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Current technology is more concerned with providing more immersive experiences than just selling products. Whether we’re talking about emerging technologies like AR and VR or startups toying with old ideas in new ways—There’s always a focus on the customer experience and how it can be made more enjoyable.
Technology has paved the way to better and more compelling experiences. Better convenience and user experience have been possible without spending millions of dollars on R&D. Today, innovating a new tech solution for an existing pain point is as simple as brainstorming an idea and making it materialize with the help of the myriad of available tools that make it easy for software developers and hardware manufacturers to achieve more with less.
Let’s look at some of the brilliant examples of how the tech world is leading the charge in delivering truly mesmerizing experiences that break away from the conventional notion of selling a product.
Immersive Entertainment
Entertainment has become remarkably better. We can use adjectives like immersive, high-end, enjoyable, or realistic, but the gist of it is that it’s just better than what we used to have, say, a decade ago.
Several technological advancements have made it easier for even small developers to create better experiences. And it’s not just content consumption that has gained from this. One of the most prominent winners is the gaming industry.
Games have become a lot more realistic and experience-oriented. For example, AAA video games from big studios offer realism using technologies like motion capture, ray tracing, and generally higher-quality textures to create a realistic virtual world.
The case is the same for all other types of games, ranging from 2D games from indie studios, online slots, or other kinds of browser-based games that rely mainly on graphics. While in the past, these games were limited in terms of how enjoyable they could be, today, it’s not rare to find examples of excellent experiences across the board.
Modern games like current-gen console titles or 2023 slots have become significantly better in creating a whole player-based experience. They use rich graphics and better sounds, for example, to make the experience more enjoyable. It’s not just about spinning the slots or solving puzzles anymore—With lucrative themes and well-rounded graphics, it’s all about helping players get a sense of achievement and reward when they play.
Compare this to a decade ago and you’ll quickly notice how far we’ve come in terms of the graphics. For example, we checked a few pages of video slots using the Wayback Machine and the options were simply bad. The graphics were more akin to traditional slot and one-dimensional, offering nothing but barebones storylines that weren’t even fleshed out properly.
Apart from game-specific technologies, the entertainment realm has also seen several other improvements. The most notable among these are augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Both are still in a nascent stage without mass adoption but that’s changing sooner than you’d expect. From more affordable products like Meta’s Quest 2 to high-end ones like Apple’s Vision Pro, the biggest tech companies have given users plenty of options to choose from. Now, it’s all about how many apps and utilities they can fit into them, which mainly depends on how easy it is to develop apps for these headsets.
Google is also reportedly working on an AR headset.
Subscription-Based Models
The subscription economy has exploded in popularity. Corporations have realized how it’s so much better to have regular consumers who pay a small but recurring fee instead of a one-time payment. Many major companies have seen a big improvement in their bottom line since adopting a subscription-based model, prompting even more companies to go the same route.
Subscriptions make it easier for people to afford even high-end services. Not to mention it’s a more people-centric design and not product-centric. Soon, even FMCG stuff will see an uptick in subscription-based models as it also helps reduce wastage—Like in beauty products, clothing, pet food, cooking essentials, home décor, and so on.
Netflix might have been the company that started it all, but the recent success of Apple, Spotify, Microsoft, and Adobe has certainly put the relative advantage of subscription models out there for all to see.
As companies see a larger part of their revenue coming from subscriptions, they also keep making changes to their different tiers and pricing strategies for different regions to further optimize the delivery of their service. For example, Apple recently increased its pricing in a few markets to strengthen its revenue.
From digital media to essential software, a subscription doesn’t just help a company make its offering more convenient and affordable, but it also helps retain more users. While covering this issue, Paddle’s team provides an in-depth analysis of some companies and notes how “as long as you and the customer agree on [the value you’re providing], they’ll keep paying and stick around for a long time.”
Wrapping Up
There are more technological advancements than we can cover in the span of an article. For example, the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices have enriched lives and made the world more interconnected, whereas blockchain technology has enabled more secure and fast asset transfers.
However, the outliers are certainly new technologies in the entertainment space, like game technologies or AR and VR, and a shift toward a subscription-based model.
That being said, we should also note that by no means are we at the end of the road! New and exciting technologies are shaping the landscape as you read, and a new startup in some corner of the world is working on something groundbreaking that improves the customer’s experience even more.
