From shopping to hiring a taxi, mobile apps are progressively becoming a significant part of our everyday lives. According to a BI Intelligence credit record, purchases made through mobile devices enhanced 48 percent year-over-year to around $8 billion in the 2nd quarter of 2014. Another comScore file suggests that over 60 percent of web traffic for the 9 greatest US retail websites originated from mobile phones in July 2014 and many of them originated from mobile apps.
At present, mobile devices account for 22 percent of all retail eCommerce sales in the U.S., which is expected to reach 27 percent by 2018. In reality, nearly one-third of eCommerce sales originate from mobile phones and majority of them are in-app sales.
Mobile apps are therefore on rise and this isn’t only restricted to retail landscape. From video gaming and entertainment to enterprise apps, it is practically difficult to live today without them, making these apps the fastest growing category in modern mobility market.
Think about the following stats:
According to a Flurry Analytics research, the typical US mobile consumers invest 86 percent of their “smartphone-time” on apps. The research discovered that smartphone users spend around 2 hours and 42 minutes on average on mobile phones, from which app usage commands 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Since May 2014, mobile phones account for virtually 60 percent of the total digital media time spent and 51 percent of that time was represented by app usage.
Another Nielsen report suggests that smartphone users invest around 89 percent of their media time in mobile apps, and the continuing to be 11 percent on mobile web.
Provided these stats, it is evident that mobile apps are all set to make ubiquitous presence in the coming days. It goes without stating that you should use them to your benefit, if you have not already. And this needs you not only to stay upgraded about the most current trends in the mobile app development landscape, however also capture the future patterns well in advance to survive the marketplace competition.
Here are 4 predictions about mobile app development in 2016.
App Security Comes At The Fore
A Gartner credit report forecasted that over 75 percent of mobile apps (representing 3 out of every 4 applications) will fail fundamental security measures through 2015. This issue kept the app developers on their toes all through this year and likely to stay their prime focus in 2016 as well. Let’s take Apple for instance. The iOS 9 platform is currently known for its high-end security functions and developers need to make sure that their apps can run firmly, without jeopardizing the stability of the iOS platform.
The security steps for Android app development is also most likely to obtain even more austere as Google too is beefing up their security procedures for Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There is no way you can neglect security spaces in your mobile applications if you wish to see them in the app shops.
In reality, these stringent security protocols are fairly reasonable, considered that apps today are progressively saving individual and extremely delicate information including bank details and SSN of the user. Any type of security spaces can result in hacking and information leakages, which has actually currently been a significant headache for app developers this year. You will for that reason require to seriously act upon mobile app security in 2016.
App would be Cloud Driven
Cloud technology played a major function in mobile app development throughout 2015 and this is most likely to continue in the coming years also. The factors behind the upswing of cloud-based applications is basically two-fold.
First, developers can keep the real size of their mobile apps small, thanks to cloud-support. This additional allows them to handle the bandwidth and prospective memory issues much better. Secondly, users can sync their apps throughout numerous devices since of cloud compatibility. This is in reality a requirement, considering the growing usage of several smart devices and wearable tech.
With cloud compatibility, developers can now build apps that provide same features, functions and data throughout several devices. As you can see, cross-functionality between platforms like iOS and OS X is already on increase and Android and PCs are also following the match.
Enterprise App will Receive More Traction
There has actually been a remarkable increase in variety of mobile apps offered on the app shops. As of July 2015, Google Play Store has more than 1.6 million apps, while Apple’s App Store has 1.5 million offered apps.
Amongst all these apps, enterprise apps gets the maximum traction, rising over consumer apps. Virtually 20 percent of worldwide developers are targeting business, owing to their financial advantages. Furthermore, researches also suggest that 43 percent of enterprise app developers are making over $10K in a month, whereas just 19 percent of consumer app developers make a comparable amount. This alone describes developers’ ‘love’ for enterprise apps.
This trend is likely to continue in the coming days also. It is estimated that almost 35 percent of all large business will have their own mobile app development platforms by 2016. Gartner even forecasted that by the end of 2017, the market demand for enterprise mobile app will outrun the IT organizations’ capability to provide them by 5 to one.
The Internet of Things takes Center Stage
Internet of Things is already a big thing, thanks to the buzz produced by Google Glass, iWatch and other wearable techs. And now, it is all set to take app development to the next phase. According to Cisco, “IoE Creates $19 Trillion of Value at Stake for Companies and Industries.” TechNavio too forecasts that IOT market is anticipated to grow 31.72 percent (CAGR) in between 2014 and 2019.
Gartner, on the other hand, estimates that the earnings generation for IoT product and service suppliers will exceed $300 billion in 2020. And if you are to believe World Economic Forum, over 5 billion individuals will be linked to each other, across 50 billion things.
So do not let Internet of Things take a back seat in your app development strategy simply because Google Glass cannot live up to the expectation. The reality is, wearable smart devices will continue to be unabated. Take motivation from the burgeoning success of iWatch. Apple has actually put significant challenges for WatchKit developers with their launch of watchOS 2 this year.
To remain in then competition, you will not only need to make app extensions for watch but also create applications that logically fit the functionality of such wearable devices. The app-count for Apple Watch has currently crossed 10000 and it is anticipated to grow a minimum of three-fold by the end of 2016.
Summary
Some of these mobile app development have actually already gained energy while others are making a constant development. But there is no doubt that they are going to make considerable marks in mobile app development landscape in 2016 and beyond. If you are yet to attempt your hands on these patterns, it’s due time to brace yourself to create the utmost mobile experiences for your users. And obviously, be prepped and thrilled for all the advancements 2016 is most likely to bring in addition to it.