Is mobile going to become the recruitment platform of choice?
Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 3:29pm Wednesday 16 December 2009
Morgan Stanley has released the latest Mobile Internet Report studying innovations in technology. If you have a spare few hours, you can read the full 400+ page report, or browse through the presentation slides. Mobile internet is not a fad and the recruitment industry should take note. Most day-to-day recruitment programs are desktop based which requires costly overheads and resources. Recruitment systems, job boards and career websites should become mobile optimised to take full advantage of this growing medium.
Innovation in technology – and the creation (and destruction) of wealth in its wake – follows a pattern. As each new computing cycle unfolds, roughly once a decade, the number of devices and users rises by a factor of ten. From mainframe to minicomputer, PC, desktop Internet, and now the mobile Internet, more and more people benefited from faster processing power, better user interfaces, smaller form factors, lower prices, and expanded services.
The key takeaways from the report are...
- Material wealth creation / destruction should surpass earlier computing cycles. The mobile Internet cycle, the 5th cycle in 50 years, is just starting. Winners in each cycle often create more market capitalization than in the last. New winners emerge, some incumbents survive – or thrive – while many past winners falter.
- The mobile Internet is ramping faster than desktop Internet did, and we believe more users may connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within 5 years.
- Five IP-based products / services are growing / converging and providing the underpinnings for dramatic growth in mobile Internet usage – 3G adoption + social networking + video + VoIP + impressive mobile devices.
- Apple + Facebook platforms serving to raise the bar for how users connect / communicate – their respective ramps in user and developer engagement may be unprecedented.
- Decade-plus Internet usage / monetization ramps for mobile Internet in Japan plus desktop Internet in developed markets provide roadmaps for global ramp and monetization.
- Massive mobile data growth is driving transitions for carriers and equipment providers.
- Emerging markets have material potential for mobile Internet user growth. Low penetration of fixed-line telephone and already vibrant mobile value-added services mean that for many EM users and SMEs, the Internet will be mobile.
