Smartphones are getting smarter

I woke up today and the first thing I did was get my smartphone to switch the alarm clock off… and that’s how my mobile day begins. I then check WhatsApp messages that I received overnight, go to my e-mails, check my Facebook page, Instagram notifications following the post of last night’s dinner I made before I went to bed. I open my Twitter app to check the latest news updates and then comes breakfast time. Baby breakfast time first, oh what a cute moment, baby Issa smashing all his food over his face, lets snap that moment and share it on my family WhatsApp group, post it on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, too.  Am I addicted to my mobile phone?

Maybe yes, but when I am finally off to work, I prefer to make my 10 minutes journey more exciting. The Anghami app comes in handy with my favorite songs transitioned to my car speakers via a Bluetooth connection. Before I finally enter the office the RTA Smart Parking app will help me to pay my parking fees in order for me not to get a fine, which I would most likely pay via the RTA Dubai app. To spare me the fines, I can always use my back-up app; Uber. And these are just first 3 hours of my day!

When was the last time I visited a DEWA office? Or passed by Du to pay my monthly internet subscription? Or even wrote a cheque, instead of just transferring the amount via the online banking app on my phone? I don’t remember. Grocery shopping is no longer the time consuming activity thanks to the Trolley.ae app. If I ever need to buy a last minute emergency dress for an event that is happening the day after tomorrow, I will certainly open Namshi and make an order that will deliver my dress to my office the next day. Birthday gift? Perfume? Mobile phone? TV? You name it, they have it! The Souq.com app is right there to help me from spending more time than needed strolling around the huge Dubai malls.

Can we survive without our smartphones today? I don’t think so. Did they make our lives easier and fastpaced? Definitely. Did we start spending more money? Absolutely!

Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends 2015 report suggests that there are 5.2 billion mobile phone users registered in 2014. Should businesses go online? That goes without saying. Should they become more mobile? Absolutely! Communications professionals go digital, and if they don’t, they regress. Is going digital only enough though?

Meeker suggests that video constituted 64 percent of the total Internet traffic and 55 percent of mobile traffic in 2014. She points out that Facebook in particular now has a highly evolved video product, with 4 billion views a day.

She emphasized our growing tendency to watch these videos on smaller screens. Meeker says that mobile viewing in 2015 accounted for 29 percent of our total time spent on screens, compared to 71 percent of our time spent on desktops, televisions, and other connected devices.

Visual content is king today, and text heavy story is very unlikely to attract vast amounts of attention. People evolve into mobile quick smart fix lifestyles, and so should communications professionals. I am not stating that offline marketing is dead, but it is in a wheelchair state already and its days are counted. Get smart or go home!