Julie Ask

The new contact tracing partnership provides both optimism and challenges in the fight against COVID-19. Find out how the tracking will work and what its limitations may be.

Today’s digital experiences place too much cognitive load on the consumer. Why? Because the success of websites is measured based on feature parity along with the ability to navigate a composite of services meant to do all things for all people. Business metrics for these same experiences are tied to revenue or self-service rather than […]

Mixed reality experiences run the gamut from augmented reality (AR) mobile apps to try-on lipstick and shoes to completely immersive virtual reality headsets used for military and surgical training. Spectacles 3, the latest camera-equipped sunglasses from Snap, marks a large improvement from Spectacles 2 (launched in April 2018). With two cameras instead of one, Spectacles […]

First, what is LiDAR? It is an acronym for light detection and ranging. Basically (oversimplifying), it pulses light at objects in a room and measures the time it takes for the light pulses to bounce back. By doing so, it can understand the distance objects are from the iPad and build a more detailed understanding […]

Vice President Julie Ask provides practical suggestions to improve SMS communications.

(by Erin Sellers) High level: Lipstick is fun. Augmented reality (AR) is fun. The quality of the experiences has improved dramatically since Apple and Google got involved a few years ago. AR applications within the cosmetics industry have come a long way from the static capabilities we saw in 2011. Before, I could try out […]

I had the opportunity to speak with the founders of Laan Labs today — Jason Laan, Christopher Laan, and Will Perkins. I learned a couple of really important points about the limitations of augmented reality (AR) today. They include: Consumers expect magic, but it just isn’t there today when it comes to precision. Some of […]

Augmented reality (AR) has improved dramatically in the past 10 years. Ten years ago, AR was far too often gimmicky, unstable, and disappointing to consumers. It surfaced simple information well but fell short on animations. The digital content was more cartoonish or rough, and the tracking leaned toward being unstable (you needed perfect or steady […]

Bottom Line Here’s what I learned with my experience with wearing an AR headset: I must and do concentrate more, given the complexity of swimming and consuming data at the same time. At least now, it takes more of my mental capacity. I daydream less. Seeing data in real time changes my behavior. When you […]

Galaxy Z Flip It’s been a while since I saw a product demo and thought, “oh damn, that is cool.” I’m obsessed with the mechanics of how it folds. This is the first time in a long time that a new phone hasn’t led with its camera but instead with its ability to fold, small […]

Forrester published a piece on RCS called “More Myth Than Magic — For Now.” (Report link is only available to clients.) For those of you not following RCS (rich communication service), it’s basically the carrier’s upgrade to SMS, which is nearly 30 years old at this point. There have been a couple of recent announcements […]

Apple started 2020 with another strong financial performance. There were no real surprises. I continue to be stunned by the company’s ability to generate both revenue and profits in highly competitive categories. The US continues to be Apple’s strongest market, which fits with its focus to generate more spend within an ecosystem of more affluent […]

Smartphone manufacturers have less control over their own success. Find out what 10 things their future success will depend on.

Apple held its annual fall product event in Cupertino, CA this morning. Apple continued to put forth exciting products AND services that will differentiate it from its obvious competition.

Apple is leveraging its engineering chops to deliver better CX. Most notably, they’re using privacy as a differentiator. Learn more.

mCommerce today is often characterized as online purchases made on a smartphone or mobile payments (e.g., Apple Pay or Google Pay). As our colleague James McQuivey would say, that is simply doing old things in new ways — not doing new things. We define mobile as any device with a cellular connection. It could be a […]

The smartphone market is on the verge of disruption again and not for the first time in recent history. What’s different is that today’s leaders are better positioned to take advantage of their momentum to strengthen their position in the market. Not unlike 10 years ago, what it will take to compete will shift dramatically […]

The world is changing and with it, consumers’ expectations of experiences and communication from brands. The paradigm for customer engagement is shifting from large, monolithic experiences that serve everyone to smaller, more contextual experiences served to consumers in just the moment they need them. Marketers must adopt the right strategy, operational best practices and technology […]

No. But they will increasingly fall short of consumers’ expectations for curated content, especially among brands that they know. And channels seldom if ever disappear; we still get mail from MetLife each month advertising insurance. We’ve been talking about the diminished role of the browser-based experience for years now. We talk about this in our […]