Driving User Engagement, Embracing 5G, And Serving A Real-Time Experience

As 2021 gets into full swing it is a good time to reflect on what has been going on in our industry and look ahead to what we can expect in the coming months. Of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning the momentous impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had, but I want to look more broadly at some of the burgeoning areas of growth in the mobile app market. To help me do this, I took the time to speak to some of the CEOs and leaders in our field who shared their predictions and expert insight on what we can anticipate in this rapidly evolving industry.

An idea that cropped up repeatedly in my interviews was how device manufacturers and mobile operators will need to further adapt to drive user engagement. For example, App Annie’s Lexi Sydow warned businesses could leave themselves open to competitive threats and miss out on opportunities if they take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to targeting users. Lexi advised that by using both accurate mobile market data and first-party data, businesses will know what apps their target audience is using and be successful in spotting shifts in consumer behavior.

Vimpelcom’s George Held was clear that delivering relevant content to users exactly when they need it continues to be crucial. It is clear that consumers have come to expect a personalized experience and capturing their attention at key moments on their daily mobile journey is essential. Technology now allows manufacturers and operators to target users from the initial device setup and personalization to touchpoints that present themselves exactly when people need them. George also discussed the more meaningful – and lifesaving – uses that will come from the adoption of 5G technology this year, such as in medicine and transportation.

The importance of real-time user experiences was another area we touched on. Lamoda CEO Jere Calmes told me his company has had to adapt to meet the high-level of consumer expectation that now exists when it comes to mobile shopping.

Finally, something that appears to be exciting the biggest players in the industry is the emerging popularity of foldable phones – and how 5G will galvanize the take-up of this impressive technology with its multi-tasking capabilities. Mark Notton, of Samsung Europe predicted 2021 is the year this cutting-edge tech will make itself known in the mobile landscape.

Gordon Rawling, Head of Ericsson BSS and OSS Marketing

In 2021, we will continue to witness an increased demand for real-time mobile experiences. Device manufacturers and mobile operators will need to evolve and adapt to the new ways mobile users interact with their devices. What is your take on this? 

For sure the way users interact with their devices is going to continue to change, become even more personal and immersive through the application of on device, in-network and in-app AI and analytics. However, as 5G becomes more prevalent we are also going to see increasing engagement directly between industry verticals such as Healthcare which will transform the relationship that a consumer has with mobile or end service provider.

This year, we started to get a glimpse into what 5G can do. Consumers will be interested in using 5G to enhance their mobile experience. Do you see 5G changing the relationships that exist between consumers, mobile providers and application developers?

The industry has talked for many years about evolving the commercial relationships that exist between consumers, Telcos and application developers. 5G is however opening up a whole host of capabilities such as network slicing – service guarantees – which provide a foundation to make relationship innovation real. Traditional B2C will remain a significant part of the industry, but B2B and B2B2C relationships using mechanism such a service sponsorship, hyper local targeted advertising together with service innovation enabled by speed and latency will offer new, profitable market opportunities.

 What is your take on the mobile device manufacturers’ and mobile carriers’ role in the app economy in 2021? 

2021 will be a transformational year in the availability of 5G mobile services across the world. The three transformative capabilities that 5G brings of high speed, low latency and ability to connect to a scale of devices not seen before will provide a foundation which can drive the next wave of Mobile application value. 5G is not really about technology, its about an innovation platform that sets application providers free to imagine new, always connected, immersive experiences.

Jere Calmes, CEO of Lamoda

In 2021, we will continue to witness an increased demand for real-time mobile experiences. To meet this demand, device manufacturers and mobile operators will need to evolve and adapt to the new ways mobile users interact with their devices. What is your take on this?

At Lamoda, we do roughly 80% of our sales through mobile devices. As with any popular online service like stores, taxis or food delivery, the customer expects everything to flow smoothly with an ability to insert herself into the process at any time and manage the process to her liking and needs. We have built a high level of service in our dedicated fashion segment by giving our customers a choice from over 4 thousand brands, receiving orders in selected 15-minute intervals, trying-on their selected purchases, rejecting what they don’t want or don’t like, and paying for the order. As our services will grow, our requirements for mobile devices and operators will grow.

What is your take on the mobile device manufacturers’ and mobile carriers’ role in the app economy in 2021?

For the development of a healthy ecosystem of mobile applications, as well as for the general development of other industry verticals, healthy competition plays a key role. Manufacturers and operators need to drive policies that provide standardization but don’t curtail competition.

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in mobile marketing next year?

The trends we saw emerge or become heightened during the 2020 COVID lockdowns will likely strengthen in 2021. Most important will be the need to maximize audience engagement through interaction with service providers and the delivery of relevant content. Video and interactive content will enable this. For Lamoda, we created and launched our ‘inspiration hub’, bringing technology and expertise to our customer base to create an inspiring experience.

Your one tip for app marketers in 2021?

In one word – partnerships. Partnerships in all forms offer a stronger impact in app service promotion than expensive advertising campaigns. Exchange of traffic, interaction with a small but high-quality audience of micro influencers, joint promotion – these are all effective steps to increasing product popularity.

Lexi Sydow, Senior Market Insights Manager, App Annie

In 2021, we will continue to witness an increased demand for real-time mobile experiences. To meet this demand, device manufacturers and mobile operators will need to evolve and adapt to the new ways mobile users interact with their devices. What is your take on this?

Capitalizing on real-time experiences will be key for mobile operators in driving engagement with customers and managing subscriber retention. But it’s essential that operators and in fact any organisations looking to interact with mobile users understand key market differences and leverage all-important mobile market data. A one-size-fits all mobile strategy could leave an organisation open to competitive threats and blind to opportunities. Time moves fast in mobile and businesses looking to leverage its opportunities should focus on combining trustworthy and accurate mobile market data with their first-party data and an intelligent data science partner. Knowing what apps your target demographic use, what apps your user base overlaps with and what the growing shifts in consumer behaviour are and how they could impact your industry will enable you to act swiftly on a data-fuelled trajectory for success.

What is your take on the role of mobile device manufacturers and mobile carriers in the app economy in 2021?

Device manufacturers and mobile carriers play a huge role in the app economy – we’ve seen innovation on device specs that have both allowed greater access to the market, through less expensive Android devices, and a narrowing in the gap of iPhones and high-end Android devices. Bundled services and pre-installed apps from device manufacturers, operating systems or carriers like AppleTV+, Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple Messages, Google photos, YouTube, Samsung Email, Samsung Health or Verizon Messages have the potential to see wide reach from immediate access to a large device base.

Device manufacturers and mobile carriers play an important role in setting the stage for mobile app and game development particularly in terms of device specs and inclusion of 5G, but ultimately, the app economy is a reflection of consumer demand – what we read, play, consume and manage. It’s a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist of the moment from our most personal device.

George Held, Executive Vice President of Digital and New Business Development, Vimpelcom

This year, we started to get a glimpse into what 5G can do. Consumers will be interested in using 5G to enhance their mobile experience with games, music and streaming services. How is your organization preparing for 5G? Will it have an impact on your businesses and how?  

For B2B customers, we will see lots of connected devices proliferate in to the real world, which will drive relevant and meaningful use cases for 5G. We are already experimenting in healthcare (with remote medical surgeries, remote robotic surgeries, and remote diagnostics) and transportation (with the remote operation of industrial trucks) in difficult-to-reach areas, capitalizing on signal-limited latency. For B2C customers, we see a majority of meaningful use cases in multiplayer gaming (work we are doing in partnership with Nvidia) and next generation content service (such as video ring-back tones).

The biggest challenge we see with the mass adoption of 5G services is not a technical one, but the development of meaningful and market relevant services which can bring new levels of experience to our customers. This is where we place our main strategic focus. 

2020 demonstrated an increase in online shopping and mobile payments usage due to transformed consumer behavior. It seems that value-add services will expand to adopt into the new lifestyle also in other verticals. How should the industry get prepared, keeping in mind many are subscription-based services?  

We strongly believe that introduction of cross-industry data-exchange based partnerships will bring new blood to the value-add services industry. Only by offering to customers the right content, on the right device, at the right time will we be able to transform the customer experience. It is only possible to deliver this experience with a detailed understanding of customers’ behavioral profiles powered by cross-industry data.

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in mobile marketing next year?  

The integration of advertisements in the physical and digital space with detailed end-to-end consumer behavioral/purchasing analyses will be the main trend in 2021. We already see a number of FMCG clients requesting AdTech organizations (including our own) to measure not only eyeballs for outdoor advertisements, but also to fully manage the entire customer journey through all touch-points (starting at physical and online advertisements, all the way through to the actual purchase). Only based on this analysis can they truly commit to a mix of marketing budgets and communication channel optimization.

Can you elaborate on recommended strategies for emerging content and services distribution in mobile?

In order to effectively reach your customers and take in to account the level of informational pollution, your service needs to not only be meaningful and relevant to the individual customer, but also meaningful and relevant at this point in time. This level of targeting is only accessible with the detailed understanding of customer behavioral patterns delivered through data analyses combined with consumer behavioral analytics. Effectively combined, those two drivers will bring your market relevant, meaningful product to scale.   

Mark Notton, Director, Product Portfolio and Commercial Strategy, IM, Samsung Europe

In 2021, we will continue to witness an increased demand for real-time mobile experiences. To meet this demand, device manufacturers and mobile operators will need to evolve and adapt to the new ways mobile users interact with their devices. What is your take on this?

2020 accelerated our transition to a mobile-first world. As we head into 2021, one thing is clear: our smartphone is our most indispensable device. That’s why innovative technology and a well-connected ecosystem are so important. Samsung launched the S21 ahead of time due to the rapidly changing habits of consumers since the outbreak of the pandemic, such as the need for a brilliant high-spec camera for better engagement during lockdown video-chats.

We’re also seeing the evolution of wearables integrating with mobile and the health tech space more widely. With the ongoing lockdowns, people are increasingly turning to wearable tech to enhance exercising and keep track of their health and wellbeing.

What is your take on the role of mobile device manufacturers and mobile carriers in the app economy in 2021?

With more people working remotely and staying entertained at home, the app economy will continue to grow. This means cutting-edge tech and powerful smartphone app experiences will continue to be indispensable and push the boundaries of what you can do.

Manufacturers and mobile carriers need to work hard to drive the main use cases that will accelerate the adoption and use of 5G services. 2G had texting, 3G had email and navigation, 4G had video, 5G will have similar vehicles for mass adoption and, as infrastructure is built up, the instantaneous nature of 5G will provide access to a myriad of new experiences for consumers.

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in mobile marketing next year?

As well as the rise of 5G and the digitisation of health, I foresee the rise of foldable tech. It’s not just increasing in popularity because of its multi-tasking capabilities but it also makes sense from a practical point of view. Foldable phone technology is more portable and functional for consumer needs, which is always a win. Last year, we launched the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and we are busy working on our next flagship foldable line-up. We, like many, feel this is the smartphone shape of tomorrow.

Dattatraya Kulkarni, Consumer Chief Technologist, McAfee Sr. PE, Technology Pathfinding, Research, and New Products

As users become increasingly reliant on mobile payments, cybercriminals will increasingly seek to exploit and defraud users with scam phishing/smishing messages with malicious payment URLs. How can we combat this?

McAfee predicts there will be an increase in “receive”-based mobile payment exploits, since they provide quick mechanism for fraudsters that combine phishing or smsishing messages with payment URLs.

This could take shape in schemes where fraudsters set up a fake call center using a product return and servicing scam, where the actors send a link via email or SMS, offering a refund via a mobile payment app, but the user is unaware that they are agreeing to pay versus receiving a refund.

Paul Wright, Managing Director, AppsFlyer, UK, FR, ME & Turkey

What will be the hot topics/emerging trends in mobile marketing this year?

One topic that will be particularly notable for the mobile marketing industry this year is data privacy. The new privacy features from Apple have already disrupted the mobile advertising landscape, despite being postponed until early this year. The pending IDFA changes announced under the iOS 14 update will have a significant impact on the industry, as the new App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework will prompt users to opt-in or, more likely, out of data sharing. In doing so, it threatens to weaken the targeted advertising models that advertisers have come to rely on.  

In 2021, protecting consumers’ privacy and ensuring they have full control and ownership over their data that is collected and shared must be a priority for mobile marketers.

Your one tip for app marketers in 2021?

Be prepared to adapt. 2021 will be a year of change for the industry, both in terms of consumer behaviour and a mind-set that’s putting privacy front and centre. But with change comes opportunity. The app marketers that are able to adapt their strategies so they can continue to measure campaign performance and drive results, without compromising on privacy, will be the ones to successfully navigate the changes 2021 has in store.

Maciej Żyto, Digital Director, PLAY Poland

This year, we started to get a glimpse into what 5G can do. Consumers will be interested in using 5G to enhance their mobile experience. Do you see 5G changing the relationships that exist between consumers, mobile providers and application developers?

5G technology is still much more of a professional market topic than it is a mass market matter. The average customer still does not see significant 5G advantages. Mobile operators try to monetize 5G by providing new tariffs and the vendors do this by delivering handsets. But at the end of this chain is a customer who needs to pay extra money for it. And from a customer’s standpoint, it is not yet worth the extra money because they cannot see sizeable improvements. The industry must prove to customers that 5G makes a real difference.

Parminder Basran, Founder and Managing Partner at VGC Partners

This year, we started to get a glimpse into what 5G can do. Consumers will be interested in using 5G to enhance their mobile experience. Do you see 5G changing the relationships that exist between consumers, mobile providers and application developers?

5G will essentially increase the quality of the customer experience and allow it to become more immersive. I don’t think 5G will disrupt the relationships between consumers, mobile and app developers, but rather empower developers to maximize the full power of 5G. There’s a huge opportunity for 5G to deliver telemedicine and elderly care which I’m confident we will see a rise in this year.

What is your take on the role of mobile device manufacturers and mobile carriers in the app economy in 2021?

I think that the big tech platforms, like Google, Amazon and Facebook will keep a tight grip on the app economy in 2021. However, there are exceptions to this with large players like Huawei, who are investing in their own ecosystem, and Samsung that will continue to invest in their own platforms and services.