Smartphones, SaaS, cloud computing and Bigfoot

I was talking with my buddy Song in the mobile apps space recently about how long it takes to get these applications deployed. You have to go through carriers, you have to get certified, you have to do trials, you need to do the marketing all the way through to customers, etc. No doubt, it can feel like the search for Bigfoot.

Song’s company, Soonr, has a suite of apps that lets people share their files across PCs, Smartphones, dumb phones, whatever, by leveraging their cloud computing platform. (Soonr happens to use a lot of open source software, including MySQL, but that’s beside the point.)

Song is a classic early-adopter gadget hound and he’s always been on the cutting edge when it comes to handheld devices. I think he’s owned just about every handheld out there, including the first Palm smart phone by Kyocera. With the rapid adoption of Blackberries, iPhones (ok and a few Palm Centros), the vision that Song and the founders had at Soonr is coming to fruition.

Adoption of cloud computing and SaaS is taking longer than many would have expected, but I believe the impact will be more significant in the long term. Why? Because it makes sense to put data in the cloud so that you can access it from any variety of devices. That facilitates a model of collaboration that’s hard to do when data is tethered to your PC or even your in house network. The more accessible the data is, the more convenient it is to use, the more you can benefit from it.

As the percentage of adoption of Smartphones continues to grow, I expect you’ll see more and more Software as a Service (SaaS) or hosted applications. You’ll want to access those applications from anywhere –whether it’s at your desk, at home, in a hotel, or waiting in line at the airport.

I have no doubt that there will be dozens if not hundreds of successful mobile applications and companies in the coming 5 years. It may take a few years, but even Bigfoot comes out once in a while.