A few years have already passed since smartphone apps began accounting for over half of all digital media consumption. Average mobile users spend hours every day making purchases, checking maps, enjoying entertainment, booking travel or conducting business with their mobile phones. Most people tend to split the bulk of their time online between a few favorite apps.
As technology and trust for mobile app development continue to improve, people will certainly spend even more time for work and play with their smartphones. Yet they will also continue to focus on the most useful and engaging mobile applications. Obviously, developers must stay on top of the curve. Even though mobile apps enjoy the advantage of a growing market, they face steep competition for each user's attention. Everybody involved in mobile app development needs to understand the kinds of apps that people will continue to find worth their time in the future in order to enjoy good returns on their investment.
Predictions for Popular Mobile App Development
Consider some of the most popular trends in mobile app development:
Progressive Web Apps
People may spend about half of their time online using mobile applications. They also spend about one-third of their time online with laptops and desktops, and almost 10 percent of their time with mobile web browsers on phones or tablets. Not all of the growth in mobile app use has come from a decline in accessing the internet in other ways but from more time spent online across different devices.
People can access progressive web apps (PWAs) with common internet browsers on any device that they choose to use at the moment. PWAs offer features of both mobile apps and modern browsers, and they allow access via regular web URLs. Benefits of progressive web apps can include good performance and best of all, the ability to develop a full-featured and engaging application for multiple devices.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Just recently, businesses started commonly developing a mobile-first strategy for app development. According to the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, the tech giant has already shifted from mobile-first to AI-first. Similarly, Forbes anticipated that AI development will grow from about $350 million to $30 trillion within a decade.
Intelligent apps can sift through massive data sets to uncover insights rapidly. Besides using AI for improving business intelligence, other benefits include better efficiency, security and cost reduction. Machine learning describes a subset of AI that allows software to improve on their original algorithms and code, based on the real-world data they receive. AI and machine learning will handle tasks that machines do best, giving humans more time to focus on their strengths.
IoT Apps
By 2020, the global population of connected devices will exceed the human population by a multiple of four. Some examples of helpful and popular IoT apps include those that control electronics and appliances from anywhere, track the location of expensive inventory, order supplies or services automatically, and even just lock and unlock doors remotely.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) refers to adding computer-generated images to images of physical, real-world locations. Mobile games first drew massive attention to augmented reality apps.
Other applications for this technology include education, training, inventory, logistics and, of course, marketing. For instance, an AR app can show an employee a storeroom and superimpose text or images of items inside of closed containers. The number of apps with AR features should triple within the next three years.
Chat Bots
Today's chat bots rely on AI and machine learning to do an excellent job of simulating conversations with human users. While most people still associate chat bots with making customer service more efficient, Duolingo, a popular learning app that uses chat bots, states it has 200 million active users. Expect human interaction with chat bots to increase about five times within the next five years.
Let's Talk About Your Future Mobile App Development Plans
If you already have ideas for mobile app development or just wonder which kinds of mobile tech can help grow and improve your business, we want to have a conversation with you. Contact us today to learn more.
