Fast Forward: Apple Preps For Post-Mobile With WWDC 2018 Announcements
Here Is What Brand Marketers Need To Know
Editor’s note: This is an abridged edition of our Fast Forward newsletter featuring Apple’s announcements at the 2018 WWDC and their brand marketing implications. For the full version, please contact our VP of Client Services, Josh Mallalieu (josh@ipglab.com) to send a request.
Another summer brings another annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) from Apple, where the Cupertino company unveils its latest updates and announcements to the developer community and the world. Unlike the previous years when Apple sneaked in one or two new hardware products, this year Apple is completely focused on software, introducing new iterations of operating systems across its line up.
The new software features that Apple highlighted in its opening keynote address on Monday showcased the company’s deep commitment in improving its user experience across the board by introducing a slew of crowd-pleasing fixes for the little things iOS users have been dealing with for years. And together, they reveal some significant insights into how Apple is preparing for the post-mobile era as the mobile market hits maturity. Let’s take a look at each of the key updates that will bring some changes to how brands can reach and engage with Apple users.
What Apple Announced
Siri Welcomes Third-Party Apps With Shortcuts
The current consensus surrounding the battle of voice assistants is that Siri is lagging behind Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant in terms of functionality, largely due to Apple’s decision to not open up Siri as a full-fledged platform for developers to create voice applications. However, it is important to remember that Siri is still the most used voice assistant with 10 billion requests processed every month and a robust high-value user base. Moreover, as the digital assistant on iOS, Siri covers not just the voice interface, but also search, suggestions, and all of Apple’s user-facing AI features.
With iOS 12, Apple is making a significant step to close the functionality gap between Siri and its rivals by expanding its functionality without loosening control over the user experience. With a new feature called Shortcuts, users will be able to set their own customized phrases to evoke certain apps and even set up sequenced multi-app actions for Siri to run with a single voice command.
An app that supports Siri Shortcuts can integrate an “Add to Siri” prompt to nudge users to create a shortcut to specific functions within the app. If they choose not to set a custom voice command for the shortcut, a default one will come up as a Siri suggestion (more on this in a moment). For example, in an on-stage demo, the Kayak app prompted an Apple executive to add a Siri shortcut to pull her latest travel information like flight updates and hotel bookings from the app and show them in the lock screen via Siri.
In a way, Siri Shortcuts functions like a new version of today widgets, in that it can pull content out of an app for reference or action. Also, on Apple Watch, it works as a way for third-party apps to integrate into Siri face (which has been pushed as the default watch face since last year) so that they secure a better chance at engagement.
Furthermore, Siri will also come with smarter suggestions in iOS 12 to anticipate user’s needs. Using on-device machine learning, Siri is able to learn from your app usage patterns and mobile habits to suggest app actions based on a variety of factors such as the events on your calendar, the birthdays in your contacts, and your location. Shortcut suggestions appear as notifications on the lock screen and spotlight search, and users simply tap the notification to run the task.
Together, these two new updates will bring Siri one step closer to becoming a developer-friendly feature that they can tap into to drive usage and engagement. Siri shortcuts, in particular, provides a way for users to set customized phrases for their most frequently used apps and making them much easier to evoke with voice command. Once a shortcut is set up, it will work on HomePod and Apple Watch as well. Compared to Alexa and Google Assistant, which users will have to learn specific phrases to activate certain voice experiences, Apple is giving users more flexibility and offering developers a way to integrate their apps into Siri.
ARKit 2.0 Brings New Possibilities
With iOS 12 also comes the next generation of ARKit, which powers the augmented reality (AR) experiences on iOS devices. ARKit 2.0 introduces a new multi-person mode for AR games and another permanent feature that pins virtual objects to a specific physical space across sessions or users. LEGO demoed a new interactive multi-person play experience that brings LEGO creations to life with AR.
Besides, this update also comes with improved face tracking, 3D object detection, and realistic rendering, all contributing to the creation of more realistic, robust, and engaging AR experiences on iOS devices. Last year ARKit added support for 2D image detection, enabling developers to trigger an AR experience based on 2D images like posters, artwork, or signs. Now ARKit 2 extends this support to offer full 2D image tracking, so you can incorporate movable objects like product boxes or magazines into your AR experiences. ARKit 2 also adds the ability to detect known 3D objects like sculptures, toys, or furniture, further enriching the AR experiences on iOS.
In addition, Apple also debuted a new file format it created with Pixar for 3D virtual objects to standardize the format for AR creations. The Universal Scene Description file, or USDZ for short, will offer the ability to display 3D rendered AR objects within a single “zero compression, unencrypted zip archive” file, optimized for sharing via Messages and Mail. Adobe is also on board with this new format, which it will develop new Cloud Creative tools to support. It remains to be seen if it is compatible with Facebook’s AR file format, which allows them to be displayed in News Feed. Overall, this announcement enables easier integration of 3D models into ARKit and making it accessible for more developers to collaborate on.
Camera Gains Memojis & Mini App Store
With the advance of mobile AR and the addition of the front-facing TrueDepth camera on iPhone X, the camera is quickly becoming much more than just a simple tool for taking pictures and videos. Rather, it is quickly becoming a new platform on which a lot of additive experiences are layered on top and engage users in real-time. Last year, Apple introduced Animojis as a fun showcase of the new facial tracking capability. This year, Apple is upping the ante with Memojis, a sort of hybrid of Bitmoji and Animojis that allows users to customize their own virtual avatars with tons of detailed options ranging from hairstyle to mouth shape to accessories.
More importantly, Apple is adding a row of mini-apps, including Animojis, Memojis, and sticker packs to the bottom of the native camera app when users open it from within the Messages or FaceTime app, allowing for quick access to fun AR filters and Animoji shenanigans. This is effectively like a mini app store added to the native camera, allowing brands another way to surface their content, including stickers, filters, and frames.
Notifications Get Revamped & Tamed
iOS 12 will also bring a revamped notification system, allowing them to be grouped not only by apps, but also by topics and threads for simpler management en masse. No more scrolling through an endless stream of useless and irrelevant notifications and having to dismiss them one by one. iOS 12 will also prompt you to turn off notifications from apps that you don’t frequently interact with. On Apple Watch, the new watchOS will bring interactive notifications that allow for easier task-management without launching the whole app.
Apple also wants to help you to better monitor your device usage with a couple of new features including one that allows users to set a time limit on how much time they can spend in an app daily. Apple demoed this by showing how to put a time limit on Instagram, which prompted a notification to pop up when the allocated time is almost up. When the user hits the set time limit, a full-screen notification appears to stop users from access Instagram, with options to manually extend usage, of course. Another new weekly report app will generate a weekly usage report that shows in detail how much time you use each app. iOS 12 will show users which apps are sending most notifications in the weekly report, and make it easier for users to mute them.
Apple Watch Itches Towards A Full Device
Apple Watch is also set to receive some functional updates that further move it towards becoming a full-fledged standalone device. Following last year’s launch of cellular connectivity-equipped Apple Watch Series 3, Apple continues to grant Apple Watch functions independent of the phone with some unique features.
Besides the aforementioned interactive notifications, Apple also added a fun Walkie-Talkie mode to allow Apple Watch users to communicate with each other on the fly. Waking Siri on the Watch will also become easier with this update as it eliminates the need to say “Hey Siri”; you can simply raise your wrist and speak your request instead. WebKit is also added to surface web content in messages and emails on the Watch. Support for full background audio is also enabled in watchOS 5, allowing podcast streaming on Apple Watch and, perhaps soon, other music streaming services too.
In addition, Apple doubled down on the fitness-oriented positioning with better fitness tracking, new workout modes for yoga and hiking, and a competition feature to help you compare activity stats with a friend and stay motivated.
Apple TV As A Cable Box Alternative
Apple also announced some minor updates to the tvOS as it continues to push Apple TV as a TV set-top alternative. With the new tvOS, Apple TV will support a new “Zero Sign-On” feature to help users with TV subscriptions to access content for Apple TV via supported apps. Some cable providers, such as Canal+ in France and Salt in Switzerland, are already offering Apple TV as an alternative to their set-top boxes. Charter Spectrum is currently the only U.S. provider on board for launch, but more are supposedly in the works.
Apple Further Clamps Down On Ad Tracking
Last but not least, Apple is furthering clamping down on ad tracking in the name of privacy with iOS 12 and macOS Mojave. Specifically, Safari will halt tracking enabled by social widgets on webpages, such as Facebook’s Like buttons. Instead, users will be promoted to give their consent before loading or interacting with these widgets. Apple will also thwart device fingerprinting (using a specific set of browser configurations to identify users) by making all Safari users appear to have the original, and therefore identical, default settings. These new measures will not only undermine Facebook’s ability to track users, but also Google and any company, including publishers, that rely heavily on these kinds of ad tech tools to track consumers for targeting and attribution.
While other ad-supported platforms like Facebook and Google will have to play nice with advertisers, Apple as a hardware company will always prioritize user satisfaction over the interests of advertisers. With heightened scrutiny over data security and privacy concerns, it is natural that Apple would double down ad tracking on Safari to gain favors among privacy-minded users.
Laying The Groundwork For The Post-Mobile Era
Overall, while the announcements from Apple today may seem to be focusing on minor fixes and improvement, on a deeper level, they are laying the groundwork for Apple to start transitioning into the post-mobile era. As we laid out in our Outlook 2018, we have entered a mature stage for mobile. The next big platform shift is coming, and Apple has certainly started laying the groundwork for it.
Consider the way that new Siri features focus on extrapolating information and functions from apps presenting them in a system level in a user-friendly manner, or the way the new iOS encourages moderate use of the phone, going as far as allowing users to put time limits on using individual apps, all the while as Apple continues to improve Apple Watch and build out its camera and AR capabilities — all these announcements subtly point to the way Apple thinks about how we interact with our personal gadgets in a post-mobile era, be it via voice, wearables, or perhaps, AR glasses.
What Brands Need To Do
Taking all these relevant updates Apple announced at WWDC this week into consideration, smart brands looking to stay ahead of the adoption curve have their work cut out for them. Here are some pointers on where your brand can start.
Integrate with Siri shortcuts to encourage engagement
With the new updates to Siri, Apple is effectively allowing app developers to integrate parts of their apps into Siri for quick access. For brands, this spells a great opportunity to serve up with information, content, and services extrapolated from the branded apps via Siri shortcuts, encouraging repeat engagement with customized query commands. It is beyond valuable for a branded app to become a part of a user’s daily mobile routine, and if your app does provide the kind of valued service that users frequently need, Siri Shortcuts will help ensure they always come back to it — and not your competitor’s — once a shortcut is set.
Explore new AR experiences with ARKit 2.0
As we laid out above, the ARKit update brings some great new possibilities for developers to create more robust AR experiences. The shared AR experiences will be great for event activations and other social settings where it is valuable for brands to engage a group of consumers simultaneously with a shared experience. For example, some innovation-minded restaurants have started testing using AR to bring their menus to life. With support for shared AR experiences, everyone sitting at the table will be able to see what everyone else is thinking about ordering without hovering over one device. Moreover, with the new USDZ format being backed by Adobe and, soon, other creative software makers, brands putting together their 3D brand assets should prioritize this new standard format for AR objects.
Create AR stickers to integrate into native camera
The new addition to the camera app for direct stickers and AR filter access opens a door for brands to further embed their IPs into the very fabric of the iOS experience via Messages and FaceTime. Similar to the way iMessage applets allowed brands to integrate into Apple’s messaging service, this update offer brands a way to directly integrate into the iOS camera, arguably the most frequently used app in iOS, to directly engage with iOS users. While such integrations may have rather strict restrictions, as Apple continues to build out its camera platform, it is not hard to see the potential for other sorts of brand opportunities here such as fashion brands creating accessories and clothing options for Memojis.
Be conscientious of the notifications your app sends out
As the mobile age matures, some of the common nuisances on mobile platforms are starting to get addressed, among which, smartphone addition and notification overload are two issues that Apple chooses to solve with the new iOS. To save your brand from the embarrassment from being called out as the app that bombards users with most notifications in the Weekly Usage report, brands will need to be conscientious and selective about how their app engages users via notifications, and evaluate the value that their apps bring to the overall customer experience.
Actively explore brand opportunities on Apple Watch
Despite how much the tech media likes to prop up the “Apple Watch is a failure” narrative, it is still by far the most successful consumer wearable product to date. And as we point out above, it plays an interesting piece in Apple’s grand plan for the post-mobile era. Therefore, brands should not sleep on Apple Watch. Instead, brands should actively investigate and explore potential brand opportunities to serve customers via the Watch. This is particularly true for healthcare, fitness, and other sports-adjacent brands, given the fitness orientation of the Watch. However, with the addition of Siri shortcuts and interactive notifications, Apple Watch can now serve as a new channel for brands to surface a fraction of their app’s functions, whether it’s alerting users of a nearby sales event or serve up timely delivery updates about their online orders.
Adjust your TV budget to reflect the ongoing cord-cutting movement
It is no secret that the TV audience has been shifting away from live TV and cable subscriptions to OTT streaming services and skinny internet TV bundles. This trend is showing no sign of slowing down, and with Apple now officially working with cable providers to push Apple TV as a set-top box alternative, more and more TV viewers will go from linear TV to time-shifted, often ad-free viewing. This means brands need to follow their audience and adjust their TV buys to consider spending on ad-supported OTT platforms such as Hulu’s ad offerings, or creating branded content channel to directly engage with audiences.
Reevaluate Data Practices And Move Away From Cookie-Based Targeting
There is no denying that Apple is coming down hard on ad tech, especially when it comes to what some consider as intrusive tracking and targeting practices. For brands, however, this is far from the end of the ad tech, as many newer, non-cookie-based ad tech products, especially the ones that run on first-party data, will continue to function as before. However, brand marketers do need to acknowledge the ongoing backlash and carefully reevaluate the way we use consumer data.
Keep an eye out for the next paradigm shift
Seeing how Apple has started laying the groundwork for the post-mobile era, so should brands start thinking about how their customer experience and marketing efforts will have to evolve with the changing user behaviors. Quite a lot of brands already learned the lesson the hard way when they lagged behind on building mobile-first brand touchpoints and experiences as the dominant platform shifted from desktop to mobile a few years ago. Can your brand keep an eye on the media futures to ensure you don’t miss the boat on next paradigm shift?
Want To Know More?
This newsletter is already running long, so we have to leave out some rather interesting tidbits from this WWDC (such as the anticipated roll-out of NFC chip access ended up materializing only in Student ID card scans on iPhone and Apple Watch for now, or how Apple is working to expand the footprint of its content distribution with updates to apps like Apple News and Stocks) that don’t necessarily fit the larger narratives here but could become interesting when the new Apple hardware products debut in September.
So, if you are keen to learn more about Apple’s announcements and what they all mean for your brand, or just want to chat about how to prepare for the next paradigm shift in general, the Lab is here to help. You can start a conservation by reaching out to our VP of Client Services Josh Mallalieu (josh@ipglab.com).
