Manufacturers are responding to the unprecedented growth of demand for smartphones and tablets by increasing their CPU power, battery life, and storage capacities, and upgrading other hardware and software to allow them to smoothly run more complex applications.
This evolution in mobile device operating systems, software, and hardware has presented new opportunities for mobile app developers to create more complex and functional apps that address unique needs in different niches. This may be the best time to take up a mobile app development training course. Most mobile app trends in 2018 are expected to build on new developments seen in the last couple of years.
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IoT and Wearables
The trend of smart homes, smart health, smart cities, smart retail, and so on is spreading fast across all industries. IoT (Internet of Things) apps are gradually becoming mainstream as they’re being facilitated by Apple Watch apps and Android Things by Google. As the demand for connected things increases, consumers will be looking for apps for smart devices other than mobile devices, requiring developers to innovate around these needs.
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AR and VR
The growth of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has been driven by the increased demand by businesses and consumers for new technologies beyond gaming and entertainment. In 2018, VR technologies will extend to the events sphere, for example through interactive product showcasing in 3D, while AR will largely be driven by industries such as real estate and healthcare that want to enhance the visual experience of various products and services for their clients.
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Artificial Intelligence
AI machine learning technologies have completely transformed user experience. For instance, consider ‘Siri’ the speech recognition app by Apple. AI and machine learning have provided businesses with innovative ways to obtain and apply customer insights in the right context and in real-time. In 2018, more businesses will move away from the traditional way of gaining customer insights using Big Data and analytics. Instead, enterprises will integrate AI with apps to make decision making more personalized, accessible, and mobile.
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Security and Data
Because of high-profile cases of data leaks and poor app security, enterprises are facing challenges attributed to low consumer adoption and data protection laws. In 2018, mobile developers will be looking to make both enterprise and consumer apps more secure and data compliant.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will influence the way apps can use data to personalize apps, and how they collect personal information in the first place. Considering that apps provide the best avenue for personal behavioural based personalization, app developers have to find ways to comply with data security regulations and make users feel confident when providing personal data.
These are just some of the trends to look forward to in mobile app development in 2018. For those taking a mobile app development training course, focusing on one or more of these areas could lead to an exciting career ahead.
