Smartphones have made such a huge impact on our lives in such a short time that today it’s just impossible to imagine our lives without them. Equally undigestible is the fact that something that has been introduced so recently into our lives is now defining us from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep.
The primary reason why smartphones are so addictive is the presence of millions of apps available in the mobile app development market to choose from which can assist us in almost everything we do in any given day. Apps or applications as we know, are computer programs designed to run on mobile. Today, the three biggest app stores available to us are-
Businesses nowadays are using more and more mobile apps to improve their processes and increase the level of accessibility their customers have to them. Let’s look at the few mobile app development trends that will make waves in 2018:
AR or Augmented Reality is a live view of the physical world environment perceived via computer-generated information by multiple sensory organs. Apart from the gaming industry, these apps are helping the companies to present in detail the product and services to their clients in real-time.
VR or Virtual Reality is also a computer-generated scenario that simulates a realistic experience through a headset, smartphone, or tablet device. Its apps are used for company branding and aggressive marketing by providing a 3D vision of products using a blend of photography and technology.
Instant apps will forever change the way we are used to downloading and installing the apps before running them. For businesses looking to streamline their mobile development, hiring Xano developers can be a game-changer in creating efficient and powerful applications. Thanks to these native apps, one can run the app almost instantly without downloading it.
These apps support the latest version 8.0 (API level 26) and go all the way back to 5.0 (API level 21) so one doesn’t have to worry about purchasing the latest device to operate instant apps. The functionality of these apps is an upgrade to your app and not a separate app for you to download.
Business bots or chatbots, in simple words, is a computer program that is capable of conducting a conversation through audio or textual methods. Though started just a few years back, chatbots already made up a market worth of $703 Million by 2016 which by 2021 is expected to reach up to $4.5 Billion.
With such a fast-growing pace, business bots are much ahead in setting the new trend for 2018. According to current research, consumers already love it with 95% of them believing that customer service is going to be the major beneficiary of business bots in the upcoming years.
Artificial Intelligence or AI is the intelligence displayed by machines. The chatbots we were talking about earlier are also powered by AI technology through its applications cover a much wider range of Virtual Personal Assistants to Intelligent Apps to Cyber Security.
AI and machine learning have provided innovative ways to acquire more and more customer data to gain insights which in turn help in taking the right decisions and formulating and implementing market strategies. Therefore, corporate giants such as Google, IBM, Adobe, etc. are investing heavily in AI apps such as Cortana or Siri.
IoT or the Internet of Things is the combined network of devices that can be uniquely identified through its embedded computing system to connect and transfer data. Experts claim its value to reach $7.1 Trillion by 2021.
These devices or Things operate through wearable apps that give you access to hardware such as sensors and the GPU. Wearable apps only differ in design and functionality but they all run on similar Android SDKs used in other apps.
Wearable devices cover a wide range from smartwatches to fitness bands to something totally unexpected such as smart shoes, clothes, or jewelry.
M-commerce or mobile commerce is the present and future of mobile payment options, not sure how? The paying apps you are currently using such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet or the recent initiative of scan and par system leveraged by Visa and Samsung are such examples.
These apps provide state-of-the-art security with coded encryption, secure back-end, and API along with a reputed payment gateway. These security measures seem justifiable when you consider the total net worth of mobile commerce which is roughly $700 Billion as of last year.
Cloud computing is an IT paradigm that literally fetches data from the cloud, it enables unlimited access to a shared pool of data including streamlined operations over the internet thus relieving your phone memory too in the process.
Cloud apps such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc are prompting more and more businesses to develop apps that are cloud-driven this year with the help of companies specialized in web design in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
Research proves that the mobile app development market of today is growing at an exponential rate with 197 billion apps downloaded just last year with users spending 90% of their time on apps rather than the mobile web. Companies understand this fact well enough and as a result, invest heavily in the production of these apps. So, I believe it’s safe to assume that 2018 too will see a lot more applications leveraging these above-mentioned trends.
