He was walking through the dull streets of his hometown. Early spring. The remnants of the snow were slowly disappearing, creating a muddy mess everywhere the eyes could reach.  Earphones connected, a random song becoming a soundtrack of the day. Going for another interview seemed pointless. How many has he been to at this point? Was it ten or eleven? Maybe even more, he could barely remember all of them. Desperation was creeping up on him with each failure. Savings were drying out; he was dreading the due date on rent every time he checked the app with his bank account. Low on spirits, he marched on. What else could he do anyway? 

The red light on the crossroad stopped him at the border of the office district as the cars sped by trying to catch the green while it lasted. How nice it would be to have a car again, he thought. After the subscription to the operating system of his last car ended in November, he couldn’t afford renewal so he sold it. There was no point maintaining a car that wouldn’t start without the paid app, and he was able to get at least three months’ worth of rent out of it. 

“Have you tried our new smart house app? Combining all your appliances with just one click…” Sudden advertisement after the end of the song startled him. He still didn’t get used to the ads after every other song. It wasn’t that long ago that paying premium got you uninterrupted streaming. The streamer’s shareholders expected a stock growth though, so they introduced a golden tier and premium became only slightly better than the free version, ads playing just every tenth song, so he cancelled as well. Golden tier was a convenience he couldn’t afford right now. 

There it was, the office building he was looking for. Finding it was harder than he expected, the glass covered walls towering over him on both sides of the street all looking eerily similar and lifeless. The reception desk was empty. No visible computer, no coffee or personal belongings, a remnant of its previous purpose. 

A whirring noise was closing in on him from behind his back. “Welcome to Appco, please, state the purpose of your visit?” an emotionless, yet pleasant female voice came out of a metallic capsule-like body that stopped next to him. “Job interview.” “Please scan your fingerprint in the designated area.” A small square lit up on the droid’s surface. “Data collected. Proceed to 20^th floor, room three. Use the fingerprint to unlock the doors.”

He proceeded to the elevator leaving the droid behind in a dead silence of the empty entrance hall. He met the first people in the building on the 20^th floor. All few of them staring at the screen in front of them, ignoring his presence. Room number three was nothing special. Small meeting room with table and chairs taking up the most space. A recruiter in a suit was already expecting him, offering him a seat and a glass of water.

“I am gonna be honest, your previous work experience isn’t exactly what we are looking for, but nobody wants to work these days…” after the introduction the recruiter went on a rant about how a good work force is hard to come by. If his future wasn’t on the line he would have rolled his eyes. ‘App administrator’ wasn’t any special position, and the salary they offered was less than competitive, if he had had a different option he wouldn’t have applied. The shit working conditions were likely the reason he got an interview despite little to none experience in the first place. “So, what is your experience with m-commerce? Do you know at least something about it?” The recruiter jumped from complaining straight to the interview. His condescending attitude ever so present. 

The research he has done beforehand ended up not being a waste of time. From his own experience he knew that applications were the driving force of modern marketing and commerce. He was no stranger to ordering daily necessities through various apps on his phone and spending hours scrolling social media full of ads. It’s not like there was a way to avoid it, if he wanted to save a few bucks with app exclusive coupons and reward codes. However, this was nowhere near enough to impress. So, he mentioned how retention of the user should be the main goal, as only a quarter of the apps installed are used daily, most of which are for entertainment. This was however nowhere near to impress, m-commerce is about money after all. If the brands wanted to sell through apps, and collect sellable data, they should make the apps fun and offer rewards to frequent users. Make the apps unusable without permissions to internal phone data. Then the advertisement can be targeted more effectively with greater returns. There should also be an incentive to connect bought products to the app, with additional features locked behind subscription to maximize profits on minimal costs. As he continued speaking about user-friendly design and convenience, it dawned on him more and more that he was a victim to the apps as well. 

Leaving the office district felt to him like leaving a prison. Even the dingy streets seemed more welcoming. Walking without a set destination, he reflected on the interview. Was using a phone always like this? Apps upon apps upon apps…users seen as piggy banks, kept unaware by bread and games while their information’s sold between the companies to train the algorithm, and make them sign up to more apps. He entered the first supermarket to grab a snack, ignoring his passing former colleague at the entrance, still in his head.

Maybe it was just nostalgia speaking, but he felt confident that the first apps were either pure fun or convenience. How could an app that was just an animation of a lighter be anything else? He knew, though. Everyone knew. And yet all of them still signed up to the new trendy app, and connected that toothbrush to Bluetooth, trained the AI models that left them jobless, and lived their lives online. Only now he was snapped back to reality by an automatic message from the cash register. “Do you have our club-app?”

Yes. 

Dáša Holecová

Sources:
Malisk A. et al. – Factors influencing consumers’ attitude towards adoption and continuous use of mobile applications: a conceptual model
Baek Y. – Analysis of user’s attitude toward apps, intention to use and continual consuming intention – Focused on mobile commerce
Masa R. et al. – The Predictors and Consequences of Consumers’ Attitude Towards Mobile Shopping Application
Szucs K.R. et al. – Applying attitude theory to determine usersecurity approaches
GoogleThinks – Mobile App Marketing Insights