Q&A: Andy Daniels discusses the future of mobile - part two
Part two of eGR Mobile Intelligence’s interview with Degree53’s Andy Daniels
eGR Mobile Intelligence (eGRM): What do you consider to be the biggest challenge in developing betting and gaming apps at the moment?
Andy Daniels (AD): The obvious thing to say is device fragmentation, but for me this is part and parcel of mobile development. Certainly if I look back on my days working on Java Games then we have it easy today. The biggest challenge I see is the competition for features with non-gambling apps. What I mean by that is thereâs so many great apps outside of the gambling space which are making use of all the latest features which gambling operators canât take advantage of.
Take social login or even fingerprint login when iOS8 comes out later this year. Users expect these features as the norm so when operators canât implement these our apps already look dated. The challenge weâve got is our legacy back end platforms which were built long before the social and mobile era.
eGRM: Is the new range of devices and their capabilities making it easier or more difficult to develop for mobile?
AD: Iâd say things are a lot easier. Thereâs an ever decreasing number of Android users on OS versions before version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Couple that with Chrome on Android being much more in line with Safari on iOS and what youâve got is fewer differences in developing mobile web applications for the two platforms. For native Android app development youâve got the Android Support Library which is a set of APIs that provide backwards compatibility for older versions of Android. This means that your applications can use the newer features and still be compatible with devices running Android 1.6 and above.
eGRM: Tablet penetration is growing yet few operators can truly claim to have embraced it, why do you think that might be?
AD: Building a true tablet user experience for all your products is a huge job and while operators are making a lot of money out of tablet customers, through their mobile products, theyâll be less inclined to make the investment. Itâs inevitable that this will change as the companies that embrace it now will grab the market share and the rest will be playing catch up.
eGRM: Do you see more growth in tablet gaming in the future?
AD: Tablets are in many ways the perfect device for gambling; bigger screens and ease of use allows for easy navigation through more content and them being typically attached to Wi-Fi allows the streaming of video or more intensive graphics and games. So no doubt I expect to see more growth in the future but the key question is does this growth come from cannibalising your existing users on mobile and online? One of the opportunities I see is many people who are now buying tablets were never desktop customers.
It used to be said that tablets were laptop replacements but what weâre actually seeing is many people who are now buying tablets have never had a laptop. The internet via PCs and laptops passed many people by. For example, older people who never learned how to use a computer, however, theyâve always had a phone and have upgraded to a smartphone over time. Tablet is the natural progression for these people as thereâs virtually no barrier to entry. What this means is thereâs a market of people who have never gambled online before who might be willing to do so if the product is compelling and easy to use.
eGRM: What role do you see wearables playing in the future for online gambling?
AD: In general wearables are going to play a big role in our future. Of course some devices will come and go. Is the Google Glass the equivalent of a 1G mobile phone from the 80s or are they just an expensive gimmick with great PR? In the future could there be smart-contact lenses? I donât know but it will be interesting to see how they progress. As for what impact wearables will have on the gambling industry itâs hard to say. Android Wear smartwatches seem very good and thereâs definitely a use to being able to see notifications on your wrist. The obvious use case is prompting a user via a push notification of a bet and then letting them place it using their voice.
I do however like the idea of being able to check someoneâs heart rate and tailoring messaging to that but whether customers â and regulators â like that remains to be seen!