We rely on apps for nearly every facet of human life, from ordering dinner, calling a taxi or alerting us to where police can be found.
Statistics have shown that people spend 52% of their total online time using mobile apps and 89% of their time using mobile apps when when they on a mobile phone. Many are designed to make us the best kind of humans we can be: with more productive or more convenient lives (in fact, the first apps were designed exactly for this purpose!).
Given the rate at which mobile phones continue to grow, however, it is not surprising that the trends in the apps themselves change along with them. The points below outline some of the most prominent changing trends in app development:
- Apps That are Integrated Across Multiple Platforms & Devices
- More Focus on Enterprise Apps
- Technology that You can Wear
- Faster Mobile Development
- Beacon Technology
- Increased Security
- Focusing on User Experience
- Social Media Incorporated into Gaming
- Mobile Banking and Payments
There will be an increase in apps that can be synchronized across multiple mobile platforms (i.e. Apple and Android) and devices, using code like HTML, for example. Part of this reason is due to the popularity of cloud technology.
In addition, this is especially appealing for developers because they will be able to sell their apps to a larger audience and can therefore sell them at a cheaper price.
Many more apps will be developed for businesses instead of the consumer simply because it is more lucrative for the developer.
Apple is the trendsetter when it comes to wearable technology, with its recently released Apple Watch. While current wearable technology has been limited to health and fitness, the mobile application industry is hoping to move beyond this.
Since consumer demand is so strong, the idea here is that companies are aiming to decrease the time between the idea and when the app can officially be purchased. Music, health/fitness and social media are currently the fastest growing categories of mobile apps.
Beacon technology first hit the market via Apple in 2013. While the technology was slow to catch on at first, it is expected to result in $44 billion worth of retail sales by 2016. For those not in the know, beacon technology is used largely in retail; it will alert you of sales and promotions or personalized offers as soon as it detects that you have walked by a specific location by the app you have downloaded.
As it stands now, Gartner reported that 75% of mobile phones would fail a basic security test. With mobile phones holding so much of our lives, developers want to focus on security even more, stopping hackers from obtaining private information.
The idea here is to use big data as a means to prioritize user experience, while still considering all of the necessary elements like in-app advertisements. In fact, in-app advertisements will actually increase and will be implemented into apps via images, text for example – no longer will they be limited to banners of the past. The focus will move from looking at downloads and instead to user engagement.
Since multi-player gaming has become more popular in recent years, developers are and will continue to incorporate social media into the games as a natural byproduct of this trend.
Currently, 19% of sales are purchased via a smartphone or tablet. While it is becoming more common to pay via a mobile phone, future mobile app trends will focus on developing apps that make this even more accessible than it already is, leaving money and credit cards in the dust.
App popularity has grown every year since the first one came on the market, making it an incredibly smart and lucrative career choice to take part in. For more information on how you can become an app developer, contact us today!
