We are getting to a point, where we are seeing recurring elements in the design of mobile applications. Evidence is in two third party resources I found via people I follow in twitter. By third party is meant that they have no official affiliation to Apple or Android (sorry RIM and Microsoft, but we need more apps for you).

The first is  pttrns (only consonants), provides iOS UI patterns in form of screens shots of apps, sorted by category. For Android, we have (as the name states) Android Patterns, which are presented in form of mockups.

Why is this important? Is this a good thing or bad thing? Patterns provide developers and designers with standardized solutions on how to present information and enable interaction in your app. Standardized, is the key word here, because if this is a pattern among apps, then future users and customers have a better chance of not needing to learn new UI, as a result shortening the learning curve of your app.

As a developer or designer, the less you have to worry about, then the more you can focus on:

• functionality – that the app actually works,
• appearance – looks are a important part of the user experience and
• branding – with appearance this will distinguish your app from the rest

Innovations will come, just see what Pulse and Flipboard will did. However, soon they will lay the patterns on how to present news in mobiles and tables.

Do you think what we have now is enough, or there is still room for improvement?

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There are only two ways to catch up a “market leader”:

1. the leader makes very bad decisions that eventually comes back to haunt him and leaves him vulnerable.

or

2. you buy a startup or small company that has the innovation, but lacks the resources, giving you a better possibility of catching up.

Either is very hard, just look at Microsoft. Vista really sucked, but still they are the “market leader” operating systems. Or see at Google, they bought Android and see where they are today, still on the hunt for iPhone and trying to be the dominant mobile platform.

So, what to do? Stop playing the game of others and play your own. The catch game is like gambling in a Vegas casino, you will win enough to continue betting, but will never win against the house or break even. Do something different, which makes you the leader since you are the first to come up with it.

For example, Asus and the netbooks (eventually everybody was able to catch up). More interesting, instead of trying to play catch-up, Apple did something different, the iPad, which is a device that is between the tablet, eBook reader and netbook.

Another example is the Puma Phone, just freaking cool stuff.

At the end of the day is like convincing people to not follow the conventional patch and follow, therefore making you the leader.