Who will provide the products and services?
The major players in this space, of course, will be existing carriers and handset makers and social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Google plans to dominate this space, and I'm sure Microsoft will want to play eventually as well.
Google's Android platform may be widely used for the development of business mobile social networking very soon. But a lesser-known Google acquisition, called Zingku, may give Google a head start in mobile social networking.
Nokia acquired a company called Plazes, which provides location-centric social and product services.
But because this is an entirely new area, the field is up for grabs. Relatively unknown newcomers going after the youth social life market could grow to dominate business mobile social networking as well, or could be acquired by a major deep-pocket player and transformed for business. Some of these companies include AirG, Bluepulse, CenceMe, GyPSii, Mobimii, Moblr, MocoSpace, NearConn, WhosHere, Whrrl and ZKOUT.
One of the reasons everybody wants to play in this space is that business mobile social networking combines compelling, addictive, active usage combined with a kind of super-advertising or mega-marketing opportunity. Rather than just throwing advertising out there and hoping that somebody cares, mobile social networking uses location for relevance.
Why you'll love mobile social networking
The "killer app" -- the discovery of a nearby colleague with a one-button "hey, let's have a cup of coffee" feature.
Here's a scenario that may become common in the next few years. You're in Manhattan on business and walking down the street in the early evening after attending an all-day conference. Your phone beeps, and you've got a message from your favorite business mobile social networking service. It says that a person you pitched to a year ago is within 300 yards of your location. It automatically provides the context of that year-ago meeting, and a photo of the person. It informs you that he's a huge fan of Guinness beer, and asks you to "press here to invite the contact for a drink at the James Joyce Irish pub, one of the highest rated in New York (and also an advertiser), which is just around the corner.
