The past few years have been phenomenal for mobile apps, and its growing popularity and increasing significance only means that mobile app development is going to reach new heights in 2017. So, here are the trends that are imminent for the New Year.
The Rise of Location Based Services
All mobile devices feature GPS tracking these days. This means that we will be seeing a rise in location based services or LBS. A major reason for their potential is that LBS can be implemented in a number of areas, such as, indoor mapping, retail, location specific payment portals, navigation, travel and security. This is also one of the reasons why some of the leading tech giants have made significant purchases in the LBS space. On the flipside, since the service has been known to drain a significant amount of battery power from mobile devices, it will be safe to say that we could also see an increase in batter power in mobile devices because of the popularity of LBS.
Augmented Reality
The future holds a lot of surprises in store for us and one of them is the integration of AR technology in mobile apps. While there are quite a few companies that are already using AR apps to provide a more enhanced customer experience, the New Year will see a significant rise in apps that use augmented reality. According to many analysts, this is also going to be the year where AR apps makes the transition from promotional and gimmicks towards more productive and efficient tools for the user. And with the addition of AR tech that is all set to be released later on this year, it is without a doubt that we are going to see a lot more of apps using augmented reality in future. So, in the coming months if someone sends you a text of video message with a particular catchphrase and a correlated actionable item pops up on your screen, don’t be too surprised!
IoT Shall Move Forward Unfazed
It is no secret that the IoT industry is on the rise, and doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. This means that more and more companies in the health and education field, along with other industries are going to start adopting IoT into their mobile applications. For the developers, the integration of IoT will bring about the use of more complex mobile platforms along with enterprise backed infrastructure. The use of data analytics will also come into play. When it comes to IoT, the implications are huge.
Growing Concern on Mobile Security
With the number of mobile apps expected to grow in 2017, smartphone security is going to be more crucial than ever. Security is also going to be a major concern because of the quantity of sensitive information that Smartphones hold these days, especially when it comes to mobile transactions. The New Year is going to see a rise in apps that have built in security features, which is going to be a game changer for smartphone security. We could see this in the form of an API or a simple code that’s used to access the mobile app itself. Even Apple is making the move from in its coding from Objective C to Apple’s own programming language, known as Swift. At the end of the day, its all about providing the end user smooth experience, which is key to an app’s success.
Beyond Mobile
Google Play is home to around 2.2 million mobile apps, and the Apple Store houses nearly 2 million, and these numbers are expected to grow two-fold in the coming years. In fact, according to market analysts, this year alone in going to see an increase of 268 billion mobile app downloads which is estimated to generate around $77 billion in revenue. But, what makes mobile apps special is that they aren’t just built for the mobile platform, but for a wide range of other platforms as well, such as smart homes, smart TVs, IoT enabled devices and so on. With the inclusion of these additional platforms, the app space is all set to grow and offer more opportunities to companies and end users.