Within the near future, as the demand for constant connectivity with the Internet (hence with the rest of the world) increases, the price for data plan/packages for the cellular companies will definitely decrease. Thus, the age where every single person is connect to the Internet is no longer just a dream nor a story from a science fiction novel.
However, as the cellular industry moves towards the science fiction future at an alarming speed, it seems that the marketers in the world have yet to catch on to what's happening, and what needs to happen. What marketers are doing, is using the exact same formula from the old days of mass marketing, and substituting "mail" to "telephone" then to "computer desktop Internet" then to "cellular mobile Internet".
Given that both connects to the exact same place, however the notion of "mobility" is the crucial factor here.
Most smartphones have a GPS function, and unlike their predecessors, generation Y actually have a very loose definition of privacy. Many of them are willing and ready to disclose their entire lives to you, if you know the right way to ask. It's not too far fetched, for consumers to registers with their favourite stores and allow them to track their daily activities in exchange for some small benefits. The complete aggregation of this information will be the key in opening the door to the next age of marketing.
What is valuable, is the tracking of movement on a day to day basis. Given that each person who is holding a GPS enabled smartphone, has also registered their consumer preferences, what you have now, is to narrow down to the very second, of when to have promotions for your brand at the most perfect location, without the need to do any promotions for the promotions beforehand.
The example above is only the beginning, within one lifetime, the entire world of marketing will change completely, to a form no one will recognize if we were to see it now.
