Smartphones Reflect Us and Our Future. (Origami × Retty × Dentsu Smart Platform)

Hello. I'm Yuya Aoki from Dentsu Inc. Smart Platform. Smartphones, with adoption rates now exceeding 50%, have become indispensable devices in our lives. Today, an unimaginable volume of information dances in our hands. How has this transformed our lives as consumers? We invited two entrepreneurs running startups in the smartphone business to explore how smartphones have changed our lives, examining both the consumer and business perspectives.

What exactly is so revolutionary about smartphones?

Aoki: Lately, there's been a lot of buzz about smartphones transforming business or fundamentally changing consumer behavior. But what exactly makes smartphones so amazing? What sets them apart from other devices?

Yasui: If I had to list smartphone characteristics, one is the overwhelming amount of time spent using them. Previously, when we needed to "look something up" or "start a task," we'd open a computer with a specific purpose in mind. But smartphones are always with us, so we find ourselves looking at the screen during small pockets of free time without any particular intention.
Another key point is that smartphones represent the first truly "wearable technology" we've acquired. While we're still in the early stages of fully leveraging this, using apps like Uber shows how the challenge of moving from point A to point B can now be solved using technology right in the palm of your hand.

Okuda: From an information dissemination perspective, I believe smartphones have lowered the barrier between the online and real worlds. Online communication via computers was confined to the internet. It involved communication unique to that space. With the advent of social media and smartphones, the barrier between online communication and real-world communication has started to disappear.
I believe the mindset around information sharing is changing. Previously, information sharing was anonymous and confined to the online world. With smartphones, information is now tied to individuals and shared in a way that merges with the real world.

Smartphones and PCs are similar yet fundamentally different

Aoki: Is there any difference between sharing information from a smartphone versus a computer?

Okuda: Using various services recently, I feel there's a qualitative difference: information sharing from smartphones is more right-brain oriented, better expressing emotions. After all, smartphones are more tied to the individual, expressing one's "feelings," right?

Aoki: The characteristics you mentioned earlier, Yasui-san—that smartphones involve "facing the screen without specific intent"—and Okuda-san's point about "emotions being expressed," are very interesting.

Yasui: Exactly. The psychological state of users facing the screen differs significantly between PCs and smartphones. Many services boast, "We've made our PC site smartphone-compatible!" but upon inspection, they've often just reorganized the PC site's information to make it easier to view on a smartphone screen. True smartphone optimization, I believe, involves an emotional approach unique to smartphones and service design that responds to the user's psychological state.

Aoki: Listening to you, it seems PCs and smartphones are similar yet fundamentally different.

Yasui: Desktop sites are often built primarily to strip down information to help users reach their goals. Look at shopping sites: you type the name of the product you want into a square search box, then "narrow down" options by specs or price. But as mentioned earlier, smartphone users often interact without a clear intent. They might not even know what they want yet, or whether they want to buy anything at all. It's only natural that the user interface designed to address this kind of consumer psychology is completely different from that of a PC.

Aoki: Mr. Okuda, are you conscious of the differences between PCs and smartphones when operating Retty?

Okuda: I see Retty as a fledgling smartphone-centric review site. Actually, when Retty first launched, it was designed more as a closed tool for "creating your own restaurant list." But when we investigated user satisfaction—or rather, what resonated with users—we were surprised by the high level of desire for "communication." We discovered two new value axes for smartphone-based review sites: "using real names" and "getting reactions in real time."
And I believe the underlying factor was the real-time nature of smartphones. With a computer, it takes time to write a comment or review and then see if it's been rated. You get home, open your computer, and think, "Oh, I have a comment." But with a smartphone, you can feel comments coming in real-time as soon as you post. I think that intensifies the desire for communication.

If you had to describe a smartphone in one word, what kind of device would it be?

Aoki: I'd like to summarize this. What kind of device is a smartphone, in a single word?

Yasui: As I mentioned earlier, isn't it "wearable technology"? In the future, it might become watch-shaped or glasses-shaped. I think its form will evolve into various shapes, but the smartphone is the device that first gave people the experience of "wearing technology."

Okuda: I position smartphones as "avatars in the online world." Previously, accessing the internet felt like peering into that world through a computer screen. Given smartphones' inherent personal nature, they've become tools that place the user directly within the online world, acting as avatars that identify the individual.

How will smartphones change the consumer experience?

 

Aoki: I see, that's fascinating. So, how did consumer behavior change with the advent of smartphones?

Yasui: One key impact is the location-based functionality on smartphones. Consumers can now discover nearby stores and see which friends are visiting them, enabling serendipitous encounters with new places.
Furthermore, the boundary between offline and online is becoming increasingly blurred. As a result, mobile commerce may expand beyond the scope of traditional e-commerce. While purchases used to be made on home computers and delivered to the home, smartphones are always with us wherever we go. This means we are no longer restricted by location when making purchases. Taking it a step further, it might become possible to go to a physical store, make the payment via mobile, and receive the product right there. True O2O (Online to Offline) marketing (Note) is about to begin.
(Note) A marketing approach that connects online activities to customer acquisition and purchasing actions in physical stores.

 

Okuda: I believe the advent of smartphones has ushered restaurant information media into its third phase. The first generation simply digitized information about all the restaurants out there. However, this remained information (advertising) aimed at driving people to stores, making it difficult to actually choose a restaurant. This led to the second generation: anonymous ranking sites. They aggregated and rated all the information available online, creating rankings. This made popular restaurants visible. But it didn't tell you if a popular restaurant matched your personal taste. So, the third generation focused on aggregating information from the perspective of "Who is recommending it?" That's Retty. With smartphones, the real and online worlds have merged. Positive communication happening in the real world, like "That restaurant was great, right?", now happens on smartphones too.

How will smartphones change the business side?

Aoki: How do you see the impact on the business side?

Okuda: In the restaurant sector, I believe it will make CRM (Customer Relationship Management) much easier than before. As mentioned earlier, smartphones are essentially avatars online – they represent the individual themselves. Previously, even when customers visited a restaurant, the staff had no way of knowing who they were. Once they left, there was no way to thank them. The advent of smartphones has created opportunities for one-on-one engagement between the restaurant and the individual.

Yasui: From the store's perspective, it was difficult to identify who exactly the consumers coming in were. Of course, if they became familiar faces to the staff, that would be possible, but there's a limit to scale. Even trying to gather customer information using methods like point cards wasn't very efficient. The advent of smartphones has introduced the possibility of tracking customer behavior. I believe this will enable more precise marketing.

Aoki: I see. Finally, please share a closing thought.

Yasui: With smartphones now in the world, a fundamental paradigm shift is finally about to happen. It's a big challenge, but I hope we can create new experiences going forward.

Okuda: Yes, I agree. I'm increasingly looking forward to what lies ahead.

Aoki: Thank you for your time today.