MMW Exclusive: Mobile Expert Shares WWDC, Tech Predictions
On Tuesday, mobile expert Krishna Subramanian connected with MMW to discuss expectations and predictions for the upcoming Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, which is scheduled to begin next Monday, June 10, 2013.
Subramanian, who has founded three mobile marketing and technology companies, is currently CMO of mobile advertising and marketing company Velti.
Krishna has been following Apple’s mobile strategy and product cycle very closely and has an interesting take on what the future holds for the Cupertino, California-based tech giant.
- Sexy but unimpressive
“Apple’s expected to unveil an iOS redesign and a much needed update that will realign the company with modern design – it’s a way to make iOS sexy again,” Subramanian tells MMW. “However, Apple isn’t actually stepping up to deliver any game-changing products or features. They’re just putting more makeup on the front end of a product, which won’t drive sales. iOS 7 won’t motivate users to buy new iPhones or tablets, unless they need them.”
- Apple’s biggest competitor will no longer be Android
“Within a year,” Subramanian predicts, “Android will disappear and be replaced by Chrome. It doesn’t make sense for Google to have two operating systems. The platform Google is building now, the direction and style of apps and Chrome Books suggest that Chrome will be the winner. More importantly, look at the way Google is structuring their organization, Sundar Pichai replaced Andy Rubin to manage Android in March and is now managing both Chrome and Android. As such, we can expect that the user experience will become seamless between multiple screens if Google were to use one operating system – which, again, I believe will be Chrome.”
- Content is still king
“Without new hardware,” the mobile expert observes, “Apple hasn’t done anything to entice developers to build for the platform. As a result, there will be less content to drive market share.”
- Wearable technology is a ‘Chicken and the Egg’ situation
With ample speculation that Apple is poised to introduce a smartwatch affectionately dubbed “iWatch” by the blogosphere, wearable technology is on everyone’s mind, including Subramanian’s.
“There’s currently no value for users,” Subramanian concedes. “Wearable technology is all about data collection and the only way to drive adoption is to make that data useful to users by integrating it into the rest of their life. Until that happens, advertisers and consumers will remain uninterested.”
