By Senior Editor – Kris Smith (@croncast)
The mobile web is exploding. Not in a super nova kind of way but in a holy smokes this thing’s got legs.

This exponential growth and increase in connectivity has companies clamoring to produce mobile applications in addition to webifying their content.

With both increases the user expectations have changed. No more do users seek a time-shifted  experience but instead a real-time one. So what happens to podcasting?

Some podcasting context: Podcasting is a loaded term for the delivery mechanism, the production medium and the style of media. The underlying technology that allows podcasting, RSS is the plumbing for delivering syndicated content online. Whether it is a website, podcasting app or custom mobile app it is how podcasts make their way to any device.

On the mobile side it is all about the delivery mechanism. Taking the time-shifted and turning it into a real-time experience that meets with today’s ondemand culture. The mechanism of distribution no longer relies fully on RSS and subscribership but on standard types of web interaction in custom players and simple streaming.

What is happening to podcasting the medium is that like the technology that delivers it, it will become part of the fabric that makes delivery of audio and video possible. So on the technical side podcasting may no longer be that time-shifted experience but the feed element that allows the mobile application to discern the media file, its type and size.

There is no doubt that the the perceptions of podcasting lie with an ‘old’ technology. But fortunately, it was the precursor to a cultural revolution in the way that people consume media. The enculturation of millions to a digital lifestyle through the power of controlling the media that they desired has brought us to this stage of media delivery. Through desire and repetitive action users have shaped a new destiny for podcasters, the media producers and are offering new ways to content to be distributed. And yes, again it is on the terms of the user.

So is it still podcasting? Yes.

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