Gartner Inc. foresees a significant shift in the digital landscape by 2027, with a projected 25% decrease in mobile app usage, primarily attributed to the increasing reliance on AI assistants.
Emily Weiss, senior principal for the Gartner Marketing Practice, stresses the importance of proactive planning for CMOs in the face of decreased mobile app usage. Brands with low app engagement and retention will likely be the first affected, presenting an opportunity for those not heavily reliant on app revenue as development costs are expected to decrease.
App replacement
Gartner finds that smartphone users will increasingly rely on AI assistants, such as Apple Intelligence, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta AI, and others, to replace apps for many functions.
Moreover, Gartner sees apps being consolidated across separate brands and companies. This will establish mobile app partnerships or consortiums to reach more users per app at scale and cover the cost of creation and maintenance.
"Other brands may be severely impacted by the disintermediation of users turning to AI assistants for services. The loss of app users will also result in the loss of first-party data collection and the ability to reach fewer users via mobile push notifications," Weiss said.
