Singapore – The future of content lies in going mobile and social while utilising cloud technologies. This was the main point of discussion at Unwired 2012, an independent wireless and mobile conference held at the Marina Bay Sands on May 31.

Leong Mun Yuen, Chief Technology Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, said in his opening address that wireless and mobile apps and services are increasingly pivotal especially since mobile phone penetration rate in Singapore has skyrocketed in the last six years, growing from 100% in 2006 to 150% in 2012. Among the three industry trends he identified are: connected devices, which led to the widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets; LTE or Long-Term Evolution, the wireless technology that will further enhance interconnectivity between these mobile devices; and the shared spectrum channels – the industry’s answer to the spectrum crunch issue.

Colin Miles, SVP Sales & Marketing, InternetQ SE Asia, tells TV ASIA Plus, “Cloud is the centre of our universe, the centre of everything.” He adds that the benefits of “the cloud” extend from the enterprise industry to the music and video entertainment industry. “Any company now is looking to provide mobile video as a content service. It’s going to get better and better as bandwidth gets bigger and bigger.”

But several kinks still have to be worked out. The monetisation of services remains a problem although solutions will arise as the market continues to grow in the coming years, says Miles. The issues of security and privacy are also a recurring point of contention and for now, third party encryption is the technology’s best bet for safeguarding. He also mentioned the network reliability, particularly when it comes to waiting times and disconnections.

Nevertheless, Miles believes it is a fantastic time right now for the industry and that the sky is the limit when it comes to the applications and services that cloud technology will enable in the development of social entertainment.