Mobile Tech Trends for 2017

Somo’s top mobile tech trends
for 2017
December 16 1Confidential and copyright of Somo Custom Ltd.

It’s difficult to predict the future in tech
December 16 2

"This 'telephone' has
too many shortcomings
to be seriously
considered as a means
of communication.
The device is inherently
of no value to us." –
Western Union
internal memo, 1876

"The horse is here to
stay but the automobile
is only a novelty, a
fad." –
The president of the
Michigan Savings
Bank advising Henry
Ford's lawyer not to
invest in the Ford
Motor Co., 1903

"I think there is a
world market for maybe
five computers." –
Thomas Watson,
chairman of IBM,
1943

"Microsoft’s ability to
provide a standardized
operating system that
appeals to enterprise buyers
will almost inevitably make
Windows Mobile the
dominant smartphone
platform " –
Nick Jones, Gartner VP
Distinguished Analyst
speaking at the Gartner
Symposium, 2003

“Is Netflix a threat?
Is the Albanian army
going to take over the
world?" –
Jeffery Bewkes, CEO
Time Warner, 2010

Top trends in mobile tech for 2017
But we are fearless, so here it is..
December 16Confidential and copyright of Somo Custom Ltd. 8

• Last November, Baidu presented the results of its first tests with a
new speech recognition engine called Deep Speech 2.
According to Baidu the new tool can sometimes transcribe
snippets of Mandarin speech more accurately than a person.
• Advances in speech recognition have been possible thanks to the
advent of deep neural networks, a new model of machine
learning inspired by the biological processes of the human brain
2016 has seen an explosion of applications of voice recognition in
different contexts, from cars to home assistants. Consumer use of
speech recognition has increased, therefore understanding the
implications of consumers’ adoption of these new technologies
within the consumer journey is going to be one of the biggest
challenges for brands in 2017.
With an increasing volume of searches moving from web to
voice, the first objective for brands is to understand how to
activate their presence and influence consumers engaged with
personal assistants. Influence will be ultimately achieved
anticipating consumer needs with integrated services and voice-
ready contents and experiences.
Secondly, the ubiquitous presence of the digital assistance – for
instance Siri is now integrated in iOS for phone, laptop, tablet,
watch, TV and car – will open up opportunities for contextual and
proximity marketing. The motivations and intents behind a similar
search within home and in a car while driving may differ quite
significantly. Information about nearest stores, relevant services, or
product availability will become vital to convert sales.
1. Conversational UI and voice search will redefine engagement

1. Conversational UI and voice search will redefine engagement
Zeina Farha, Head of User Experience
“There is great scope for Audio UI in
designing for wearables, connected cars
and connected home. Not only does it
remove barriers and improve the
experience, but also it can bring a brand’s
personality to life”
Mass adoptionEarly adoption

2. Everyday accessible proactive assistants
2016 has been jam packed with launches and news about digital
assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo. In 2017
companies are expected to focus on re-designing and
integrating contents and services within this channel.
One of the factors driving this AI boom is the emergence of
platforms like Microsoft’s Cognitive Service, Amazon’s Echo, and
Google’s Speech API, which allow product developers to focus
on user experience rather than low-level speech processing.
The personal assistant proved to be a successful way to package
AI and machine learning functionalities, while opening up a new
communication channel with consumers. With only 2 companies
in the home space at the moment (i.e. Amazon and Google)
other players such as retailers (Tesco? Argos?) and Telco (O2?
BT?) may be considering to enter the arena with partnerships or
launching their own device to drive adoption of their services.
• Googleunveiled its home-based artificial intelligence
personal assistant on November 4, 2016 for US$129
• On September 2016 Apple launched their AirPods, which
are expected to deliver ubiquitous sound experiences
• Meanwhile Alexa reached 3M sales over the summer of
2016

Ben Magnus, Senior Product Manager
“Consumers are rapidly changing
their behaviours as they adopt these
evolving technologies. In the process,
they are demanding different
products and services”

With billions of users worldwide, today the majority of content
shared via mobile takes place on messaging apps such
as WeChat, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.
It is no surprise that brands want to get access and be part of the
conversation, experimenting new ways to connect and engage
with these audiences in more appropriate and sophisticated
manners.
Firstly, the large user base reached by messaging apps makes
them an ideal channel to deliver services. This led in 2016 to the
explosion of sales and customer service chatbots accessible via
messaging apps. This trend will continue in 2017, with new AI and
Machine Learning platforms allowing to deploy more advanced
and accurate bots.
Secondly, social occasions that drive purchases are brought to
life in messaging applications through private or group chats.
Users exchange questions, plans, opinions and feedback about
products and services they want to buy. In 2017 advertising
platforms and brands will increasingly try to engage and
influence these conversation through messaging apps. For
example, Google launched Allo, a new chat app that natively
integrates an AI-based chat assistant.
• Messaging apps downloads surpassed social media platforms in
2014 and are used by billions of people worldwide every day
• According to TechCrunch, 30,000 bots are today available on the
Facebook Messanger platform, following the launch in April this
year
• O2 has integrated sharing widgets and URL shorteners across its
owned and earned media assets to track and understand how
content is shared on messaging apps
3. Messaging apps are the new social marketing frontier
Source: RadiumOne Post social data, Feb 2016
UK Percent of online shares by channel, globally
7%
9%
84%
Other social media
Facebook
Messaging apps

3. Messaging apps are the new social marketing frontier
Giffard Hogge, Innovation Executive
“Chatbots are not only useful, they are also
smart and constantly learning from
interactions with users. This means that the
responses for consumers are always up to
date and useful” Mass adoptionEarly adoption

The Apple and Play stores today features more than two million
apps. Promoting a new app has therefore become an incredibly
difficult challenge for brands and developers. According to
comScore, 49% of US users have not downloaded a new app in
the last 3 months while 2 out of 5 apps downloaded get forgotten
or deleted within few days.
The app-install frictions have opened new opportunities for
progressive web apps. Instant Apps is the latest model presented
by Google in 2016 to make that mobile experience more similar
to the web without installing anything on your mobile, whilst
keeping all the benefits of the native apps world.
Instant Apps could be a game changer in 2017 especially for
those apps that are more transactional or for occasional usage
and don’t require a high share of user time – e.g. shopping, travel
and hotels, delivery. The model is expected to improve the
experience in many areas from discoverability and onboarding to
usage and monetisation.
Duringits I/O developers conference on May 2016 Google
launchedAndroidInstantApps– a new set offeatures of
the Android ecosystem thatallow to deployanduse apps
without them beingdownloadedto a device.
4. Instant apps to revamp progressive web ambitions

ChrisGeorge, VP of Product
“Instant Apps can become a market
reality in an relatively short time
frame – and radically change the
way we develop consumer apps” Mass adoptionEarly adoption

No matter in which sector you work, companies have started to
think, design and maybe implement an Internet of Things
strategy. But few firms have understood how to achieve a
consistent competitive advantage through IoT. So what now?
It turns out that IoT initiatives are complex especially for product
companies, because they require to change mindset toward a
service-oriented offering. In fact, the increase in communication
touch points and in customer data inevitably opens up
opportunities that in the long run transfer the competitive
advantage from the products to the services offered.
In many sectors such automotive, home and appliances product
ownership is expected to be disrupted in favour of new ownership
models based on “sharing” or “leasing”. Meanwhile, the value
offered through services like personalization, insights, customer
support and success will become the real competitive leverage.
In 2017 we will see more and more companies re-thinking their
product / service strategy, and re-design customer experience,
operational structure and business model to take advantage of
the opportunities offered by IoT.
• At TechCrunch Disrupt London Volkswagen has recently
presented its new mobility services business called Moia
• In January General Motors launched Maven, a car sharing
company offering customers a fleet of new vehicles on-
demand
• These initiatives follow earlier successful acquisitions in the
space by other competitors: Zipcar acquired by Avis,
DriveNow by BMW and Car2Go by Mercedes Benz.
5. IoT-driven services strategy

Max Moir, Head of Client Strategy
“In the UK there are already
4 million households who own at least one
connected smart home device. The question
now is how companies can take advantage
of the data and contact points generated to
deliver new services and revenue streams”

6. Live experiences become a viable opportunity for brands
In presenting the new live 360 video streaming service, Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that we are entering a "golden
age for live video" , and that this format is the future of his
company.
This is why we believe that live experiences will be a big thing for
brands in 2017. With the two major video platforms YouTube and
Facebook supporting live 360, brands will be increasingly keen on
experimenting with this new opportunity in a variety of different
contexts, from live events, to marketing, from sales to education
and customer service.
The proliferation of accessible VR head-sets (like Google
Daydream, Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear) users will be able to step
even deeper inside branded experiences.
• A few days ago Facebookannounced the future
release of live 360 video streamingon the social network
platform
• This follows the launch oflive 360 made by YouTube
earlier this year

6. Live experiences become a viable opportunity for brands
Sam Harvey, Marketing Manager
“There are potentially no limits for using
streaming videos as a business tool, if you are
creative enough. Live events and concerts, behind-
the-scene sets, infotainment, product showcases,
sales demos, partner education programmes,
customer support. And these are just few
examples”

At the end of 2016 Amazon unveiled Amazon Go, a new
bricks and mortar grocery store concept where customers
pick up their grocery and walk out without paying at a
checkout. The announcement is expected to havea deep
impact on the retail marketing agenda throughout 2017.
7. Ubiquitous shopping, invisible payments
The proliferation of mobile devices has radically changed the
path to purchase, multiplying the points of contact and sales. The
buying process potentially starts on smartphones, continues on
desktop and tablets, and is completed through connected home
assistants.
The announcement of Amazon Go launching early next year has
also generated a significant hype around invisible finance. We
should not forget that frictionless payments have been around for
sometimes now, perfected by some of the most successful tech
companies in the market. With Uber you just have to thank the
driver and jump out the cab. Similarly, you can just pre-order your
coffee with the Starbucks app, pick them up in a café’, walk out
and enjoy your drink, while the app will use your top-up credit to
complete the transaction.
This evolving scenario makes ubiquitous shopping and invisible
payments one of the most important trends in marketing and
finance today, making commerce and transaction seamless and
most natural possible.

Carl Uminski, Chief Operating Officer & Co - Founder
“The innovations that have reshaped
the online shopping experience will be
increasingly transferred to the real
world. Shopping doesn’t have to be
complicated. Finance doesn’t have to be
visible”

2016 was a great year for consumer VR and AR, with all major
players from Samsung and HTC to PlayStation and Google
launching their new headsets. GPU and hardware costs still
represent a significant barrier for wider adoption of premium
products, therefore we expect VR technology will need a few
more years to become mainstream.
However, 2017 can become an important year for the
development of contents and experiences for VR. We already
see ambitious projects starting for exciting year ahead for VR.
Facebook has been showing strong desire to explore social VR
possibilities. Starting from small games and explorations,
Facebook is likely to start creating engaging multi-people
experience. We expect contents to be built around education,
gaming, architecture, automotive, real-estate, sports, product
presentations and shopping. For instance, Fox Sports in December
2016 was already incorporating VR into their event broadcasting
to enhance customers’ experiences of the Soccer game.
In New Year we look forward to developers launching VR
equipment that has inbuilt depth sensors for room mapping, no
external dependencies, no cables whatsoever, eye tracking and
facial expression recognition (though for the facial recognition
we might have to wait beyond 2017). This would create immense
possibilities for VR consumers and stakeholders alike.
2016 was a pivotal year for consumer VR. While Vive and
Oculus launchedproducts positionedin the upper endof
the market, adoptionis expected to be drivenby mobile-
based HDM such as SamsungGear and Google Daydream
which mix simplicity with an attractive price tag.
8. Consumer VR moving from hardware to content

Jocelyn Bull, SVP Client Solutions
“Today commercial VR headsets are available
in more and more high street shops with
attractive price points. It is clear that
manufacturers and brands need to move from
focusing just on hardware and wow-moments to
creating meaningful experiences and content”

9. Hyper-Targeted Marketing driven by data
The proliferation of data generated by a multitude of devices has
fostered tremendous business opportunity, especially for
advertisers looking to reach users at the right moment, in the right
context at the right time.
Driven largely by platforms such as Facebook and Google, with
their contribution to overall growth being 76% market share in the
US (59% and 18% respectively in 2015), now more than ever the
data points marketers have available are driving value in ways
that we would not have been possible previously.
Whilst all of these data points available such as interest based
behaviours, location, gender, age and demographic profiles
enable marketers to build a user profile and segment them to
allow for personalised and localised messaging; it’s essential to be
aware of privacy laws and ensure that compliance is key. This is
especially true as the new EU GDPR legislation comes into play in
May 2017.
Trending creative formats: App store search (Search Ads for
Google Play and Apple Search Ads), Video – 360 video and
vertical video, App streaming ads.
• Mobile display adspend overtook desktop display in
H1 for the first time (£802m Vs. £762m).
• Facebook and Google dominating mobile adspend
with 76% growth
Source: IAB UK and Mary Meeker Internet Trends Report 2016
£762m £802m
MobileDesktop
UK Display Adspend
in UK, H1 2016
The Digital Duopoly
Facebook + Google =
76% of growth

Naomi Hands, Director of Commercial Partnerships
“2017 will be the year that we see a
big turning point for data driven
marketing that enables advertisers to
achieve localisation and
personalisation at scale”

Emma Crowe, Chief of Client Strategy
Last words
“A new stage of technological evolution is
emerging driven by technologies such as
machine learning, mixed reality, image and
voice recognition. We expect these new
technologies to become core elements within
the connected mobile space in a few years”
1. Conversational UI and voice searchwill redefine
engagement
3. Messaging apps are the new social marketing
frontier
6. Live experiences become a viable opportunity for
brands
The Top Tech Trends in 2017
If you need help navigating the trends in 2017, you
can contact us at: marketing@somoglobal.com

Mobile Tech Trends for 2017

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