It turns out that three months of iPhone 5 rumors amounted to nothing more than hopeful anticipation, but hey, there’s still a bright side: iOS 5.
Apple’s new operating system offers several new features that are sure to be embraced not only by consumers, but by marketers as well. And if you watched last week’s product launch, you know that Apple won’t let us forget that iPhone users are a valuable commodity to marketers.
A few stats on iPhone users from last week’s product announcement:
- The iPhone is the number one smartphone in the world
- 93% of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying the iPhone
- Since the App Store’s launch, consumers have downloaded more then 18 billion apps
iOS5 offers three ways for marketers to better engage with consumers on mobile devices:
System-wide Twitter integration
Before deep Twitter integration, users had to log in to Twitter with every new app they used. In the screenshots below, a user finds an interesting article – but instead of pushing a single button to share, the process becomes more complicated when the user is prompted to log in to Twitter.
This extra step in the process discouraged a lot of users from tweeting.
But now with iOS 5, users can skip that extra step and post on Twitter from within official Apple apps like photos and maps. The Twitter API is also available to third party developers so that any app can be made more social.
Allowing users to log in to Twitter once for all applications and adding a “tweet” button makes tweeting easier and faster for consumers – which means more people sharing your content.
Reminders App
The iOS 5 Reminders app will allow users to set up geo-location-based reminders like “pick up dry cleaning when I leave work.” This way, an alert will pop up when GPS senses that you and your iPhone step outside of the office.
This function is really an open-ended opportunity for marketers – we’re excited to see how it evolves.
Easier than ever to take photos
We all know the old saying, “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” Well, when users share photos about your product, it equates to social media gold. So how can we encourage this behavior? Why not make it easier than ever for users to snap and share a photo.
With iOS 5, the volume up button functions as the new shutter button, and users can access the camera from the lock screen. That takes care of taking the photo – now all we need is a quick share, which is as easy as pressing the “tweet” button within the camera app.
The features of iOS 5 make it easier than ever before for marketers to engage with consumers on mobile devices through Twitter integration, geo-location-based reminders and a streamlined camera app.
How do you plan to take advantage of the new iOS 5 features?
