I had a fascinating day at the X Media Lab on Friday, listening to an impressive array of international speakers sharing their views on commercialising ideas. One speaker, who looked at fast approaching trends, was focused on the opportunities that arise from these trends.

Chris Deering is the Chariman of Codemasters, and was recently the President of Sony Computer Entertainment (Europe). He spoke of how the sales of mobile handsets (1.3 billion annually) were now vastly greater than the sales of PCs (100 million annually) and that is now a market where opportunity is rife.

Trends that he thought represented huge opportunities were:

1. Mobiles, and other devices like dog collars, that are location aware.

2. Women are fast becoming the biggest spenders on the web.

3. A rising need for targetted, trusted, advice (as in a concierge) for time poor people.

4. The appetite for "live" information/entertainment is growing.

5. User interfaces that are evolving to include voice, gesture, Wii remotes, etc.

6. The growth in mobile communities - particularly access to social networking on the go. ("Who's at this conference that I know through Facebook?") He estimated that in 2012 (that's only 4 years away) mobile social networks would have 400-800 million members.

They were interesting areas that any marketer or entrepreneur has to be thinking about and they certainly gave me food for thought.

In New Zealand, I think we're a bit restricted by the lack of location aware mobiles (inlcuding GPS). Looking at these international figures and trends, and the decreasing cost of adding such technology to devices, this will change - and we need to be ready.