Future of mobility rides on AR and Voice Recognition: Shamsuddin Jasani

We live in era of mobile and mobility today. The use of the smartphone has certainly transformed the way we look at a lot of things these days, but the last 9 months – referred to as the post Jio era – have made mobile central to not only marketing but life in general in India. We are firmly in the mobile era and going forward, the pace of change and development will only become faster. 

In fact, 70 per cent of the world’s mobile phone users are expected to own a smartphone by 2020. Besides this, 90 per cent of the world’s population already does own a mobile phone. This is enough evidence to suggest as to why businesses should look towards a mobile first approach. 

From a marketing perspective, mobile is the dominant channel, not just because of its predictable growth and value, but also because of its influence across the entire marketing background. Digitally inclined marketers should look to the present state of mobile to predict what’s next for marketing across the spectrum. 

It is very important for brands to understand how they want to use mobile. This is governed by not only the digital maturity of the brand, but more importantly, the role mobile will play in delivering the product or service as well. If mobile is the king, data is always the queen. By marrying the two, you can get a much more precise targeting on who you consumer is and then develop the right messaging in the right environment for him/her. 

Video is another thing which has got a huge push due to cheap data and very quickly we have seen the rise of on-demand TV. Users want to watch what they want when they want and not necessarily at a given time slot. Right now, AVOD services are ruling the roost. Marketers need to capitalise on this as it represents a tremendous opportunity. I believe digital video and especially exclusive content is going to drive advertising. This will be very evident when the digital rights for IPL come up for bidding and we will see a huge jump in the bid for digital rights. Audio is another huge opportunity for advertisers, but is being completely ignored at the moment. 

Looking at the future, I believe the future of mobility beyond what is happening today will be driven by two key technologies: Augmented Reality and Voice Recognition. Augmented reality will enhance the world around us, and with the new iPhone coming with some great AR capabilities, lots of people will start using it. Hence, it represents a great opportunity for clients. 

Lastly, I believe voice will change everything. Voice recognition, combined with the right AI, will completely change the way we use our mobile and also change the way we interact with devices around us. This is the next big thing. This will change the world as we know it. 

(Shamsuddin Jasani is Managing Director, Isobar India.)