Executive Briefing
Why Apple’s new ‘App Clips’ matter
An important new tool for retail, restaurants, brands, and beyond.
By Dan Frommer on Thursday, June 25, 2020 at 9:30 pm
Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference virtually this week, including streaming a fun, high-production-quality keynote on Monday. This is the company’s big annual event where it announces new OS and app features coming to the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Siri, etc., ahead of new hardware launches in the fall.
Perhaps the most interesting new thing, as far as The New Consumer is concerned, is a feature called App Clips, coming with the release of iOS 14 for the iPhone later this year.
App Clips are basically small parts of a full iPhone app that can be quickly accessed, launched, and used — without ever needing the full app. (Apple starts talking about them 28 minutes into the keynote. You can also watch technical videos about App Clips and see Apple’s design guidelines.)
The big idea is to dramatically reduce the friction that comes with discovering, installing, and navigating an app before a user or customer can get something important done quickly, such as making a purchase or activating a product or service.
If it works, this could increase conversions and potentially increase customer satisfaction, encouraging repeat business.
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Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.
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