I admit, like a certain segment of the world, I was tuned in yesterday to Apple’s Annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.  As a recent convert, back to the Apple world (my last Mac a boxy SE30), I noticed the day more than I have other years. My focus, primarily on the new iPhone.

Yesterday, I sat on the other side of the country attempting to pick-up wifi wherever I could. Sure, I wanted to know if there would be a new design, and if the rumors about new features would be true. As a blogger, and someone who believes social media and networking have been and will continue to be transformative to our work and personal lives, my degree of interest was on the future of mobile computing.

Jack Gold writes,“Despite a need to move toward mobile applications for the workforce, the majority of companies have not yet formulated a sound mobile strategy… our research indicates less than 35% have a mobile strategy in place.”

I know some of you might be thinking “whoa, slow down, my company isn’t even using social media yet.” I know and understand. I think it’s fair to say, the writing is on the wall; the proof being the proliferation of mobile applications. How soon will all this change occur? Your guess is as good as mine, after all, we’re still in a recession. However, I think it’s fair to say mobile computing and strategies are clearly in our future.

When you think about your long-term plans you may want to include a Mobile Strategy on your list. Four key points Jack Gold suggests for the successful implementation of mobile strategies will need to include:

1. current and future business requirements of the organization

2. evaluation of existing technological assets

3. assessment of the necessary skill sets within the organization; staff training or re-training of existing staff to obtain needed in-house skills

4. management and user support, including good communication of the reasons the company is embarking on a mobile strategy.

As for me, right now I’ll still saunter into the Apple Store every so often to make sure our blog looks good on the iPhone. After June 19th, we’ll see. In any event, I plan to keep my eye on how people are using smartphones and the implications for what it means for further integrated marketing strategies.

What do you think? Are the iPhone 3G S and its smartphone cousins pointing to an inevitable future?