UPDATED 02:03 EDT / DECEMBER 29 2016

EMERGING TECH

Accenture predicts 2017 will be the year of the smartphone’s demise

The rise of autonomous vehicles, digital assistants and smart homes will create new ecosystems that will eventually challenge the smartphone’s dominance as the main command center of our lives.

That’s one of main takeaways from global professional services firm Accenture Plc. in its recently released Fjord Trends 2017 report.

Younger generations who grew up with mobile phones and then smartphones generally perceive older technologies as antiquated or obsolete tools. From the time when Nokia Corp. first introduced feature phones, through BlackBerry Ltd.’s innovation, and Apple Inc.’s release of the first iPhone, smartphones have become the focal point of many people’s lives. This has only been strengthened in recent years by greater connectivity and the advent of the Internet of Things.

But Mark Curtis, chief client officer of Fjord, the digital and innovation consultancy that’s a subsidiary of Accenture PLC, says the smartphone could soon find itself being threatened.

“The year is about making us smarter humans and fostering human potential by creating helpful, meaningful services across an expanded array of digitized environments,” Curtis said in a statement. “Interfaces are becoming faster, smaller and automated, and organizations will need to adapt to the kind of supercharged, responsive and immersive environments now possible. Our tenth annual Trends report aims to provoke, inform and inspire but, above all, to provide actionable insights into designing for the rapidly evolving world of experience.”

Fjord’s new report paints a picture of demise as new technologies take shape, and the smartphone is the one that will feel the heat. With the emergence of autonomous vehicles, digital assistants and smart homes, new ecosystems will arise to challenge the smartphone’s preeminence in people’s lives.

Fjord offered up eight key trends for 2017, with people at the center of them all:

  1. Application Programming Interfaces will be rewired for innovation, transforming organizations’ principle and practices.
  2. The fear of being “stuck in the middle” will push brands to try and stand out more than ever. Brands will need to “change their strategies and either lean towards a clear purpose, or promote a “we can do anything attitude,” in order to stay relevant.
  3. The concept of “mixed reality” will push aside the more familiar concepts of augmented reality and virtual reality as these technologies become more mainstream. “Organisations will turn away from single, siloed enhanced reality experiences to focus instead on harnessing and combining all types of reality – both enhanced and real,” Fjord’s report notes.
  4. Autonomous vehicles are going mainstream, forcing organizations to “focus attention on the car as a connected mobile environment.” Fjord predicts that integrating people’s cars with their homes will become key to success.
  5. Home help is set to explode, leading to the creation of tailored home assistance services.
  6. As the world transforms to one in which “everyone’s a storyteller,” brands will need to adapt to a society where customers tell stories through the brand, rather than the other way around.
  7. As artificial intelligence and chatbots permeate through the consumer experience, so-called “emotional intelligence” will become immensely important.
  8. Organizations will focus more keenly on social experiences to protect against the unintended consequences of their activities.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented era of innovation, placing the need for companies to rewire in order to succeed,” said Brian Whipple, head of Accenture Interactive, which commissioned the report.

Fjord’s Trends 2017 report draws upon the collective thinking of its more than 800 designers and developers around the world, based on first-hand observations, third-party research and client work.


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