This presentation explores the emergence of messaging platforms as a new "operating system" and core UI paradigm on mobile.

1. There's a chat for that
– is messaging the next big platform?
@richardkeen

2. from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report – http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
47
6+ of Top 10
most used apps
globally =
Messaging Apps
Messaging
Apps
significant app
sessions
Source: Quettra, Q1:15. Data ranked based on usage.
Quettra analyzes 75MM+ Android users spread out in more than 150 countries, collecting install and usage statistics of every application present on the device. Q1:15 data analyzed three months of
data starting from 1/1/15. Data excludes Google apps and other commonly pre-installed apps to remove biases. Only apps with 10K+ installs worldwide and 100+ DAU are counted.

3. “Can Facebook Messenger kill off apps?”
– The Telegraph, 15th November
“I always like to rewind to what
people did before technology. Before
the web era, we just had
conversations.”
– David Marcus, head of Messenger

4. “Messaging Leaders [are] aiming to create cross-platform
operating systems that are context-persistent communication
hubs for more and more services”
– Mary Meeker, Internet Trends 2015
“Old: all software expands until it includes messaging New: all
messaging expands until it includes software”
– @BenedictEvans, March 2015

5. Concept: requesting a Lyft ride through messaging
http://bit.ly/1lumnN6

6. operator.com: Real Operators. Real Recommendations.

7. Positive traits
No download and no install to add a new service
Asynchronous both in delivery mechanism and variable speed communication style
Very low data usage and excellent intermittent network behaviour
Inherently social, works for 1-1, 1-N and N-N scenarios
Provides persistent context and an ongoing communication channel
Identity always provided
Inherently cross-device and cross-platform
Performs well on feature phones and low-end smartphones
Rich platform context and services

8. WeChat
“Many institutions that otherwise would have native apps or mobile sites have
opted instead for official accounts … they’ll reply, either in an automated
fashion or by routing it to a human somewhere.”
– http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-ui-trends.html
650 million MAU – platform capabilities since 2012
Order taxis, book cinema tickets, book an appointment at
the doctor, send a payment, shop at 28 million+ stores,
all through a messaging app

9. Facebook Messenger & M
700 million MAU – Businesses on Messenger in UK Q1 2016

10. Facebook Messenger & M
“M felt revelatory when I had it call Amazon’s customer service line for
me … ‘OK - Amazon has informed me that your refund is being processed
and the amount will be reflected in your account in 2 to 3 business days!’.
Welcome to the future, I thought.”
– http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/26/9605526/facebook-m-hands-on-personal-assistant-ai
M is an AI-based assistant exposed as just another contact in
Messenger, with a human team overseeing and augmenting the
conversation

11. Try out Skyscanner’s prototype bot at
https://telegram.me/Skyscanner_Bot
Telegram
https://core.telegram.org/bots
Clever custom “keyboard” feature
Bots are created via a bot! – the BotFather
60 million MAU – bot API launched in June

12. cola.io – new messenger app based
around rich conversation with businesses & services

13. SMS – not dead yet!

14. What about “assistants”?
“Smart agents like Cortana will
replace the web browser”
– Satya Nadella quoted in
Business Insider, 13th November
Posit: Siri, Cortana, Alexa are essentially
limited forms of a conversational experience.

15. Platform enablers of conversational experiences
Programmatic send/receive APIs
Basic and rich content (card) representation options
Actionable UI elements such as buttons, maps and drop-downs
Access to contextual information such as location
Payment mechanisms
Custom response keyboards
Slack/CRM integrations for human responder cases

16. Building blocks of a conversational bot
Natural language processing
Conversational state management
APIs providing structured data and service functionality
Appropriate “card” and textual representations of content

17. Messaging within your app
https://smooch.io
https://layer.com

18. Where does this leave apps and the web?

19. Thanks!
@richardkeen
@CodeVoyagers