LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012: Amid the debate about whether native or HTML5 web will win the battle of the apps, another approach was proposed at Congress on Tuesday.

Scott Jenson (pictured), creative director for innovation consulting company Frog, envisages the native functionality of mobile devices – such as RFID, GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi – being automated to provide users with services they need without going through the process of installing apps.

RFID could automatically provide information about a film poster or how much ketchup is left in a bottle, while GPS could be used to provide information about people playing on a tennis court or when the next bus is due. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi could access a restaurant menu or to control a jukebox.

“These are all examples of different technologies that are in use in phones today that each want me to interact with them. And this is a new style of interaction. It’s not going to replace native apps but in many ways I think it will supersede apps,” Jenson said.

Jenson called this “just-in-time interaction”, something that apps currently don’t offer in such an instant way. “It’s much more I don’t know what I want, I’m going to use it and then lose it type interaction. I need instantaneous functionality,” he said.

Jenson said this approach will become more attractive as people tire constantly downloading and managing apps – “app glut” – along with the declining size of devices and the loss of screen interfaces meaning other forms of interaction are needed.

“We want to see the future but we’re being blinded by the paradigm of today. If we don’t know what we want, we won’t get it,” he concluded.