• There's no stopping the march to mobile"
• Hong Kong leads the way in developments like mobile advertising and AR
• But security is always a concern
Hong Kong, with its mix of switched-on smartphone users and agile developers, seems a natural place for mobile enterprise application development. And so it is--according to a recent poll by Google (which partnered with Ipsos Research on a global research survey of smartphone usage, including 11 Asia-Pacific markets), 35% of all mobile phone users in Hong Kong use smartphones. And Hong Kong smartphone users use their phones mostly at home and at work with 63% and 56% using their devices at these respective locations over the period of seven days, said the survey.
A decade ago, few smartphones existed--some used PDAs for enterprise work, but they were far from elegant. Now, with 3G networks and Wi-Fi access making work on-the-go easier, Apple rules the space with their iPhones and iPads. Maybe in another decade Android will have made greater inroads, but there is no stopping the rush to develop mobile applications which enhance employees' productivity in imaginative ways.
Any MTR carriage will have plenty of folks glued to their iPhones, but iPads are a bit unwieldy in cramped spaces. Where the iPad shines is in executives' briefcases. We've held events where speakers ask us where they can plug in their iPad for their presentation. Senior tech executives read from iPads for their speeches, use them as a repository for their daily calendars and all the material they need for that day. As to whether an iPad will serve a laptop "replacement," there's a difference of opinion. But its value as an enterprise work-tool is seldom questioned--not by the busy, tech-savvy executives we routinely interact with who carry them everywhere.
What we're seeing in Hong Kong's mobile space today is much like the early years of the Internet. At first, the Net here was a concept people had heard of, but didn't really understand, let alone use. These were days when you'd have to call people, they'd be out, and their minder would painstakingly take down your name (remember "how to spell?" and spelling your name out letter by letter, to be corrected/repeated? For some of us doing business here in Hong Kong, this was a daily ordeal). Then they'd call you back, and you'd be out. Once people figured out e-mail, communication became much more efficient. Then Web sites began to gain traction for real business. There was a process of evolution.
With enterprise mobility, we have a new learning curve. The advantage is that businesspeople now understand how important the Internet is: how a single multilingual Web site can answer hundreds of questions a minute, how access can be protected through passwords and hard-tokens for two-factor authentication. Rent, utility-bills and even income taxes can be paid online nowadays in Hong Kong. "How to spell?" has been consigned to the dust heap of history (don't forget to recycle your fax machine when you get around to it).
But Hong Kong has an advantage. We have a young, agile workforce who are unafraid to start an SMB with a good idea and a little seed-money. And increasingly, Hong Kongers will contribute to efficient enterprise mobility and mobile app development, both in greater China and overseas.
Another recent survey, this one by research firm TNS, puts Hong Kong at the forefront of an anticipated global tablet sales explosion. Half of Hong Kong consumers say they are likely to purchase a tablet in this year, according to the survey.
The study found that 17% of Hong Kong consumers claim current ownership of a tablet--nearly six times the global average. And while 27% claim they may purchase a tablet to replace a PC, the majority (61%) consider the tablet they may purchase an additional device, indicating that the tablet will grow the total device market.
Smaller than a laptop yet larger than a smartphone, tablets are gaining popularity among Hong Kong consumers--particularly for playing video games, reading e-books and watching television or movies. But despite the gains being made by tablets, PCs still hold dominance as the preferred device in Hong Kong for banking, e-mail and Web browsing, while mobile phones are preferred for music, navigation and Bluetooth applications.
The Hong Kong Productivity Council revealed a recent survey that showed 90 percent of smartphone users accept apps because they provide useful information, as well as discount coupons and other freebies.
In addition, 80 percent of 320 smartphone users polled between June and July said they are also not bothered by pop-up advertising banners that many internet users consider a nuisance as they block portions of the content.
In another poll of 68 companies, the council found 57 percent have already adopted mobile marketing.
Council principal consultant Lawrence Cheung expects that figure to soar to about 80 percent within two years.
Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association chairman Ken Fong said the public has become increasingly receptive to mobile marketing because it's both fun and beneficial. "For example, some shopping malls have invented an app that allows customers to play a game in the mall and win discount coupons," he said. To be successful, Fong said an app must not only be creative, but also provide the user with benefits.
According to Claus Mortensen, principal, emerging technology research for IDC, Hong Kong is leading in the adoption of mobile apps in the enterprise--in a survey of A-Pac markets, almost 50% of Hong Kong companies said they had deployed mobile apps (beyond e-mail), while only Australia was ahead at 60%, add those that planned to deploy and HK, Taiwan and Aus had around 80% of firms all indicating plans to adopt or are adopting mobile apps already.
Mortensen also added that while Hong Kong was not necessarily at the forefront of cutting edge consumer apps compared to Korea, Japan and Taiwan, mobile banking and education were areas where Hong Kong was leading the way in the region.
Hong Kong Internet Society chairman Charles Mok commented that these surveys reaffirm Hong Kong's leadership position in mobile user penetration and actual usage adoption in China and globally. "What we need to contemplate now as an industry is how to elevate our application industry to a higher level," said Mok, "expanding from local to regional, developing from marketing-focused apps to develop a higher-valued industry chain that will enable us to build companies that will be world-class mobile technology developers.
"That is our opportunity and our challenge," he added.
Mobile apps won't help engage users if they lack strong content and support for interaction.
According to Philippe De Passorio, head of Asia Pac, Total Immersion, technologies like augmented reality (AR) are available to help enhance user experience, but businesses need contents that will draw users to those apps in the first place. The French AR technology provider has its Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong.
"People are becoming more sophisticated," said Jason Chiu, CEO of Hong Kong-based firm cherrypicks. "On top of useful information and features, mobile apps must also give users a pleasant surprise."
iButterfly--a platform developed by cherrypicks and Media Palette Hong Kong and can be deployed for different brands--is an example of pleasant surprises on mobile apps, Chiu noted. Supported by AR, motion sensor and GPS technology, the app allow consumers to decide when and where they wish to collect promotional offers and product information by catching butterflies that are added to their collection.
"Downloading coupons isn't anything new and is boring for some people," said Chiu. "But the idea of letting users catch coupons and decide when they use them makes coupon-downloading more fun."
Chiu also identified social gaming as a user experience enhancer. "Social gaming doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Facebook and gaming, but it allows a user to engage in something together with friends," he added.
Hennessy Mix--a location-based, AR-supported mobile app built by cherrypicks--is an app with a social gaming feature, according to Chiu. At 50 bars in Hong Kong, people can collect virtual stamps to win prizes by pointing the Hennessy Viewer downloaded to their iPhones at a Hennessy Mix coaster or the label of a Hennessy VSOP bottle. "A bar is a place where people socialize," said Chiu. "This feature of the Hennessy Mix app allows them to compete with friends on the number of stamps collected or being the first person to win a prize--this is what I mean by social gaming."
The app--winner of the best marketing smartphone apps (technology) award in the 2011 Hong Kong Marketing Smartphone Apps Popularity Contest--will also display one of the five interactive Hennessy Mix 3D AR visuals showing different ways to enjoy Hennessy VSOP when a user points the viewer to a coaster or a Hennessy bottle.
For Hennessy, this app isn't just about re-branding and increasing sales but also helps reach the spirit drinkers in Hong Kong. "This is a niche market in Hong Kong--there are just about 70,000 [spirits] drinkers," said Chiu. "In three months after the app became available, users have collected 200,000 Hennessy Mix virtual stamps--this is a CRM boost for Hennessy."
Another one of the firm's mobile apps ties into the 39th Hong Kong Art Festival. Dubbed 'Hong Kong Art Festival on the Go', the app is simple but allows 15 people to plan when and what to see during the event and users to share their planners to Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail, said Chiu. The app--winner of Best Marketing Smartphone Apps (Creativity) Award in the 2011 Hong Kong Marketing Smartphone Apps Popularity Contest--supports motion-based navigation and provides the most updated seat availability charts, videos, photos, and other program information, Chiu added.
The cost of building an AR-based mobile app ranges from HK$200,000 to $5 million, according to Chiu. An app supported by AR browser technology like Discover Hong Kong City Walk-- built for the Hong Kong Tourism Board--costs about HK$200,000 while a complex betting app for the Hong Kong Jockey Club costs HK$2 million, he said.
According to De Passorio, AR browser technology that only allows you to overlay information onto the screen is inexpensive and easy to do, but AR vision that allows you to point your camera to recognize visuals is more costly. De Passorio pointed out that the entry cost of AR vision-based apps must drop to around HK$ 100,000 before they become widely adopted on not just mobile platforms but also on the Web and other environments like information kiosks.
"As feature-rich smartphones like iPhone and Android phones have only been available two or three years ago, we are still two years away from an AR-based mobile app uptake," De Passorio said.
He estimated that AR will also be deployed for e-commerce and m-commerce in the future. "For instance, retailers will deploy AR tech to allow consumers to see how they look with different styles of eyeglasses, jewelry items, or hats online or via smartphones," said De Passorio. "There are already companies deploying these technologies in-store in Hong Kong--this can be redeployed to mobile platforms."
"Mobility's potential in the enterprise solution space arrived when the iPad came onto the scene, taking tablet-computing mainstream," said Sunny Kok, CEO of Hong Kong-based Green Tomato, winner of Red Herring Global 100 and Red Asia 100 awards, as well as Computerworld Hong Kong's Tech Company of the Year for 2011. "The early adoption in enterprise use has been for point-of-sale purposes: communication with consumers at the point of contact. This is happening at the retail level, and hospitals use [similar technology] in diagnostic sessions as well."
"Tablets are extremely interactive devices, and their unprecedented display of multimedia content is now attracting more and more executives from creative industry corporations, such as ad agencies as well as fashion and design houses to use them internally," said Kok. "Other industries may not see the immediate need to migrate to tablets for business use."
"However," pointed out the Green Tomato chief, "two things may cause a shift within the enterprise. Firstly, cloud computing has been adopted by many corporations and tablets are cloud-friendly. Secondly, many executives have already adopted tablets for personal use and they're demanding their IT departments integrate things such as e-mail clients and remote data access onto their tablets."
"Our customers, especially our Hong Kong customers, won't bother with optimizing their existing Web site for mobile display," said Kok. "When talking mobile, an app seems to be the only option they will consider, so our job is to consult them on what's best suited for their app."
Kok added that one of his company's assets is a solid grounding in conventional IT: "We come from a strong technical background which means that we have the capacity to handle projects that involves complexity in system infrastructure or requires in-depth backend integration."
But he also spoke to a philosophy that recalls the halcyon days of the dotcom boom: "We aim to develop mobile solutions with the premise that they will be sustainable. That has a great impact on how we consult our clients for their mobile strategy--because from Day One, our objective is not to create a 'one-off buzz' but to help them develop something that engages their customers long-term."