Tech
The Apple
fart
The Apple App Store’s regulations are
causing headaches for the industry,
reports James Morgan of Event Tech Lab
A
clause in App Store
developer guidelines
states: “the App Store has
enough fart, burp, flashlight,
and Kama Sutra apps
already.” Apps can be seen
as spam if they ‘provide the
same feature as other apps,
simply varying in content or
language’.
This is causing headaches
for exhibition organisers,
who may have tens or
hundreds of event apps that
service specific show brands
in their digital portfolios.
The UFI technology
committee is wrestling with
this conundrum, as are
organisers and event app
suppliers.
Ade Allenby, head of digital
and data innovation at Reed
Exhibitions, says that Apple
now wants companies to
create ‘containers’ where
all the apps are held. For
example, Reed, which runs
hundreds of shows globally,
is being asked to create a
container app, which when
opened provides a list of its
shows. Activating a choice
from a list of apps would
open a specific show app.
We all know that a
specific show is its own
brand, one that is marketed
all year round. Reed may
mean nothing to everyday
exhibition attendees in
Brazil, China or the UK,
only the name of the show is
relevant. So how are visitors
going to find the show app?
This could mean having to
scroll through hundreds of
app names in all sorts of
different languages. This
creates a lot of friction in the
app download transaction.
Many visitors may just decide
not to bother. This is just
one of the challenges for
organisers.
Tim Groot, founder of Grip
networking app, sees Apple’s
behaviour as very Apple-
centric. He advocates two
approaches for organisers.
and thinks that there is no
straightforward answer to
container apps. He thinks
that for large organisers,
there are two options: a
standalone branded app,
which is suitable for very
large events with a lot of
customisation, or a multi-
event app – a container app
- in which an organiser can
have all their events. The
container approach is more
affordable but also reduces
the setup time of each event,
which is crucial if you want
to be efficient and provide a
scalable solution, says Groot.
Jamie Vaughan, head of
European sales at event
management platform
Cvent, agrees. He is of the
opinion that the key benefit
of a container approach
is the ability to build and
deploy new events quickly,
as the shell is already
approved and published in
the app store. In addition, it
is statistically proven that
the container/multi event
app will stay on the users’
phone for longer as it is used
multiple times.
On the other hand, Clemi
Hardie, CEO of smart badge
and event app supplier
Noodle Live, feels that Apple
is acting like a monopoly.
She asserts that Apple is
increasingly attempting to
take control of the types of
app that are released, which
restricts the creativity and
variety of the apps on offer.
She doesn’t think it’s a good
direction for the company
to take, as the tech industry
tends to reject companies
which try to exert too much
control.
Vaughan thinks that
the changes in the Apple
app store guidelines have
certainly made the app
space tidier, in so far as
people have less apps on
their phones. He thinks
decluttering the app space is
a good thing.
But what of brand-
building? Allenby is
concerned that this is a
major challenge to the
event organisers who want
branded apps to be part of
the visitor journey. Apps
form a major part of a show
brand’s touch point strategy.
An app is a mechanism
to converse with visitors
and provide quality data,
thereby creating satisfaction
and visitor retention. The
current decluttering strategy
is not complementary to the
events industry and the way
in which organisers need
to differentiate their show
brands and portfolios.
April — 55