There’s a great deal of discussion and debate around what will ultimately happen to banking as a result of the massive changes in connectivity, utility, mobility and customer experience taking place right now. One thing is for sure, the world is changing, and fast.

We see PayPal owning online payments, with others like Stripe hot on their tails.

Square is attempting to disrupt the POS and circumvent the existing payments rails by going cardless.

Simple and Movenbank are vying for the new definition of the ‘bank account.’

Telcos, like Rogers, are applying for banking licenses, and ISYS is pitching head-to-head with banks for mobile wallet dominance in North America.

Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly dominant channels for customer dialog.

Then, the mysterious iPhone 5 threatens to disrupt our payments experience in ways we can only imagine!

New Disruptors Abound!

Intermediate or Disintermediation?

So are banks getting disintermediated in all this? Well, yes and no. In classic economics, disintermediation is generally defined as the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: “cutting out the middleman.” So there’s not too many middlemen in the typical retail banking distribution chain. To some extent in financial services this is already happening with the decline in stock brokers, insurance agents, etc in favor of direct. However, conversely, a bunch of newer aggregators and intermediaries are popping up as the interface to the bank or payments providers.

New intermediary plays in the last couple of years include Square, iTunes, Simple, Mint, and others. Probably the most interesting new intermediary to emerge in the last year or so is Google Wallet (or Google, or THE Google wallet – not like THE Facebook though…).

So we’re likely to see more variations on a theme in banking and payments, where new players are coming into the ecosystem and offering value beyond the traditional methods of distribution. In its purest form, this will be simply a challenge to the branch-led distribution model. How so? Ultimately, with mobile banking and payments, the branch and resultant paperwork processes becomes a convenience “penalty” for transactional and basic onboarding. This friction is a target for disruptors. A great example is Square — after just 18 months of operation, Square supports one-eighth of all U.S. merchants. They didn’t exist two years ago. How did they do it?

Square targeted the friction in onboarding new merchants for credit card operations in the retail environment. They made it far simpler than setting up a merchant account through a bank.

Disruption and Disenfranchising
The disruption that is occurring in the customer experience space is all about removing friction in outmoded or outdated processes for customers. Whenever you tell a customer he needs to fill out manual forms or paperwork, or you need him to visit a physical location today, you’re going to increasingly get kickback from a segment of the market. While many will argue passionately for the role of a face-to-face interaction and the “richness” of the branch experience, the reality is that there are two reasons why most customers will increasingly avoid that.

Firstly, customers don’t have the time or they perceive it is faster to go an alternative route — convenience was always a key driver for disruptors like Amazon and iTunes and was a key component of their replacing bookstores and video rental stores.

Secondly, we’re being trained that you can open pretty much any non-bank relationship completely digitally today — so KYC (Know-Your-Customer) issues aside, the push is for rapid digital onboarding of customers. In usability terms we call the later a design pattern and it ends up driving consumer’s expectations because it is an entrenched behavioral expectation.

Digital natives won’t be able to figure out why you can sign up for Facebook, iTunes, PayPal and other relationships completely electronically, but your bank still requires a signature. It defies logic for the modern consumer, and no amount of arguing regulation will overcome that basic expectation.

The end result of this is that banks being the slow, calculated and risk adverse organizations that they are, will likely allow disruptors the opportunity to come into the space between the bank and the consumer as a ‘friction’ eliminator.

Secondly, geo-location and context of banking products and services, will mean a marketing and engagement layer that is built on either event or location triggers to recognize the need for a financial services product and the capability to stimulate an engagement or journey in real-time.

The mobile, wallet and tablet are all key components in this shift, as is social media and the cloud to some extent.

The outcome?
In the end banks will, for basic products, no longer exclusively own the end consumer. They’ll simply be the underpinning bank manufacturer that supplies the product to a new distribution channel or channel partner.

So will banks be disintermediated? Not really, but they will be disenfranchised, losing direct relationships with customers as banks adapt to becoming pervasive providers of bank products and services, when and where you need them. A split between the distribution and manufacturing of retail FI products will be the core outcome.

Banks can not possibly own the telcos, mobile operating systems, marketing companies, retailers, locations and other elements that will drive the delivery of banking products and services in the near future. This is where the customer will live — this is where they’ll engage. I won’t come to your branch, download your “App” or even visit your website to directly engage the bank if someone else can deliver me that product as I need it.

Follow Brett King on Twitter:

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A small business can get overwhelmed trying to figure out which social networks or new types of communication should be added to their communication toolbox. First it was Facebook. Then Twitter. Now, things like Foursquare, Instagram and Pinterest are all the rage.

As a business owner myself, I try to take a two-pronged approach, focusing on tools that help us: 1) Improve communication with customers and partners; 2) Grow the business by reaching current or prospective users/customers in a new, better way.

And, that’s exactly why small businesses can’t ignore mobile opportunities. Over the holidays, the number of tablet/e-reader owners doubled. Very soon, people will access the Internet on their phones more frequently than on their PCs. So what trends do you need to be paying attention to – and acting on – in 2012? Here are eight trends that I foresee impacting small businesses.

1. Explosive Tablet Growth

In 2011, the tablet market experienced explosive growth, thanks to the iPad 2, Kindle Fire, the now-defunct HP Touchpad and a dozen other tablet PCs. Tablet adoption has dwarfed prior technology shifts. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if tablet ownership doubles in 2012.

How will this impact your company? The acceleration of tablet adoption will significantly increase many aspects of business, including content consumption, customer touch points and mobile commerce. Just look at all the apps, publications, websites, social media and other digital content that’s readily available with the swipe of a finger. How will you leverage mobile opportunities to cut through the noise and foster more productive relationships with customers and prospects?

2. Mobile Search Explosion

While tablets support our “always on, always connected” way of life, nothing feeds the beast quite like mobile phones. Smartphones help us navigate the day in ways we never could have imagined. Beyond apps, consumers are now searching the web from their phones. In fact, Google sees 4 billion local searches each month, with 61% of those resulting in a purchase. Did you know 55% of consumers report using their mobile device to buy a local service or product?

How will this impact your company? Think about your sales funnel. Every business is a little different, but this much is becoming clear: At some point in that sales cycle, people are turning to the Internet for more information. It’s mission-critical for your company to understand the basics of local, mobile search optimization and put these skills to work. By ignoring mobile search, you’re willingly sacrificing business to the competitors. And in this hyper-competitive economic climate, that’s just not smart business.

3. Mobile Marketing Becomes a Must

Initially, I wasn’t so sure about mobile marketing. But, then reality set in. Mobile marketing isn’t an option. Ecommerce and online properties are leading the way as early adapters, but we’ll see more “bricks and mortar” and traditional businesses take the leap of faith.

How will this impact your company? Start with the low-hanging fruit. For example, optimize your website for mobile viewing, monitor your reputation on Yelp and Angie’s List, and leverage customer-acquisition tools like Foursquare and Zaarly.

4. The App Debate Continues

Do you need a mobile app? Or should you invest in a mobile website? Your guess is as good as mine. While “experts” want to declare one or the other’s demise, the truth is that no one knows which will prevail. Instead, we may end up in a world of apps, mobile-optimized sites, even apps that incorporate mobile websites (yes, I’m looking at you Facebook). Apps continue to offer superior performance to mobile sites on the whole, but technology is catching up to enable a much better experience on the mobile web.

How will this impact your company? You know your business and your consumer best, so I can’t in good conscience tell you if you should opt for a mobile app or a website. But, that’s not the point. Consumers are longing for a better mobile experience – and it’s your job to deliver. Think about this: Usability Science puts the mobile user experience on par with web usability circa 1999. No wonder customers want more!

5. Less “Black Box.” More “Data-Driven.”

Mobile advertising and mobile SEO are in their infancy, which means tracking results and outcomes is also relatively primitive. As I’ve spoken with business owners, agencies and brand marketers who are exploring mobile ad opportunities, I’ve come to realize that they’re (understandably!) confused, which makes it hard to justify ROI. However, the mobile sector knows that the data must improve before businesses will invest major dollars in mobile campaigns.

How will this impact your company? We won’t get all the answers in 2012, but expect ad networks to begin to provide more accurate statistics. By opening the proverbial kimono, you’ll be better equipped to make data-driven decisions – ensuring you’re maximizing your marketing resources.

6. The Maturation of Mobile Payments

Doesn’t it feel like we’ve been predicting mobile payments since Michael Douglas sported an early cell phone in Wall Street? People longed for the days when we could pay through our phones, eliminating the need for wallets and credit cards. While mobile payments are increasing, we’re not quite there yet. In 2011, Paypal facilitated $ 4 billion in mobile payments, up from $ 750 million in 2010; however, that represents a small fraction of the entire Paypal transaction volume. We’re still a long way away from mobile payment ubiquity.

How will this impact your company? You may not need to start accepting mobile payments yet, but it needs to be on your radar. Expect mobile payments to increase — and customers to begin asking for mobile options – thanks in part to continued pressure from major players like Amex, Visa, Intuit and Google. Plus, startups like Square and Dwolla are forcing the issue. But, don’t leave your wallet home quite yet.

7. More Watching… on Mobile

Newsflash: People like to watch video. (If you spend any time on YouTube, you already know that’s true!) In fact, YouTube is the second largest search engine, behind only the behemoth, Google. And, we don’t mind watching video on our phones’ tiny screens. As Hulu, Netflix and YouTube apps continue to provide quality mobile content at low cost, consumers will become even more used to watching video on the go.

How will this impact your company? There’s an entire part of our population who turns to YouTube to search (like how many of us automatically start looking on Google). We’re all vying for customers’ attention. Don’t lose out just because you weren’t willing to create a few videos. As you begin to develop a content strategy for sites like Facebook, Twitter or a blog, give equal attention to YouTube. (And, in certain industries, give even more attention to video than those other channels!) Not quite ready to start producing videos? That’s ok. Instead, look at mobile video advertising opportunities.

8. Facebook + Mobile Advertising

What would an article about 2012 trends be without mentioning Facebook? This year will be huge for the dominant social network, thanks to the impending IPO and the “unlocking” of the mobile platform for advertising. In the not too distant future, we’ll have a captivated 300-million-person audience, ready to receive targeted mobile ads.

How will this impact your company? Facebook hasn’t yet revealed how they’re going to inject advertising into the mobile experience, but this much is certain: If you’ve built a loyal Facebook following – or hope to do so – Facebook is about to give you access to 300 million people on their phones. That’s a number – and a major shift – that you can’t ignore.

Bo Fishback is CEO and founder of Zaarly, a real-time mobile marketplace that provides tools to help small businesses generate leads and interact with customers on their phones. For more information or to sign up for free mobile alerts, visit www.zaarly.com/business.

Follow Bo Fishback on Twitter:

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Another year, another 12 months in which the mobile carriers did their best to screw us.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon do so many bad, annoying and anti-consumer things that it’s almost impossible to document it all. So below is a catalog of simply the most egregious acts the carriers perpetrated this year.

Each
company has its own special way of screwing its customers. But some trends
emerged. All of the carriers tried to charge us more for text messaging and
data. They were all keen to grab our sensitive data to sell to marketers or –
in some cases — give to the government. And Verizon twice showed that it’s
willing to block apps from reaching our phones — even when those apps come
straight from the Googleplex.

Above
all, AT&T showed that squeezing every last penny out of us isn’t enough to
satisfy its bottomless need for profits, so it decided it needed to buy
T-Mobile to kill wireless competition for good. Thankfully, the FCC and the Justice
Department — along with millions of Americans — saw the light and the deal is
as good as dead.

Read
on for the full list.

10.
The Carriers Hold Customer Data for Years

Surprise,
surprise: The cellphone carriers are retaining all
kinds of data about you — including your calling history, Web-browsing
history and text messages — for much longer than you would have thought.

In
fact, did you realize they were collecting this info at all?

AT&T
holds
on to your call records for five to seven years. And Verizon retains
the content of text messages for three to five days and logs your Web-browsing
history for a year.

At
least Verizon is being (somewhat) transparent about what it’s doing: It
recently told subscribers (by mail, but still) about its data-collection scheme
and offered them the chance to opt out.

9.
Apple Files Patent to Block iPhone Cameras

Apple
is technically not a carrier, but it’s so dominant in the mobile space, I’m
making an exception for it.

Last
summer, reports surfaced that Apple had filed a patent for software that would
sense when iPhone users were trying to use their phones’ cameras at live events
– and disable them.

Imagine
if the governments of Egypt or Libya had this technology during the Arab
Spring, or if law enforcement in the U.S. could use it to block documentation
of police abuse during the Occupy protests. It’s pretty easy to see why this
patent is a bad thing. Free Press delivered the signatures of more than 25,000
activists who urged
Apple to pull the plug on the idea.

8.
AT&T Raises Texting Rates

For
the second time in a year, AT&T
eliminated lower-cost text-messaging pricing plans, forcing users to
pay either $ 20 for unlimited texts or 20 cents per text message.

Tech
blogs were quick to note that even though text messaging costs the carriers
almost nothing, they still see fit to hike up rates to squeeze more out of
their customers.

In
addition, Gizmodo crunched the numbers and reported that AT&T’s new plan overcharges users
by 10,000,000 (yes, that’s 10 million) percent.

Consider
this: A streaming movie on Netflix is typically about 3.5 GB in size. That means
that if we paid the same rates for broadband data as we pay for texting data,
it would cost us about $ 5 million to stream Ishtar!

7.
Unlimited Data Plans Are Dead. Long Live Unlimited Data!

The
trend in 2011 was to end “all you can
eat” data plans to which many early iPhone and Android users had
become accustomed (and addicted). By now, AT&T and Verizon both charge
users who exceed their plans’ data caps, and T-Mobile slows down users’
download speeds. Sprint allows unlimited data use on smartphones — but if
you’re using your phone as a mobile hotspot or connecting directly with a
tablet or laptop, Sprint will cap your data use and charge you too. There is no
national carrier that isn’t trying to cut consumers off or overcharge them,
whether the network is congested or not.

Carriers
are quick to point to the small number of users who hit this cap, seemingly
forgetting that today’s bandwidth hog is tomorrow’s average user. As we consume
more and more content on mobile networks, we’re going to run up against 2GB
data caps sooner rather than later. And then we’ll all have to face outrageous
overage charges.

Worst
of all, these caps and overcharges may have a particularly severe impact on
historically disadvantaged groups. People of color
are disproportionately dependent on the mobile Web. So when a
carrier decides to limit data use, many people could find their only connection
to the Internet — for work, for family, for play — severed. And they will face
truly shocking bills for exceeding data limits.

6.
MetroPCS Fires Shot at Net Neutrality

A
new pricing scheme from MetroPCS — the fifth-largest mobile phone carrier and a
popular carrier with low-income households — was the latest round in the phone
industry’s war against Net Neutrality.

Under
its new plan, wireless customers are charged extra if they want meaningful
access to Netflix and other applications, or websites that use “advanced HTML.”
MetroPCS clearly isn’t worried about network congestion, though, because it
allows all of its users unlimited access to YouTube. Instead, the company is
actively trying to create a new walled garden on the Internet, a new digital
divide where some have access to the entire open Internet and others can reach
only the content and applications of MetroPCS’ choosing.

The
FCC passed weak Net Neutrality rules at the end of 2010 that barely protect
mobile users. And yet MetroPCS’ plan
manages to break those rules anyway.

The
next step for MetroPCS? Joining Verizon in suing the FCC to get rid of any
rules that protect mobile users — including the rules it broke with its new
plans.

5.
Verizon Sues to Kill Net Neutrality

The
FCC passed its Open Internet rules in December 2010. They contain some
protections for online speech on wired Internet connections but barely protect
mobile Internet users. Thanks to paperwork and bureaucracy, those rules weren’t
actually “published” — that is, made official — until September 2011. And the
minute that happened, Verizon announced it was suing to roll them back.

The
move was expected, if a tad ironic, given that a year before Verizon and Google
had released a policy proposal that was awfully similar to the rules the FCC
eventually passed. Nevertheless, Verizon — along with MetroPCS, which joined
the suit — has apparently decided that any rules protecting the public are bad
rules, even if they were watered down by Verizon itself.

4.
Carrier IQ and Cellphone Spying

Last
month independent researcher Trevor Eckhart posted a video that showed how a hidden application
called Carrier IQ is tracking what millions of people write, view and search
for on their mobile phones. The public was outraged.

It
turns out that Carrier IQ, the eponymous company behind the application, has
worked with AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to install its software on more than
140 million phones without the users’ knowledge. It’s still unclear exactly
what the carriers are doing with all this data. Despite numerous interviews –
and letters from Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Ed Markey — the shell-shocked company
is finding it hard to provide
answers and the carriers are mostly mum.

To
make matters worse, a journalist who filed a Freedom of Information Act request
discovered that the FBI is
likely grabbing data from Carrier IQ or the carriers, but it won’t
say what kind of data or why. In any event, cellphone users have a right to
know what data is being collected, and how Carrier IQ, the carriers and the
government are working together to spy on our phones.

3.
Verizon Blocks Tethering App, Breaks Law

In
July, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon– with Google’s help — were caught restricting
a wireless tethering app from Google’s Android Market.

All
of these carriers harmed innovation by blocking this app, which turns
smartphones into Wi-Fi hotspots. But in Verizon’s case, its actions were
actually illegal. That’s because it’s the only carrier bound by
meaningful openness conditions that are part of its particular spectrum
licenses.

Asking
Google to remove wireless tethering apps from the Android Market stops them
from being used on all of Verizon’s networks, including 4G. This is a direct
violation of the open access rules on Verizon’s spectrum license. In other
words, it was illegal.

Free
Press urged the FCC to investigate
Verizon’s actions. It didn’t. And a few months later Verizon was at
it again.

2.
Verizon Blocks Google Wallet

Just
months after it got busted blocking applications
in the Android Market, Verizon Wireless confirmed it is restricting
consumers’ ability to download and use Google Wallet — the search giant’s new
mobile payment app — on the new flagship Galaxy Nexus phone.

By
so casually abusing its gatekeeper position to block applications that compete
with its own offerings, Verizon’s move sent a message to all entrepreneurs and
developers: If you come up with an interesting, disruptive new application,
Verizon just may block it and promote its own version instead.

1.
AT&T’s Failed Merger with T-Mobile

The
biggest mobile news of the year was arguably AT&T’s doomed quest to merge
with T-Mobile. The moment the giant carrier announced its intentions, the
public erupted. These deals usually go very badly for everyone except the heads
of the merging companies and result in higher prices, less competition and less
choice.

The
merger immediately raised antitrust concerns. It would have merged the second-
and fourth-largest U.S. carriers, and it would have created a duopoly, giving
AT&T and Verizon control over nearly 80 percent of the wireless market. Last
summer the Justice Department cited those antitrust concerns when it announced
its suit to stop the deal. Meanwhile, the FCC ultimately decided the merger wasn’t
in the public interest, and AT&T pulled its application for approval from
the agency.

The Justice
Department has agreed to put its case on hold until mid-January, giving
AT&T time to formally end its charade and move on from this dead deal.

I’ve just
outlined 10 nefarious, ugly things the carriers did to us in the last 12
months.

But just this
week, we saw two important wins: A bill that would have allowed marketers to
robocall our cellphones died
on the vine, thanks in part to thousands of activists who mobilized against
it, and two executives from Carrier IQ were called
to Washington to explain themselves to the FCC and FTC.

Follow Josh Levy on Twitter:

www.twitter.com/levjoy

In what could have easily been mistaken for a scene from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, two brothers sit at a conference room table in Southfield bouncing ideas off each other for mobile applications that could improve Jewish life.

A small collection of iPhones and iPads sits on the table, as one brother remarks that it would be cool if they created an app that would replay the rabbi’s sermon just in case you dozed off in the middle. The other brother suggests they create an app that allows congregants to choose High Holiday seats by selecting the seats before the holiday and making a donation right from their cell phone. They share a brotherly laugh as they reflect on one brother’s seat-saving tradition in which he drapes tallits (prayer shawls) over the rows of seats for the entire family.

With one look these brothers seem to intuit that they’ve found a need for another app. This look is one that has no doubt been flashed from one brother to the other more than 500 times over the past few years. When there’s a need for something to be available on a mobile phone, Fred and Paul Jacobs will be there to come up with the way to do it.

The brothers launched jacAPPS (pronounced Jake-Apps; a riff on their last name) three years ago when they noticed a need for mobile applications in the radio industry. “Back in the fall of 2008 with the economy facing unprecedented challenges, few would have expected a company like ours to emerge as the leading app developer for radio,” company president Fred Jacobs, 60, of Bloomfield Hills explained.

The brothers’ entrée into the mobile apps market wasn’t by accident. Fred, the oldest of three brothers (Bill isn’t involved in the apps company), formed Jacobs Media in 1983 and went on to create the Classic Rock format while sitting at his kitchen table. Today, the company is the nation’s largest radio consulting firm specializing in rock formats. Each year, Jacobs Media uses Techsurveys to track the leading-edge technology trends in their industry, and in 2008 those surveys pointed the way to the smart phone revolution and the explosion of mobile apps. jacAPPS hasn’t stopped creating apps since and today it is one of the top developers in Michigan.

Having consulted rock and indie radio stations since the 1980s, the Jacobs brothers always try to figure out what radio listeners are doing and how they’re using technology. Their job is to help radio stations better understand the listeners. They knew that radio had lost much of its portability as people were choosing to listen to an iPod or MP3 player in place of a Sony Walkman or portable boom box. In recent years, when they realized that people were beginning to stream their favorite radio stations on mobile devices, they recognized that radio would once again be portable and they leapt into action. Rather than allow their clients to have their music streamed along with other radio stations’ music, they decided it was better to have single station apps. Apple’s AppStore had only been open for 90 days when they got to work on their first mobile app.

“Individual station brands deserved their own mobile apps,” wrote Fred Jacobs on the jacAPPS blog. “Surprisingly, some of radio’s biggest broadcasters took a different direction, building their own ‘umbrella apps’ that featured hundreds of their stations. You cannot underestimate the success of iHeartRadio or CBS’s Radio.com — apps that aggregate hundreds of radio stations under a big tent. Many smart phone owners swear by these apps, allowing them the ability to hear ‘favorite’ stations, while providing a diversity of choice. But our contention was that consumers are less focused on corporate brands than they are on hometown stations in their markets — or in cities where they once lived or visited. And for individual stations, the app experience has been powerful.”

After its incorporation, jacAPPS designed and released 20 apps in six months and began hiring young talent to grow the business. They continuously asked themselves what a mobile application can do that the radio station’s website cannot do.

They already had the listening ears of radio station executives across the country who were ready to implement whatever Fred and Paul Jacobs were recommending. When they told these radio stations that there existed a strategic need for customized mobile apps, the radio stations got in line and put in their orders.

The first app jacAPPS created was for WRIF, a Detroit-based Rock radio station. “They did a great job and allowed us to be one of the first radio companies to provide iPhone apps to our listeners and they helped us transform our business from strictly broadcast to a multiplatform media company,” said Tom Bender, senior vice president and general manager of Greater Media Interactive, owner of local stations WRIF, WCSX and WMGC.

“We are now in the development of version 3.0 of our station apps for both iPhone and Android phones,” Bender added. “We have brainstormed for additional new functions that would be of high user interest, and jacAPPS was invaluable in that process. It’s easy to get enthused by a shiny new piece of technology, but to have the research and user input to know how often and exactly how it’s going to be used make the difference. That, more than flashy graphics or slick colors, is the real creative input for me.”

The watershed moment for jacAPPS was when Christian Radio signed on. “We were recognized early on by iconic brands like K-Love and Air1, which opened up the Christian Broadcasting world to us,” explained company vice president and general manager Paul Jacobs, 57, of Farmington Hills. “Car Talk, C-SPAN radio, and other great non-commercial radio franchises have added to our portfolio.”

jacAPPS has been grateful for the many Christian radio stations that have ordered customized mobile apps, but they are especially proud of some of the Jewish-themed apps their company has created such as Jewish Rock Radio, launched by Jewish recording artist Rick Recht. “We launched Jewish Rock Radio with the goal of creating the first truly high-caliber, 24/7 international Jewish rock radio station — a critical communication channel for the Jewish world based on the business models, the aesthetics, and ‘best pratices’ of the very best online radio stations offered in the Christian and secular worlds,” Recht, the executive director of Jewish Rock Radio explained. “When we dug deeper to find the developer behind some of the stations we wished to emulate, we found JacApps. With JacApps, we had found a developer who could not only create apps that were on caliber with some of our favorite Christian stations, but literally had created some of those apps!”

The Jacobs brothers believe strongly that radio stations were originally questioning if their music should be available on a stream, but they have taken it to the next level as their clients realize that they must have an app. They see themselves as improving the radio experience in the 21st century by helping radio stations create something that will generate revenue, enchant their audience and help them better distribute their content in the digital age.

While radio was their springboard into the mobile application industry, jacAPPS now designs and builds apps for a wide array of business categories and industries including festivals, events and sports brands. The Southfield-based company, which was spun off from Jacobs Media this summer, has created apps for the Spartan Sports Network, Ann Arbor Art Fairs, the Detroit International Jazz Festival and the Taste of Atlanta. The company is looking forward to creating apps for political candidates as the upcoming election approaches.

One difficulty for jacAPPS has been the lack of compatibility across platforms. They have had to create separate custom apps for their clients on Apple devices, as well as on the Android and Blackberry platforms.

Since its launch in 2008, jacAPPS has created more than 500 apps for hundreds of clients. And with more than 11 million downloads, they can likely claim the most amount of downloads for any app company in Michigan (Crains Detroit wrote, “The company is by far the leading app developer in metro Detroit.”). What has set them apart is their ability to build a company’s entire mobile strategy from the concept of the app to its design through development and marketing. In today’s portable world, Fred and Paul Jacobs have figured out how to elevate their clients’ brands and to successfully integrate that into the dynamic mobile space.

The jacAPPS team is made up of a handful of young, talented employees who are several decades the Jacobs brothers’ junior. They all seem to understand that mobile applications are the next step in the technology revolution. Bryan Steckler, operations manager, said, “We are now where we were with websites in the 90s. Big brands have mobile apps, and now every business is realizing they need an app.”

The two brothers enjoy working together in the same business. Pointing to his younger brother, Fred said, “If you can’t trust this guy, who could you trust?”

They are both quick to acknowledge that they would not be as close if they weren’t in business together. “It’s a family business and that leads to group collaboration,” Steckler said. “The fact that they’re brothers is what makes the company what it is. And that transfers to our clients as well.”

“We’ve been fortunate to build a team of smart, young talented people here in Southeast Michigan. Our apps are truly ‘exported from Detroit,’ and showcase the resurgence of the technology industry in an area more commonly recognized for its heavy industry,” Fred Jacobs remarked.

The future for jacAPPS is bright as the mobile app market continues to surge. “We see nothing but growth and expansion ahead. By blending strategy, research, and keeping a laser focus on the consumer experience, our expectation is that jacAPPS will become a leader in full-service mobile resource for brands of all types that recognize the mobile future,” said Fred.

The company has had its share of proud moments as it became one of the top mobile app developers. jacAPPS has had the top app in the App Store in New Zealand; its NPR Radio app was featured on the front page of the U.S. App Store; and its app for Pulse 88.7 in New York was featured on a billboard for Apple.

jacAPPS has developed a number of mobile apps for nonprofit companies at either no cost or discounted rates. The team has also taken pride in having the opportunity to work with interesting people. Among its clients is a Native American Council made up of several tribes. jacAPPS has created an educational application to teach the Native American language to children. As the development team demonstrates the app on an iPad, it is clear that they understand the role they have played in the continuity of these people’s heritage.

Paul Jacobs holds his iPhone and with a smile says, “We’re never more than six feet away from this device. This is the one device that’s always with you and the one that you’ll return home for in the morning if you forgot it. It is the hub of a person’s identity.”

The phrase “there’s an app for that” has become a popular punch line and much of the reason for that can be attributed to Fred and Paul Jacobs and their creativity.

Rabbi Jason Miller is the president of Access Computer Technology, a Detroit-based IT solutions and social media marketing company. He blogs at Blog.RabbiJason.com and is on Facebook.

Follow Rabbi Jason Miller on Twitter:

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