Mobile Trends Conference - the place where business meets technology

Mobile Trends Conference is the biggest conference on mobile techniques, technology and marketing in Poland. You can be sure that you meet there the best speakers from all over Poland (and not only) from various IT fields. It's also an ideal opportunity for networking and getting to meet all kinds of great and inspiring people. This year you could listen to as much as 30 presentations and 5 case studies about mobile trends, technologies and marketing. The event was accompanied by Mobile Trends Awards gala which took place on 8th March 2017. Prestigious awards were presented to the mobile technology industries. The best companies and institutions received statuettes.

Because MTC means three days full of speeches, knowledge and inspirations, it's impossible to describe everything in one article. Here you have a few most important trends and lessons of the conference.

2017 is the year of mobile... or not?

"This is the year of mobile" - it was the well-known motto of the conference that we all made fun of. But the fact is that mobile's share of online sales and mobile traffic have increased tenfold in the past years all over the world. And it's going to increase more and more. This repeated over and over slogan can be funny, but the data speak for themselves.

There is also talk among the mobile industry people that it's the end of mobile, which is melting. Monika Mikowska [Mobee Dick] said that mobile is no longer a separate piece of the market cake and it touches various areas of our life and our job. It's the time when everybody and everything are mobile. It's also the time when we should stop asking ourselves how many people use the mobile connection and start asking how they do it. 

In a nutshell, 2017 is still the year of mobile, and it will still be.
 

The only thing that ends is the mobile stone age. We're moving to an era of more integration of users and the whole mobile ecosystem.
[Maciej Kołek]

Google goes mobile

Michał Wiciński [Google] was talking about last changes in Google. Even this giant among search engines bet on mobile and is rolling out a new mobile-first index. What does it mean? Google will create and rank its search listings based on the mobile version of content. This also applies to listings that are shown to desktop users. 

Michał gave us some pieces of advice. To remember: index process is not about WHO is searching but HOW. 

Unfortunately, mobile versions of websites still aren't perfect. The main issues on mobile web design are slow loading, bad response and content moved by ads. It's crucial, especially when you know that over 50% users leave websites if it takes more than 3 seconds to load it. We should add that 75% of mobile sites are loading 10 second and more. It's a huge amount of users that even don't open our website because of slow loading. 

To sum up, managing your presence on Google Search is about the balance of user-focused content, mobile-friendly practices, and good website security practices. In particular, webmasters should take care of the mobile content, which will become a priority for Google's bots. Those of you who already have RWD website don't have to worry. But if your site has two versions - mobile and desktop - the mobile one should contain key information. 

When we're talking about Google, don't forget about mobile SEO which should be treated as part of "traditional" SEO practices. We all have a lot to do!

User Experience - a few words about UX Design and Design

Information where users are and what are they doing there is becoming less and less important. The reason is the fact that we communicate with the brand through various devices. In 2017 brands will be forced to create one coherent (and fully responsive) interface which meets needs and experiences of users. Here the huge role of UX Design and Design, in general, come up. These are things that help to design consistent users' journey. The point is to allow users continue one action on different devices. Motion design and approach on the role of UX Designers can be key to the success. 

These two are connected: motion design improves UX. During Mobile Trends Conference 2017 Maciej Szwed [Miquido] took us on a journey from the basic rules and patterns of motion design in mobile apps to unique solutions. Maciej showed specific examples how to use motion design in your app and make the journey of the user more pleasant and less confusing. 

Turning to UX Design, Monika Mikowska [Mobee Dick] asked the crucial question: what does UX Designer do? Considering all job offers and requirements, the best answer is "everything". UX Design is a process so that UX Designer (as such) doesn't exist. It's impossible for one person to concentrate all expertises that UX Designer should have. In 2017 Developers are also UX Designers. They are also responsible for the final user experience. What is worth to highlight, within the next five years, users' experience will replace current features of brands such as a product offer and price. UX will become the most important factor.

VR, IoT, and other robots

During Mobile Trends Conference 2017 topics connected with the newest technologies whose task is to make our life easier and safer as well as more... entertaining came up. 

Artur Kurasiński [MUSE] was talking about VR, AR and MR. These are not hyped buzzwords but a technology that saves lives, sells, cure and simply entertain. But, according to Artur, using them is still very frustrating. Why? They are not perfect. 

Probably, this won't take long. Tomek Wesołowski [Empathy Internet Software House] presented data suggests that in 2040 robots will be doing most activities for us. The shift in software is coming. A world where computing becomes universally available - be it at home, at work, in the car, or on the go - and interacting with all of these surfaces becomes much more natural, intuitive, and intelligent.

This shift is actually already happening here and now. Natalia Hatalska drew attention to the fact that today 48,5% of internet traffic is generated by bots, and there are over 40 billion bots only on Twitter. 

Karol Kalisz and Vitaliy Rudnytskiy [SAP] see future somewhere else. Their speech about Internet of Things was really inspiring. They presented the concept of digital twins which are some kind of profiles and avatars of things. 
 

Keep in mind; digital twins is the profile of a thing in Internet of Things for handling of characteristics and sensor data
[Karol Kalisz]

What is all about? Things are starting to listen to us - they not sleep and are giving the data 24/7. This is why IoT is so forward-looking.

Mobile Trends Conference 2017 also means a lot of knowledge for marketers. As has already been mentioned, content is still king. Storytelling, using the language of benefits, personalised content, and using different social channels (video!) are marketing trends for 2017. 

Merixstudio at Mobile Trends Conference 2017

We also had our moment at the conference when we ruled the stage. Bartek, our Project Manager, was talking about the mobile web. Let's face the fact, native apps are a gamble right now, and progressive web apps can be the solution. Bartek presented live the opportunities (and risk :)) of PWA. Every participant could take part in his presentation and answer questions by using their smartphones.

These were three days full of knowledge and inspiration for both Mobile App Developers and Cross Platform Mobile App Developers, designers, sellers, marketers and more. I highly recommend this event for everybody who knows or want to get to know the IT world (in general) from several points of view. I hope we meet again next year.

You can find more information about Mobile Trends Conference & Awards 2017 on its website.