A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests we have entered the era of the mobile application. The use --- and particularly the growth --- of apps is trending such that it now is where the industry action is.

The report indicates more than one-third of adults --- particularly men and young adults --- have applications on their smartphones, although only one-quarter of adults use them. It is, as the report suggests, pretty significant in view of the fact there weren't such applications only a couple of years ago (pre-iPhone and Android).

Among cellphone owners, 29 per cent have downloaded apps and 13 per cent have paid for them.

At a relatively early stage of his career, Vadim Lavrusik is articulating well the emerging nature of our craft in a voice that is nuanced and scholarly. His latest post for Mashable is a good primer on the direction of journalism as it employs social media.

First off, he says, all media will be social.

Beyond that, though, is an array of features that will in broad outline define journalism:

1. Collaborative reporting.
2. Journalists will manage communities.
3. Social media will be integrated.
4. Online curation for the time-poor.
5. Social networks will be editors.
6. Social content will be monetized.
7. Social newsrooms will feature personal brands.
8. Mobile will engage.

A few weeks ago the Digital Media Test Kitchen at University of Colorado unfurled some impressive work on the early stages of mobile applications from newsrooms. It's worth taking another look at one element of its work on the specific challenges for news organizations as they embrace --- or don't --- mobile.

Author Lauren Seaton concludes that the initial apps coming into the market are tepid, far less innovative than non-news organizations are producing, and she wonders why.

"While templates and layouts are similar from app to app, they generally lack originality and creativity," she writes. The smartphone offers opportunities for news organizations to reach audiences, but "most of the news applications that have been created by single news brands do not do enough to encourage interactivity, customization, or creativity."

In another chapter on the far-reaching report, author Jordan Wirfs-Brock notes the new uses emerging with smartphones and suggests opportunities exist for news organizations in such areas as geo-location, augmented reality, voice-to-text, financial transactions, push reminders, social incentives, multi-touch, and gesture.

The Digital Media Test Kitchen, an intiative at the University of Colorado, has released a study today at a major academic conference that outlines the challenges for newsrooms and mobile media.

In essence, the study says newsrooms are sluggish --- to be kindly --- about initiatives in mobile that offer immense opportunities for revenue and audience. It notes that entrepreneurs are creating cutting-edge applications and young people are absorbing them, yet newsrooms are tepid and ceding the ground to others.

It has some 15 recommendations in its extensive report. Among them:

1. Step up with exclusive content.
2. Leverage smartphone geo-location services.
3. Use augmented reality, text and photos as content.
4. Use bookmarks, cloud computing, and multi-device computing.
5. Use 2-D barcodes.

The report is the most broadly based of any on the prescriptions for newsrooms. The message: "There's a lot of power packed into the smartphone's small, portable form." The underlying message: Newsrooms need to harness it.

Eric Schmidt is not the first one to say it, but the Google CEO's view is meaningful when he pronounces the smartphone as the future --- indeed, the equivalent of the arrival of the television in terms of elevating the knowledge base of parts of the world.

Web search, smartphones and translation software are the keys to that knowledge-building, Schmidt says in an interview with The Guardian in advance of a speech he's delivering this week.

At the moment, he believes the best engineering work is being conducted on developing applications and systems to deliver content across mobile devices.

"That's a big news thing – that's equivalent to the arrival of television," he says.

Apple's recent acquisition of Siri, a voice-activated iPhone application, leads Jemima Kiss of The Guardian to speculate that the company is aiming for small-scale, voice-commanded devices in the near future.

As she sees it, a voice-activated  phone could shed the screen and place the technology in a device smaller than an iPod Shuffle, with commands unfettered by menus.

As she notes, though, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has repeatedly denied his company is moving into the search engine business, which a device as she describes surely comprises. Mobile, though, is the next major scramble.

For a long time, most newsrooms have prided themselves on housing pretty much all of the functions necessary to reach their audiences --- creation, refinement and production techniques have been largely onsite.

But when digital production came along it was clear that one function --- programming --- might not emerge in the newsroom but need to be provided to it. Programming has been considered less journalistic and more technical.

Now, though, some are reconsidering programming as a core function. With requirements shifting continually, should a newsroom have that function in its midst? Moreover, should journalists themselves learn to program?

Yes, says Roland Legrand in a post for PBS' MediaShift. The Belgian digital executive identifies programming as a necessary element of newsroom production. He cites several reasons why:

1. Complexity broadens.
2. Data are mobile and geo-located.
3. Non-linear storytelling is most readily developed by programmers.
4. The tools make it faster for programmers to fasten on to than would non-programmers.

Sure, there are some challenges, Legrand notes:  It takes time, colleagues consider it unnecessary, and it's time-consuming, even though more free tools exist.

But he says on balance it's a useful function. Those who want to stay in the business for another 10 years need to do it.

Regina McCombs, in a post on the Poynter Online site, identifies some critical questions and supplies a few answers in a newsroom's quest for a mobile media strategy.

Among her queries: Who is your audience? What does it want? What will you provide?

Then there are the economic questions. Mainly: How will you make money? And: What timelines are you creating to assess success or failure?

There are the technical and resource questions: Who will help develop the strategy? What technology will be employed? How will it all be marketed?

They are all sensible questions, and McCombs largely encourages experimentation on a small scale with quick decisions to either bail or redouble the commitment.

Michele McLellan has posted a summary of a session on mobile media and the newsroom for the Knight Digital Media Center, and its essential points are worth reviewing for any organization getting serious.

The session was sponsored by the Reynolds Journalism Institute and featured speakers on the tension of transforming news organizations into mobile-friendly creators.

Among the points:

1. Put someone in charge. Like the Internet projects initially, this isn't a function that should be divided with other duties.
2. Content is king, but convenience is very important in the experience. Ensure the latter is dealt with.
3. Mobile doesn't mean a website tweak. It's a whole new platform.
4. Focus on local, location based, and social functionality.
5. Don't forget dumb phones, too.