Top
Mobile
Trends
2014

Once again we’ve dug through
reports and and predictions including our own thoughts and forecasts from the top research firms and recommendations to those of the world’s top thought leaders for the coming year. In this research institutions. Our goal is to help guide you presentation we’ve summarised the key trends make the most out of your mobile plans in 2014!

“the experience can be truly
customised, based on other relevant information and behaviour” - Golden Gekko 1. Context matters During 2013 we used every available opportunity to talk about Related to this, Yankee Group predicts that “marketing investment the importance of use case centric service design. Identifying and for mobile customer experience measurement will take center focusing on the core use cases based on context, and then building stage”. the best user experience around these.

What we think Forget about
what device your customer is using and focus on behaviour. Google Now is a strong example of this. The importance serving the core needs for each user in the context they are in. Once of context means that responsive design will frequently fail as the you know the use case, work rigorously to deliver the optimal user approach focuses too much on providing the same service across experience through ongoing user testing. Over time the experience devices and not enough on the user needs. can be truly customised, based on other relevant information and For a retailer, the core use case will differ if the customer is in the store vs outside of the store or shopping from home.

“Smartphone users spend 87% of
their time using mobile apps. iPad users spend 76% of their time using mobile apps” - Nielsen 2. Apps still winning vs. mobile web Ovum says that Apps will drive the next phase in the evolution of enterprise mobility, creating new ways of working, and transforming existing business processes. In 2014, enterprise mobile apps will become a core part of the enterprise IT application stack.

What we think It’s clear
that consumers and enterprise users prefer apps when it being implemented. Downloadable apps will continue to dominate comes to utility services. They are faster, more reliable and easier to in the consumer and enterprise space with a combination of Native use, with users not particularly concerned with which technology is apps and Hybrid apps (using HTML5). “We know iPad outsold laptops during 2013: While users were on their iPads [...], they were three times more likely to be using apps than the mobile Web.” - Nielsen

“…customers’ impressions of a business
are established through digital engagement, forcing businesses to recognize that ‘software is the brand.’” - Forrester 3. Do, differentiate or die In Top Technology Trends for 2014 and Beyond, Forrester states digital age.” Some CIOs are losing their influence over the decisions that “a great digital experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a in these areas as digital experience agencies are engaged by CMOs make-or-break point for your business as we more fully enter the and CTOs to a greater extent.

What we think Uber, Starbucks,
Amazon, Booking.com and others have shown with business applications give enterprises the opportunity to reduce that it’s possible to shake up an entire industry by providing a operational costs, as well as improve profitability and competitive differentiating and winning mobile experience. These organisations edge. The time is now. are driven by user experience more than anything else. This goes for Enterprise apps as well. Forrester reports that 90% of businesses will have corporate apps by 2014. Enabling employees CMOs need to differentiate their businesses by providing customized mobile solutions to their customers.

“We are currently entering a
new phase of rapidly-diversifying smartphone use and people are looking for apps across all sectors of society.” - IDC 4. Apps changing the way enterprises work Ericsson concludes that smartphones have completely changed the way we communicate and use the Internet. IDC predicts that the 3rd Platform will deliver the next generation of competitive advantages that will significantly disrupt market leaders in virtually every industry.

What we think During 2013,
many enterprise mobility solutions delivered value to Forrester, 29% of employees are anytime, anywhere employees beyond our wildest dreams. In one case, 12 months and hundreds with 53% using 3 or more devices for work, 37% working from 3 or of thousands of dollars in investment paid off in less than 1.5 more locations and 82% using 7 or more apps to work. months. Every organisation should review their opportunities in mobile enterprise solutions whether they derive from appstore apps Employees are ready, now the enterprise needs to catch up and take or custom developed solutions. Read our blog about how to identify advantage of this opportunity. From eliminating paper processes and implement your quick wins. to improving content distribution and capturing real-time data, in 2014 enterprise apps will begin to transform businesses landscape, The nature of how employees work has changed and enterprises are overhauling operations and driving growth to their top and bottom dealing with a new savvy, always-connected workforce. According lines. In 2014 you will see all larger organisations deploying enterprise apps.

“wearable devices represent a ‘nice
to have’ and not a ‘must have’ for consumers” - Juniper 5. 2014 is not the year for wearables Juniper says 2014 will be a “watershed year” for wearables with Google Glass, Samsung smartwatches, Apple iWatch and other devices - but privacy will be an issue as google glass´camera becomes more and more ubiquitous. Smartwatches will also raise concerns as they will track users´ “biometric data” such as heart rate, respiration, skin temperature. If connected to the smartphone used at work, there could be potential misuse of this data through mobile device management programs. The trend of BYOD and MDM programs is mostly present in the US.

What we think Wearables appeared
on Merry Meeker’s 2013 trend report as Glass) and watches (Pebble, Sony and Samsung), 2013 was a well as many others. In some areas such as sport, wearables are pilot year. Google Glass will prove more useful within enterprise already going mainstream with Nike Fuel Band and movement than for consumers, and the watches will be a niche extension to tracking devices. In other areas including glasses (primarily Google smartphones. 2014 will continue to be an evolution and not a revolution as long as they remain gadgets for geeks and don’t fulfil a real need.

“The big change for BlackBerry
is its shift away from the consumer handset business in North America and a greater focus on its enterprise and messaging software business” - CNET 6. LG strikes back while Blackberry and HTC continue to drop CNET primarily talks about the top mobile trends impacting of differentiation and additional offerings in the consumer electronics consumers and believes that LG re-emerges as a hot Android device division. For Blackberry things will get worse before they get better, maker in 2014 with the Google Nexus lineup and other new devices but with the refocus on enterprise users and partnership with coming. HTC on the other hand will continue to struggle due to lack Foxconn, they are expected to survive beyond 2014.

What we think We will
continue to see innovation in the low-end segment from role for Blackberry to play as an enterprise device supplier and the Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE and in the high-end from Apple, LG, HTC, only one with a proper keyboard, as well as Microsoft, based on its Sony and Motorola whereas Microsoft/Nokia and Samsung will leading enterprise IT role. Expect a lot of surprises! continue to play in both segments. We also believe that there is a Innovation keeps thriving from competition and we will see more surprises from newcomers and established players.

“The amount of email opened
on mobile is projected to continue increasing, and the decline in PC sales should accelerate the trend” - Gartner 7. Email will become a mobile first channel The majority of e-mails are now opened on a mobile device making it critical to optimise all e-mails and website links for mobile. The desktop PC will become a secondary consideration.

What we think Most newsletters,
CRM generated e-mail updates, personal e-mails, etc are not yet updated for mobile because to be honest, it’s not an easy task. The same is true for campaign landing pages as redirects are seldom implemented correctly, but businesses must address this or they will lose out on business. 2014 will be the year when organisations take this seriously.

“relevant and personalised, location-based offers
took a big step forward in 2013 with Apple’s launch of iBeacon, which allows precise, low-cost indoor tracking in stores” - Rakuten 8. Brick and mortar stores will communicate with shoppers in real-time With iBeacon and other technologies that allow precise, low-cost “everywhere commerce,” brought on by consumers’ ubiquitous indoor tracking in stores, retailers will begin to target shoppers in connectivity, according to a new eMarketer report, “Key Digital real-time, with relevant and personalized, location-based offers. Trends for 2014.” “Always-on commerce” is a subtle but significant evolution from

What we think Indoor tracking
solutions have existed for many years and they Some fun use cases to consider for your retail app: are now starting to reach the mainstream. We believe that Wifi will - Step inside a store and your shopping list is transformed into a continue to be the predominant technology platform as it’s cost personalized map, showing you the deals that’ll appeal to you most. efficient and uses standardised web technology. This will also be - Go to your bar, have a round of drinks, and just leave, having used to welcome loyal customers back and inform them of relevant paid—and tipped!—with Uber-like ease. offers and deals. The cost of more advanced technology and rollouts including iBeacon is still prohibitive so adoption will primarily be on a pilot basis during 2014. Watch out for start-ups such as Knock.io, Euclid and YFind. All retailers can benefit from using Wifi to communicate with customers and better understand customer behaviour.

“The collection of information online
is both a huge opportunity and a threat to our privacy and security.” - IEEE 9. Identity and privacy will find a balance An individual’s online identity, when strictly related to reputation and trust, is less virtual and has more and more impact on real, offline life.

What we think The majority
of consumers accept giving up some privacy for free Gemany). Although uniformity on the legislation concerning use of services, better services and ease of use as long as they have personal data will not happen in the coming years, following the transparency on the use of their personal data. However, as the law OECD recommendations is a minimum requirement. As privacy will varies from one country to another, the meaning of transparency remain a hot topic in 2014, the trend will be for data controllers may have different definitions depending on whether you are based to improve their transparency. In the online world, thinking about in the US or the EU. US and EU legislation differ and even within the privacy and implementation of active consent from the outset of a EU some member states have implemented stricter rules (Spain, mobile app or website will be a must-do. In the US and UK we expect the industry will self-regulate consumer data privacy.

“Other top players such as
Google/YouTube, Twitter, Renren, Youku and Sina-Weibo also showed major growth.” - Golden Gekko 10. A few big players shape the mobile advertising space Facebook showed the biggest leap in 2013 going from almost expected to continue to lead the market with mobile advertising zero in mobile revenue to 40% of the overall advertising revenue specialists including Millennial Media, Inmobi, Smaato as well as the from mobile. Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo fell behind in terms of major media agencies supporting brands and publishers. media attention. Over the coming years, Google and Facebook are

What we think The majority
of the traditional media agencies are still far behind in terms of mobile expertise and experience. Challenge your media agency on the mobile advertising spend, ROI and innovation and change agencies if they don’t take ownership. Challenge your media agency.

The Economist believes that Sweden
might be taking a lead in the western world. 11. Mobile payments break-through Last year we said that the mobile payments and wallet market would Square, Uber and various other services showing that consumers grow slowly without a general market break-through in 2013. This are ready. Comscore’s report “Rise of the 3Ms (mCommerce, was true as Google Wallet, Isis, Vevo and Paypal failed to impress. mRetail and mPayments)” provides further insights on this trend. There was however, a breakthrough on other levels with Starbucks,

What we think Every major
consumer brand must consider mobile payments as part of their strategy in 2014 if it improves their users’ customer experience. Think about how mobile payments are evolving and how you can prepare for it.

“IoT is going mainstream here
and now and this will impact most businesses whether it’s cost savings, revenue or improved customer care.” - Golden Gekko 12. The Internet of things moving mainstream In 2012 Gartner predicted that The Internet of Things (IoT) would create new opportunities for revenue generation and savings across move into pilots in 2013 and at CES 2014, Cisco chief executive industries and government. As an example the city of Barcelona, John Chambers predicted the Internet of Things would be a $19 noted that the city has reduced costs by about $3.1 billion a year by trillion market over the next several years. Chambers explained that installing sensors in public water pipes and parking meters so they IoT — a term for connected sensors, devices and objects — could are used more efficiently.

What we think We are
starting to see connected devices everywhere including most businesses whether it’s cost savings, revenue or improved climate control, automobiles, lights, alarm systems, video cameras, customer care. Think about how your business or organisation can ticketing machines, airport kiosks, self-checkouts, beacons in stores benefit from IoT in 2014. and more. IoT is going mainstream here and now and this will impact Think about how your business or organisation can benefit from IoT in 2014.

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