From mobile phone to smart phone to iPad, we have now entered an unchartered mobile device era with location-aware, untethered computers in our hands to keep us continually connected to the digital ecosystem.

Redefining the mobile phone space as ‘mobile devices’ denotes a significant tipping point, and with it comes both a new computing segment and many new marketplaces. And to exploit the mobile application development opportunity, begin with a solid strategy.

In hindsight, many technologists will note 2007 as the seminal year for mobile. The massive shift was principally due to the mobile application market created by the iPhone, and fuelled by Google’s open source mobile technology, Android. It is telling that in 2006 the top mobile systems were Nokia’s Symbian, Blackberry’s RIM and Windows MobileOS – not an Apple or Google in sight.

So what’s the next evolutionary step in the mobile application landscape?

For starters, mobile devices will soon usurp the desktop browser as our preferred web interface. The device itself is not the catalyst; it’s the convenience and accessibility to content and applications via WiFi and 3G that draws us to them. This Ubiquitous Computing concept is about universal access – to your pictures, documents, music, and retail preferences – via any device, anywhere, anytime.

Then there’s ‘The Cloud’, a fast-growing network of Google, Apple, Amazon, Twitter and other servers providing continuous access to Gmail, iTunes for movies on demand, and One Click 24-hour shopping.

Understanding The Cloud and Ubiquitous Computing should form the basis of any mobile strategy.

What is the ideal strategy? Firstly, don’t start building a mobile site that reflects your current site. Use the development of your mobile channel as the game changing reason to redesign your digital platform. Embedded in this tactic is the opportunity to future-proof your business. If your current digital roadmap planning is for a rebuild of your web site so that it can be mobile capable, you may well be isolating your business from reaching new audiences and new revenues.

Next, can you ‘chunk’ your business into functions (building blocks) that can be distributed via The Cloud and easily consumed by people (customers) when and where they want to consume your product or service? This is the way digital services are being used, so any business wishing to take part needs to conform to these usage patterns.

The mobile application ecosystem has transformed the way customers consume information and services. That Apple and Google have modelled the future of mobile devices as an application platform gives us an insight into how every business should think about modelling their digital platform.

An effective mobile solution will be crafted from the building blocks that make up your business functions. Think of your business as a discrete set of functions, not one complex system. This forms an ecosystem of customers, products, services and devices – and instead of building a large technical platform to publish content to the Web, spend time discovering new ways to offer these core functions as discrete applications.

Above all, be innovative at a time when no one else is. Wrap your existing products in mobile experiences, create new digital products from existing assets and identify key business functions that can be transformed into online services.

And start running your business as an App.