There is a new iPhone, Google is taking over the world and you just spent fifteen minutes updating your status, re-tweeting, checking in and getting a jump on your email before you got to the office. It shouldn’t be news that your marketing mix should consider mobile. Do your customers use cell phones?... Well, there you go.

Now, we are all grown-ups here, and professionals at that. Let’s not pigeon hole ourselves. Mobile means text messages, mobile video, mobile-optimized websites, location-based tools….and then there are apps. Don’t give in blindly to the peer pressure. If an app is called for (and no, the answer isn’t always a giddy “yes”) then there are still some things to consider.

A recent study by The Neilson Company gives a great overview of marketshare for each of the major mobile players. No real surprises here, but the figures do a little hype-control by reminding us that iPhone and Blackberry are still the big kids on the block. The “new kid,” (pausing to entertain your 90’s boy band flashback) Android, is growing fast but still only holds less than a third of Mr. Jobs’ share. Blackberry is still #1. Let that sink in.

Now we have the data. We’re doing a Blackberry app, right? No. Keep your head here folks. What sandbox is your target audience(s) playing in? Are you trying to reach a sales force that is on the road with their company-supplied Blackberries? Are your installers and technicians showing up to appointments with an iPhone hooked to their belt? The best way to tackle these questions is with some good ol’research.

Mobile is a valuable tool in the B2B world. Recognize this value by letting the unavoidable idea of “we should do an app” trigger a thoughtful line of questioning:

Do you have a need to reach your audience on the go?

What tactic does your need lend itself to best?

What technological elements are applicable to the tactic?

What is your message?

These are critical but not necessarily simple questions to answer. (Don’t you wish there was an app for that?)