tube sock idea after all. If so, I want 10%.

That takes us to the bleeding edge. And boy, Mobile Phones are hot. Rather, content for mobile phones is hot. But who would have thought that the mp3 revolution would lead to the massive proliferation of ring tones? Yeah. Ring tones. This product is so hot that the RIAA hasn�t even figured out who to sue yet.

But I�m not sure this is a product I can get behind. I mean, when my mobile phone rings, it goes �ring… ring� and that�s after it vibrates first. Am I the last person on the planet who feels sheepish when their mobile goes off in a public restroom? Apparently so. It seems that the restroom is no longer the last expression-free zone on the planet. We spent our entire lives learning a code that includes no conversation or unnecessary eye contact, and now we�re plagued with learning that the dude next to us is really into Usher.

Or it might not be Usher. It all sounds like a bad Casio to me.

Take a step past mobile phones, however, and you get Mobile Devices, and it�s safe to say that this market has started to explode. Where once there was just Blackberry, which limited you to talking to that one other guy you knew who had a Blackberry, the Treo has pounded down the door and finally, and I mean finally, converged the PDA and the mobile phone into something that doesn�t look and feel like putting a Gameboy to your face.

This is a great market. A ripe market. But it probably means we have to start pretending like we�re going to learn Java again, and no one is really looking forward to that. Anyway, we need mobile business applications. By the truckload. Forget about the racing games and Tetris and blackjack � well, okay, keep blackjack � what we need are the convergence items, the apps that bring to fruition the promise of those IBM/Microsoft/SAP commercials.

Of course, this is only one niche in one market. I�d dole out a few more but that would make me a visionary, when what I really am is an opportunist. And that being said, the opportunity is, dare I say it, out there, now it�s up to you and me to fill it.

________________________
Joe Procopio is the founder and president of Intrepid Media, a consulting firm (www.intrepidmedia.net) and publishing company (www.intrepidmedia.com) located in Chapel Hill, NC. In his basement you can find the horrific results of his bungled experiments trying to inject a mobile phone into an iPod. He can be reached at joe@intrepidmedia.net.

This column originally appeared in the Feb 2005 issue of the Triangle TechJournal.

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