Facebook recently released Messenger as a separate mobile app.  Google+ launched with multiple separate mobile apps (Google+, Huddle, Places).  What’s going on here?  We are seeing the results of limited screen real estate combined with effective notification systems and a fully logged in user on mobile.  Unlike on the desktop (Microsoft) and even the browser (Google, Facebook) this means that large integrated apps or even “suites” have no advantage from a usability perspective.  For instance, when I get a foursquare  notification, I wind up in the foursquare app at the right place.  I am already signed in (the phone is a single user device) and can immediately start to interact.

That is great news for startups that are targeting specific areas that are also being attacked by the bigger players.  The big players, however, may still hold an advantage on the back end.  They potentially have more data available to themselves on the specific user and his or her social graph to be able to deliver a richer front-end experience.  One way to think about this is that with mobile we have entered the era of data bundling rather than functionality bundling as a source of competitive advantage.  This has a couple of important implications for startups.  First, make sure that you can get your hands on all the data you need to deliver a compelling user experience - either by getting it from your users or partnering with others who can provide it.  Second, if you are generating valuable data don’t just fork that over to a big company if that company is already or will likely be competing with you.  

Competition in mobile is now maybe in the second inning.  So there is still a lot that will happen.  But I believe the part to pay most attention to will be invisible.  It’s data where the real battles will be fought.