Justin told us yesterday how “marketers are overestimating what average everyday consumers know about the smartphones they use,” and that the industry needs to “educate consumers on the potential of new-age smartphones and other devices,” lest their campaigns fall on deaf ears. Yet it seems that consumers, or at least “prosumers,” are more savvy than their employers about high-end technologies like smartphones–to the detriment of corporate workplaces, according to the report titled The Consumerization of IT, conducted by International Data Corp and sponsored by Unisys Corporation.

Researchers surveyed 2,820 workers in 10 countries, as well as 650 global IT decision-makers. Turns out most workers invest in the latest consumer technologies themselves, and use them in the workplace–while employers are often unaware of such technologies, much less integrating them into the workplace.

“The research shows a profound disconnect between what iWorkers are doing with consumer technologies in the enterprise and what IT leaders believe is happening in their organizations… The ‘consumerization of IT’ trend will turn existing IT and business models on their heads,” said John Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice president, IDC.

“This research raises important questions as to how well prepared today’s organizations are to… capitalize on new ways of doing business, connecting with customers, and attracting future workers,” said Sam Gross, vice president, Global IT Outsourcing Solutions, Unisys.

For example, workers surveyed said that they are using smartphones and mobile phones in the workplace at nearly twice the rate reported by employers–meaning that workers are using their own phones, not just company-purchased ones. (See accompanying chart.) The number of employees using smartphones for work is expected to double between 2010 and 2014, says IDC. And already, more than 40 percent of workers surveyed use text messaging for business–an effective way, as marketers know, to build a more intimate-feeling relationship between businesses and their customers.

Yet companies aren’t exactly supporting mobile phone productivity. Fewer than half of employers allow subordinates to access enterprise applications via smartphones, according to the report; and employees give their employers below-average ratings for the IT support that their organizations provide for such consumer technologies.

(For the full report, go to http://blog.unisys.com/.)

The silver lining may be for marketers. While bosses remain unaware how connected to customers and to the workplace their employees are, employees themselves can be reached via the devices they bought for themselves. The time is ripe to reach out to prosumers, whether text-messaging them about the lunch special at the corner cafe, or using Foursquare to get them into a certain bar for happy hour, or making it easier-than-ever to make Internet purchases on a certain mobile-optimized online store. Likely their supervisors will be none the wiser.

It’s no secret that, in today’s self-serve world, consumers are becoming increasingly empowered by easy access to information.  In many cases, answers are now only a click away.  So, it was only a matter of time before on-the-go consumers started demanding the same convenience from their mobile devices.  Given the fact that about 85% of all U.S. households own at least one mobile phone, it’s not surprising that mobile is fast becoming the search tool of choice– particularly for people making purchasing decisions.

Retailers are starting to feel the effects.  According to Forrester’s Research, consumers who research products online before making an offline purchase affect over $500 billion in sales a year.  Consumer behavior is influenced by the information they’re able to find on their own, on the go.

Mobile puts the power of information into consumers’ hands, even as they’re standing in the store aisle.  This opens up new possibilities for shoppers– even those who aren’t yet comfortable with actually purchasing from their mobile devices.  Comparison shopping and searching for products by phone, for example, are high-value, low-risk activities that people curious about mobile shopping can start out with.

Interested in becoming a more informed shopper?  Consider the following mobile apps that aim to improve your shopping experience

1. ShopSavvy- This app allows users to comparison shop right in the store, by scanning a product’s bar code using a camera phone.  It then finds the lowest prices online as well as at local retailers, searches coupons, and actually lets users make purchases.  With over 40 million scans reported each month, this is one of the most popular shopping apps on the market today.  ShopSavvy is available on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and Nokia phones.

2. FastMall- This app is a resource for mall shoppers.  It provides interactive maps of mall stores and restrooms, gives the quickest routes to stores, and even helps consumers remember where they parked their cars.  You can also make lists and get coupons.  It’s available on the iPhone and iTouch.

2. GroceryIQ- A handy app that allows you to create and organize grocery lists, scan products and save lists of frequently purchased items.  Coupon users will appreciate being able to access and share coupons. Shoppers can also take photos of bar codes to add items to their lists and create lists of frequently or previously purchased items.   Available on the iPhone and iTouch.

4.    Google Shopper- Google has joined the mobile retail game with this app, currently available for Android.  The Shopper lets you inquire about product information using your phone’s camera. It recognizes bar codes and saves your search history so you always have it available.  A couple of neat features—it can recognize visual data, such as book covers and video game cases, and you can speak the name of the product rather than scan or type it in.

5.    Yowza- Ever wonder what coupons are available for stores near you, wherever you are?  Yowza  uses GPS to determine your location, then sends you coupons for nearby stores.  Just set the distance parameters for anywhere from 1 to 50 miles.  This app started out for users of the iPhone and iTouch, but is now available for use on the BlackBerry, Android and Palm.

Apps like these put more power into the hands of consumers, as they allow shoppers to determine who has the best deals quickly, conveniently and on their own.  So, should mobile commerce have retailers worried?  It depends on how willing they are to embrace, and even profit from, the new technology.  As Alexander Muse, founder of Big in Japan and developer of ShopSavvy, has said: “They realize, sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. But if I stay out of the conversation, I never win.”

And consumers might well say the same thing about themselves.

The first big move was Google’s purchase of AdMob, which is now under intense scrutiny by the FTC for anti-competitive issues, even though it seems Apple will soon have a leg up with the introduction of its so-called “iAd” mobile advertising platform.  What’s interesting is that Google is pushing hard for Apple to debut its plans, in hopes that it will get the FTC off its back by proving that Google is in no way set to dominate the mobile ad space.

In some ways, Apple’s plans with Quattro Wireless are more anti-competitive in nature than Google’s plans with AdMob- only because Apple dominates the mobile apps business at the moment.  By making it easy to implement its own advertising by way of its development SDK for iPhones/iPods and now the iPad, Apple can effectively lock-out (without formally doing so) all other competing ad-networks.

Google, on the other hand, has no such plans and even promotes openness through its mobile initiatives.  The only problem in the eyes of competitors and the FTC is Google’s reigning dominance in Online advertising, which many fear will trickle down to its mobile ad business as well, even though AdMob first specialized in iPhone-centric ad-units, go figure.

Even so-called competitors are starting to let the FTC know that there’s really nothing to worry about with Google’s purposed intentions with AdMob.  4INFO, a leading SMS marketing company, even sent a letter directly to the FTC stating that it sees no problem with the acquisition and that it actually promotes competition instead of hindering it.

The truth is that mobile advertising has many components and is at the beginning of what’s to come.  One company will have a hard time dominating every single aspect of mobile advertising.  While Google may lead the pack is mobile display advertising, Apple will likely lead in mobile app monetization and companies like 4INFO and others will continue to dominate SMS monetization.  The playing field is still relatively level at the moment, but it hinges greatly on whatever Apple has planned with iAd, which is set to be announced later this week.

The evolution of mobile advertising is far from complete, and though the big guys are controlling the space at the moment, the little guys still have massive potential to make names for themselves.  Whatever the case may be, the next few months should prove very interesting.

The new app is intended to bring various benefit-oriented information directly to employees, allowing them to access and act on all elements of their personalized healthcare financial benefits including Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) from anywhere and at anytime.

“The early response we have received from our customers has been exceptionally positive,” said Robert Natt, PayFlex CEO. “The ease of use on a 24/7 basis and the ability to check your account balances, while also seeing past claim history are some of the more prominent features that our clients and prospective clients have raved about.”

Compatibility was key during development, as the app will work with more than 300 mobile devices, or approximately 90 percent of the worldwide market.  This allows consumers to easily access and act upon their personalized information, on-demand, whether they’re at home or in their physician’s office, pharmacy or hospital.  Since PayFlex works with such a broad range of companies, placing emphasis on device compatibility was a smart move.

The application will initially be piloted at several large PayFlex customers and is expected to be generally available in the early summer of 2010, with future apps coming down the pipeline eventually.

The survey, sponsored by Telcordia, revealed 82% of respondents said they’d suffered a dropped SMS or MMS message in the past 12 months.  What’s interesting is that the sample size for the study was huge- not a few hundred people as some surveys sample.  The respondents represented mobile users in more than 75 countries.

Telcordia, a vendor who “administers industry directories and registries that service providers and aggregators use to deliver voice and data services (including SMS),” thinks the problem lies with number portability, which is amplified across multiple SMS aggregators or hubs that may not have access to the same data about number changes that mobile operators have themselves.

Service providers typically have access to number portability changes within their network, obviously, as well as on a bilateral basis with other carriers, but SMS aggregators and hub providers have less access to such up-to-date data.  This, along with the sheer number of messages being sent at any given time, indicate a problem that can only get worse.

These and more are questions r2integrated aims to help answer with its new whitepaper titled “US Smart Phone Platforms: A Comparative Analysis,” in which all leading smartphone platforms in the US market are compared using a variety of data points in hopes of helping businesses make better decisions when it comes to mobile app development for smartphones.

Based on market analysis, the whitepaper identifies the six most popular smartphone platforms in the US, which include iPhone, Android, Palm’s WebOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and RIM’s Blackberry.  In terms of market share, while Symbian dominates worldwide share of smartphones, with 46%, it’s a far different picture in the US.  As of October, 2009, RIM held the majority of market share in terms of smartphone usage in the US at 41%, while the iPhone was a distant second at 25%, followed closely by Windows Mobile in third at 20%.  This is significant for decision makers wanting to target the US market over a worldwide audience.

One of the most interesting data points analyzed in the whitepaper was a survey conducted in October and December of 2009, which looked at what smartphone platforms consumers were most interested in buying during their next purchase, giving a clear picture of what platforms are most popular with consumers.  32% of respondents indicated their next purchase would be an iPhone in October of 2009, but that number dropped to 28% in December.  Android, however, showed the most improvement in terms of consumer willingness, with only 6% indicating Android was their next purchase choice in October, rising to 21% when asked again in December.

The whitepaper, like most resources published by r2integrated, is a very interesting and detailed read, with much more comparison and analysis on several levels- including distribution, development penetration and usage, various platform feature-sets, cross-platform development analysis and much more.  If you’re planning mobile application development, you already know that due diligence and plenty of research is necessary to make sure you make the right decision and invoke the highest ROI possible for your endeavors.  This new whitepaper is a great resource to start with.

Growing at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 38.7 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 770 million units in 2014.  With adoption of GPS technology starting in the smartphone segment, where it’s now essentially a standard feature on all new models, it’s anticipated that GPS will see heavy inclusion in new low-cost smartphones and “feature phones” about to enter the market as well.

Significantly impacting the growth of GPS-enabled devices will be the accuracy improvements coming down the pipes in the very near future.  While GPS is accurate outdoors with a clear view of the sky, there continues to be limitations indoors and in areas with geographic limitations.

The report from Berg Insight suggest many improvements to location-accuracy are in the works, including use of a Russian positioning satellite to compliment existing technology, as well as new developments in hybrid positioning technologies that take into account signal measurements from multiple satellite systems, cellular networks and Wi-Fi, together with data from various forms of sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and altimeters.

“Chipset developers and handset vendors are already working on next-generation location technologies that will address the limitations of GPS when using handsets in urban canyons and indoors”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “Multi-mode receivers that also support the Russian GLONASS satellite system will appear in handsets in 2011. By combining the two systems, more visible satellites will increase the chance to receive sufficiently strong signals to get a fix in more locations”

During the acceptance speech for winning best Documentary, the subject of which, Ric O’Barry, held up a sign that read “text DOLPHIN to 44144.”  Even though the camera cut away quickly, the message was still understood.

O’Barry, who captured and trained the first five dolphins who played Flipper in the popular 1960s TV series, dedicated the rest of his life to protecting and freeing dolphins from captivity after witnessing the ramifications of his actions — as well as the suicide of one of the Flipper dolphins in his arms.  His life’s work was chronicled in the documentary “The Cove,” which won the Oscar last night for best documentary of the year.

Following through on the campaign and texting “Dolphin” to 44144 returned a link to an Online petition and a means to send a letter to Pres. Obama.  MsgMe, the provider of the 44144 short code used in the call-to-action, said even though cameras cut away quickly when O’Barry held up the sign, the response was still significant.

“We saw steady traffic for the next five hours and have seen a huge spike in support over Twitter which we believe is generating the bulk of the traffic,” said Matt Silk of Waterfall Mobile, provider of the MsgMe SMS platform in an email today.  ”New subscribers are still coming in at a pretty healthy clip to sign the petition so we are ecstatic with the viral explosion of the campaign.”

Headrush Hair Salon, an up-scale and high-traffic salon in the U.K, enlisted the help of TextMagic to introduce SMS reminders to cut down on no-shows and reduce the standby time for their stylists, helping curb the untold amount of revenue lost during idle time.  With over 4,700 clients total, no-shows had become a huge problem.

“TextMagic has improved our amount of no-show clients who may have forgotten the date and time of their appointment, therefore leaving a stylist in the salon with sometimes up to 2 1/2 hours of down time, which is clearly bad for business and profits.  We calculate that our number of no-shows has been reduced by approximately 70% since we’ve been using TextMagic and we expect this number to improve further as we obtain more clients’ mobile numbers.”

With SMS being inexpensive, easy to implement and having the ability to reach anyone quickly and easily no matter the type of device, it’s no wonder SMS reminder solutions have proved so successful.  Nearly every use-case I come across is deemed a huge success, with ROI that goes above and beyond most expectations.  As the concept makes itself known, wide-spread usage in a variety of industries will begin to take shape, for good reason.

At the shareholder’s meeting, Jobs expressed his continued interest in acquiring companies based on their talent and technology, not by their perceived market position, meaning the company will go after small startups that offer highly focused technology, or highly skilled and knowledgeable founders.  The company wants to acquire startups that can help bolster certain aspects of its products- a perfect example being the low-key acquisition of a mapping startup a while back to help Apple develop its own in-house mapping solution.

It’s clear the company wants to own every aspect of the devices they offer, and they’re already on the right track.  With the iPhone, the company directly handles the hardware,  software, the mobile commerce and music aspects via iTunes, mobile application distribution via its App store, and soon its own mapping solution, effectively locking out all third-parties and positioning itself to keep the iPhone (and all its revenue streams) all to itself.

One obvious priority is to directly dominate the mobile advertising flowing through iPhones and their subsequent content.  With Quattro wireless waiting in the wings, it will soon pull the trigger and offer a unique in-house mobile advertising solution to the thriving community of developers surrounding the iPhone and the future iPad.  By Quattro being the default solution, and being included in the iPhone SDK, it will effectively lock out other ad-networks without explicitly doing so, keeping yet another aspect of the iPhone ecosystem all to themselves.

With a location-aspect being paramount in mobile advertising, its in-house mapping solution will play a huge role as well, meaning Apple can offer developers and advertisers one of the most comprehensive and well-rounded mobile solutions available, without forcing them to seek certain aspects elsewhere.  When a developer wants to develop, distribute and monetize their applications, Apple will be there to handle the entire process from design to monetization.  This puts Apple in a unique and highly powerful position.

With $26 billion in the bank, and a highly focused acquisition strategy, Apple is on track to dominate the mobile ecosystem on several levels.  This was the message Jobs had for shareholders yesterday, and as history has proved, he usually delivers.