Half of Indian users reach out for their Smartphones unintentionally, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals in their latest study. In this age where smartphones have seamlessly integrated into our daily lives, the potential of ‘Surfaces’ redefines smartphone interactions and makes devices smarter. BCG released a report that explores the role of ‘Surfaces’ playing an important role in enhancing the smartphone experience.
The report draws insights from a comprehensive study involving over a thousand users and extensive interviews across India. With the average smartphone user picking up their device 70 – 80 times a day, half of these interactions occur out of habit without any explicit purpose. The report, titled “Reimagining Smartphone Experience – How Surfaces Can Play a Key Role in Making the Phone Smarter,” dives deep into current smartphone usage habits, offering insights into user behaviors and the transformative power of ‘Surfaces.’
The report provides interesting insights into how the smartphone is being used by today’s users – revealing the key activities with phones, the frequency of those activities, and some interesting nuances across demographics. 1 out of 2 times users pick up the phone they do so without knowing why they fired up their smartphone. Approximately 50 – 55% of smartphone interactions lack clarity of intent, about 45 – 50% of the time consumers are very clear on the task to be accomplished, and about 5 – 10% of the time consumers have partial clarity. The findings in the report are based on actual clicks/swaps data of 1,000+ users and in-depth consumer interviews conducted across India.
Below are the key findings of the report
- Over the last decade or so, use-cases enabled through smartphones have proliferated from just socializing to a spectrum of 9+ use-cases (streaming, shopping, searching, scoring/gaming, saving & payment, seeking (news), studying and storing/tracking)
- Research indicates that across 3 journey types, there are multiple friction points in terms of inconvenience, irrelevant information (in the form of ads/suggestions), and lack of discovery (are we building echo chambers showing the user the same information over and over again?) – even in case of a pre-determined journey where the consumer is clear about the app and intent they find toggling across apps/visiting multiple screens to check for key updates – as challenges worth solving for.
- ‘Surfaces’ the next frontier in human device interaction has an enormous potential to delight consumers – by providing a seamless, smart, and serendipity-rich experience while showing the potential to address challenges pertaining to broken experiences and much more.
- Leading innovators for example Glance for Android ecosystem (circa 2019) and Apple for iOS ecosystem (circa 2022) are seeing increasing adoption for their ‘Surface’ offering – for instance, Uber leveraging ‘Activity kit framework’ in iOS 16 to offer users select functionalities (ride- tracking, cab/drive info/OTP) right onto the lock-screen providing convenience.
‘Surfaces’ exist even today, driven by 3 types of players – OEM-Driven, OS-Driven, and Surface-first innovation driven.
- OEM-Driven – Apple brought in a new flavor of dynamism on its lock screen with live updates. Multiple phone OEMs source lock screen content from 3rd party providers to drive engagement.
- OS-Driven – The majority of Android devices load a default Google Discover news feed upon swiping right on the home screen (also called a minus one screen).
- Surface-first innovation driven – Players like Glance are the most interesting of the lot w.r.t. innovation in AI deployed, to serve relevant content for a user every single time.
In partnership with a leading lock screen solution provider – Glance, an innovative app install campaign was launched by a leading OTT app in India during the 9 weeks of Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
Piyush Shah, Co-founder of InMobi Group and COO & President, Glance said, “We resonate with the recent BCG report emphasizing the pivotal role of ‘Surfaces’ in reimagining the smartphone experience. As a pioneer of the ‘Surface’ ecosystem, Glance has been consistently bringing together personalised discovery and intent-led experiences for over 230 million active users right on their mobile lock screens. Leveraging our deep insights into user behavior, we are excited to continue enriching every moment of our users’ lives by seamlessly integrating ‘Surfaces’ into their daily lives.”
While ‘Surfaces’ currently exist in a nascent form, they are poised to become the AI-powered engine driving interactions between users and apps. These dynamic screens have the potential to guide users towards relevant activities based on their interests, thereby enhancing the smartphone experience.
Nimisha Jain, Senior Partner and Managing Director said, “Smartphones are evolving – the recent spate of discussions in media and at industry events on themes like ‘AI on device’ or ‘app-less experience through Gen AI’ is a testament to that evolution. ‘Surfaces’ can serve as the conduit to deliver this new evolved experience that’s smart, seamless and often enables serendipity.”
BCG’s report also includes a few crucial consumer journeys reimagined with the surfaces – for instance, live scores and match highlights visible on the lock screen without going into the app. The report highlights the various ecosystem stakeholders, including phone makers, telecom players, advertisers, app developers, content publishers, and gaming studios, in realizing the full potential of ‘Surfaces.’ By embracing strategic imperatives outlined in the report, these stakeholders can deliver exceptional consumer experiences and drive business results.
