ABSTRACT:
The mobile application development sector is going through a transformative phase at a breakneck speed. From technologies and features to customer experience, mobile applications are rapidly transforming business models, customer experiences, and marketplaces. Even after the availability of millions of apps, the demand for new apps is on the higher side. From artificial intelligence and 5G to Blockchain and the Internet of Things, numerous technological penetration and trends have led to the rise of various new mobile applications. These trends not only benefit the brand but also consumers and other stakeholders. In addition, the future time will also present new opportunities for the mobile apps sector in terms of foldable devices, composable applications, Metaverse, Multiexperience, etc.
This research report by GoodFirms titled "Mobile App Development – Trends and Opportunities" aims to identify the latest mobile application trends that are significantly shaping business operations and human lives. In addition, this research also attempts to predict the future opportunities for the growth of the mobile app development sector.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Top Trends in the Mobile App Development Industry
- Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
- Internet of Things
- Beacon Technology
- Blockchain Technology
- Crypto-Wallet Apps
- The Emergence of P2P Payment
- Mobile Commerce Applications
- Instant Apps
- On-Demand Apps
- Sensor-based Apps
- AR/VR Integrated Mobile Applications
- Low-Code App Development
- Spur in the Demand for Utility Apps
Mobile App Development Opportunities
- Future of App Development is Multi-Experience
- 5G Deployment Will Revolutionize the App Development Industry
- Metaverse Will Be A Dominant Platform
- Expansion of Composable Applications
- Artificial Intelligence Will Enhance the Effectiveness of Mobile Apps
- Apps for Foldable Devices
- Super apps Boom is About to Happen Soon
- Autonomous Vehicles and Logistics
- Cross-Platform Applications Development
- Demand for Video/Music Streaming Apps will Grow
- Tracking Apps Have Huge Monetizing Opportunity
- Apps for Small businesses, Freelancers and Gig Workers, Remote workers
Introduction
Mobile applications are an integral component of human lives and prove to be an enormously disruptive force across all technological domains. These applications are providing a seamless experience to both businesses and users in delivering products and services. Mobile applications are becoming agile and shifting from traditional development models to hybrid models. The ongoing technological trends such as artificial intelligence, AR/VR integration, IoT, Beacon technology, etc. are increasingly used in mobile application development for bringing efficiency, security, and smartness.
Mobile apps that are capable of adapting to the trends, situations, and demands are achieving colossal growth and audiences. In addition, growing opportunities in Metaverse, 5G, multi-experiences, super apps, etc. will also support the mobile app development sectors in upcoming years.
This research titled: 'Mobile App Development – Trends and Opportunities' by GoodFirms identifies the top mobile application development trends in 2022. This research study also attempts to discover future advancements and opportunities in mobile application development.
Top Trends in the Mobile App Development Industry
As mobile applications play an essential role in driving revenue and brand recognition for business organizations, it becomes imperative for businesses to ensure that their application utilizes the latest technologies for a better user experience and business growth. The mobile app development industry is booming, and the demand for mobile applications is also driving new trends in the market.
GoodFirms’ research has identified the top trends governing the mobile app development industry in 2022.
#1 Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the emerging technologies used by people and businesses worldwide in application development. These mobile application technologies are among the significant vital drivers driving better performance and helping companies discover patterns, generate insights, and make decisions and predictions.
Various organizations are now taking steps to deploy new technologies and approaches for attaining structuring capabilities and complex modeling through their mobile application. AI/ML-powered mobile applications deliver engineered performance to attain better manufacturing and management productivity.(1)
AI and ML have been implemented across various domains, including mobile app development. Artificial intelligence: in mobile applications is refining the ways people used to do specific tasks. AI is also refining user choices and preferences. In addition, this technology is also leading to a significant change in the user experience. Machine learning is also leveraging machine learning to integrate personal insights into applications so that suggestions can be served to customers better.
Many AI/ML-based mobile applications are already available in the market. Some of these are as follows:
E-commerce: Artificial intelligence and machine learning-based applications are used by people in their everyday life, including work and lifestyle. These mobile applications transform E-commerce into personalized shopping, fraud prevention, and AI-powered assistants. Other e-commerce functions can also use AI and ML applications such as intelligent logistics, recommendation engines, optimal pricing, etc.(2)
Education: Mobile applications with artificial intelligence integration support various functions of educational systems and institutions in the present era. These include task automation, writing assistants for eliminating language barriers, location-based devices to locate students and faculty, innovative infrastructure, attendance, etc.(3) In addition, students are also utilizing mobile applications for various purposes such as chatbots, sentiment analysis, and image recognition to resolve their academic problems themselves.
#2 Internet of Things
IoT, or the Internet of Things, is rapidly gaining popularity due to the increasing availability of mobile and sensing devices, positively impacting IoT-based mobile applications. From smart home devices to cloud-based services, IoT-powered mobile applications are widely changing how humans interact with machines. It has become an integral part of human lives. The IoT mobile applications allow the exchange of data and information between large-scale and small-scale devices to ensure the execution of activities even when humans are working on something else.
IoT connects the different devices of the home or workspace through the internet so that humans can remotely control the activities like turning the lights on/off, voice control over devices, etc. There are various applications in the Internet of Things as follows:
Intermittent sensing applications: These use RFID technology to read the ID of a tag and send it over the internet location. The data from the internet location is fetched by scanning the ID and shown to the user through the application.(4)
Examples include review sharing applications, location sharing applications, etc.
Regular data collections: These applications periodically interact with users to gather information regarding intelligent devices and things. The information collected by the applications can be used for different purposes such as decision making, prediction of future requirements, etc. Examples include intelligent electric systems that send the data to the server for determining faults, electricity consumption, etc.
Sense compute actuate loops: These applications allow different intelligent devices to connect at the local level and over the internet to acquire information that can be treated as new knowledge. Examples include applications designed to maintain room temperature, switch the lights and fans, etc., as per the user preferences set in the application. Such applications can take action themselves instead of asking users each time.
#3 Beacon Technology
Beacon technology is also becoming one of the increasingly popular technologies in several sectors ranging from shopping and travel to healthcare. Brands can easily connect with their customers through beacon technology when close to stores. This is to promote customer satisfaction and enhance customer experience. The customers also desire to get personalized discounts and offers, which brands can fulfill now with the assistance of beacon technology and their mobile app installed on consumers' cell phones.(5)
Beacon technology is currently used in a wide range of sectors as follows:
Sports: Sports applications with beacon technology are used today for locating stalls, locating and allocating seats, upselling tickets, real-time sports information, etc. Beacon technology also plays a pivotal role in enhancing the customer experience in sports tournaments.
Hospitality: In the hospitality sector, beacon technology is used for automatic check-in, check-out, acquiring information regarding vacant rooms, security checks, etc. In addition, beacon tech is also leading to ease in navigation and registration in the hospitality industry.
Education: Education is also experiencing several transformations due to the implementation of beacon technology in mobile applications. Attendance monitoring, detection systems for heating, ventilation, and ac, dissemination of teaching material and information, etc., are some of the changes brought by beacon technology applications.(6)
Beacon technology is one of the game-changer developments in the post-pandemic world.
#4 Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology is an innovative application model in the present internet era regarding point-to-point transmission, distributed storage, encryption algorithm, and consensus mechanism. The commonly known example of Blockchain technology is Bitcoin, also known as the world's first cryptocurrency.(7)
A vast number of people are now involved with the applications of blockchain technology as follows:
Financial Applications: With the success of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the demand for financial applications for payments, financial settlements, stock trading, etc., is also increasing.
Insurance-related applications: Blockchain technology is used by several business corporations in their mobile applications for supporting the insurance industry for securely making transactions between policyholders, clients, and insurance companies. Blockchain-powered mobile applications can perform several insurance activities such as buying and registering insurance policies, negotiating, submitting and processing claims, supporting reinsurance activities of companies, etc. Blockchain can offer long-term strategic benefits like automation, reduced costs, secure transactions, and enhance the insurance value chain.(8)
Advertising and Media Applications: Online advertising is a crucial part of any marketing strategy. Issues associated with interactivity, measurability, and cost-effectiveness negatively impact the determined marketing output, Despite its numerous benefits. Blockchain presents the opportunity to enhance transparency in advertising and media, reducing spam and increasing trust. This transparency can be brought about by forming a blockchain consortium network between intermediaries, advertisers, and publishers.(9) Businesses can introduce new platforms and methods to coordinate with technological research and development properly.
#5 Crypto-Wallet Apps
With the rise of blockchain, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, tether, Binance, etc., are also rising. People who desire to invest in these currencies need a digital wallet to store them. This is a leading driver behind the ongoing trend of crypto wallet applications.(10) Crypto wallet applications are trending due to functionalities like sending and receiving cryptocurrency, crypto trading, exchanging cryptocurrencies, maintaining a trading portfolio, etc.
Crypto wallet applications are divided into several categories: multi-signature, online, mobile, desktop, etc. Some of these categories are discussed below:
Multisignature Wallets: These crypto wallet applications require multiple private keys from the users to access the funds. This is for security reasons and to prevent any theft or hacking.
Online Wallets: Online wallet applications help open the wallet on the web instead of the application. The size of such applications is comparatively tiny as they acquire the data from cloud servers through a web browser. Such applications are useful in storing a tiny amount of funds.(11)
Mobile Wallets: These are regular mobile applications that need an internet connection to access the funds and wallets easily. Some of these applications also use the QR code to ensure proper transactions.
#6 The Emergence of P2P Payment
Payments through mobile devices are becoming common in the present era due to the rise of different e-commerce, social, and payment platforms. The recent pandemic also boosted the growth of payment and mobile commerce applications. Payment-based mobile applications have become an increasingly essential part of human lives for reducing the hassle of making payments.
Paypal was the first mobile application to introduce P2P payments and is still used by both people and businesses worldwide even today. A new generation of P2P payments is taking place in the present time for smoother and rapid financial transactions.(12) This new generation of P2P payments applications comes with accurate time payments, built-in wallets, chat features, and debit and credit cards. At present, P2P payments applications are acting as mini banks.
Efficiency and effectiveness are the major factors for an enhanced user experience in making payments digitally through mobile devices.
#7 Mobile Commerce Applications
Internet developments lead to the rise of multiple e-commerce applications or platforms in terms of personalization, flexibility, and dissemination. These applications ultimately resulted in mobile commerce to conduct the fund transfer and payments through mobile terminals. Mobile commerce applications provide greater productivity, market potential, and high profitability, due to which demand for such applications is trending.(13)
M-commerce is a rapidly growing e-commerce segment that is an approx. Seven hundred billion dollar industry globally.(14) Mobile commerce applications are serving the consumer's needs in the following ways:
- Mobile Banking
- Mobile Booking and Ticketing
- E-bills
- Auctions
- Stock market reports
#8 Instant Apps
Instant apps are also among the top mobile app development trends. These allow people to use instant app versions online without any installation. Some application developers have already started this function on platforms including their business websites, Google play store, and Apple app store.(15)
Instant apps are created by slicing the native apps to execute several functions. The functionalities in these apps are limited, but the browsing and user experience are seamless.(16) Instant apps are multiplying as they can be used with low hardware specs and consume low mobile data.
Some examples of Instant apps along with features are as follows:
Skyscanner: Skyscanner provides access to cheap rockets, flights, hotels, car rentals, etc., on their instant app.
RedBull TV: Information about Sports and other activities is available on the Redbull TV instant app. In contrast, a complete application provides various functions ranging from live scores to highlights.
Buzzfeed: This application provides almost all of its functionalities on the instant app version, including full access to news and app features.
NYTimes: Crossword feature is provided by NYTimes in their instant app available on the play store and AppStore.
#9 On-Demand Apps
Rising customer expectations and technological advancements push businesses and developers to provide on-demand products and services to their customers. In addition, demand for instantly available, scalable, and responsiveness leads to the growth of on-demand mobile applications.(17) On-demand mobile applications are helpful in the following areas:
- Roadside assistance applications provide roadside assistance to people.
- Home essentials for managing water supply, electricity consumption, and other daily needs.
- On-demand entertainment, including videos, games, movies, etc., through the internet.
- Emergency services, including connectivity to ambulance, police, fire brigade, etc.
#10 Sensor-based Apps
Big data is a significant component of present time technologies due to which mobile devices are becoming a turning point for data collection through mobile sensors. With the assistance of IoT, sensor-based mobile applications carry a considerable growth potential. A small example of successful sensor-based apps is the street bump application. This application allows highway authorities of Boston to determine the locations of potholes on the road through sensors installed in cars and mobile phones of users.(18)
Sensor-based applications are also trending in the healthcare sector. These applications perform several functions such as data transfer, the distillation of data, and data reporting for utilizing it promptly. The wearable device sensors or mobile sensors provide this data to the application that can track potential health issues and early intervention.(19)
Sensor-based applications are trending in the travel and hospitality industries too. These applications keep track of the traveling and staying behavior of users.(20) This information is then used to suggest new destinations while they travel to popular destinations.
#11 AR/VR Integrated Mobile Applications
The popularity of augmented and virtual reality-based mobile applications is increasing with time. The introduction of continuous innovative applications like Google maps and Pokemon Go are behind this immense popularity.(21) Cheaper devices and the video game industry also support the growth of augmented reality and virtual reality applications.
Both augmented and virtual reality-based mobile applications are used across several fields ranging from tourism to healthcare. AR and VR-based applications are making the tour experience of travelers more smooth and interactive. In addition, AR and VR based applications are also used by hospitality and tourism sectors in scanning the food menu, displaying 3d models of the destinations, etc.(22) Various other functions are yet to be explored through AR and VR powered applications, such as analyzing 3D view of hotels and amenities provided by the hotel, using AR cameras to scan the map of a specific area, etc.
Augmented and virtual reality-based mobile applications are trending in the following domains:
- The virtual gaming industry is estimated to be worth $2.4 billion by 2024.(23) This immense growth will be driven by games like Pokemon Go, Walking Dead, etc., which allow players to play virtually in the real world.
- E-commerce and retail mobile applications also utilize AR and VR to enhance business efficiency and customer experience. Companies like Lowe’s vision enable customers to find products in their nearest stores through depth sensing and indoor maps.(24) Through their Augmented reality-based application, they do in-store shopping for consumers time and hassle saving.
- AR and VR applications are also trending in the Interior and fashion designing industry. Companies like Ikea furniture are helping consumers to put 3D models of Ikea furniture in their homes or workplace to choose a suitable one.(25) In addition, people can also choose the colors and size of their furniture. Similarly, AR and VR are also used by fashion designers to measure the perfection and quality of their designs.
#12 Low-Code App Development
Many businesses and developers are trying to build efficient and cheap applications to reduce the costs and time of app development. Low code application development platforms address this concern of producing low-cost and efficient apps.(26)
Low code app development is known for supporting rapid application development, execution, management, one-step deployment, etc. In addition, these application platforms also provide and support business processes, user interfaces, and data services. Low code applications provide ease to developers in building and testing their applications without relying much on experience.(27) Low code applications are being used as an innovation catalyst to boost the performance and productivity of developers and users.
Low code app development platforms use both codes and the drag and drop feature. In this competitive era, businesses struggle to respond to the dynamic market needs. Low code application development platforms can facilitate such companies in developing mobile applications that promote digital transformation. Businesses and developers can develop more new no-code application platforms supporting new functionalities and technologies for addressing this issue.(28)
#13 Spur in the Demand for Utility Apps
The demand of users to smoothly perform several tasks of devices is leading to a rise in utility applications. Utility applications are mobile apps developed to configure, analyze and optimize a mobile device. These applications are widely used for performing the following functions on the mobile devices:
- Business tasks include work management, customer billing, and service, financial management, asset control, etc. for improving productivity.(29)
- Disk cleanup, management, and defragmentation functions for managing the space and files on a device.
- Compression and file management tools, including format converters for accessible content and space management.
- Antivirus and security-based functions for enhancing security.
Apart from handling the operations of mobile devices, utilities applications are also being used or expected to launch in other basic amenities like sewage services maintenance, water distribution, electricity grid management and distributions, and natural gas. Utility sectors were only worth over $1 trillion in 2021 in the US economy.(30)
Mobile App Development Opportunities
#Future of App Development is Multi-Experience
Multi experience is all about leveraging several modalities in mobile applications such as touch, voice, gestures, digital touchpoints, etc., for a seamless experience. With the enhanced focus on customer experience, better services, financial benefits, and personalized products, multi-experience applications will grow in the coming future. The multi-experience development platforms are also expected to rise for the development of multi-experience applications.(31)
Some benefits of using multi-experience development platforms are as follows:
- Low-code
- Code centric tooling
- Easy integration of analytics
- Greater operational efficiencies
- Lower security risks
With the increase in the frequency of user touchpoints and expansions in device types, multi-experience is the future of mobile app development.(32) Cloud-hosted artificial intelligence, Native iOS/Android development, mobile back-end services, etc., are the leading technologies to assist in developing multi-experience apps.
#5G Deployment Will Revolutionize the App Development Industry
Despite the economic constraints and global pandemic, 5G infrastructure and network have been continuously deployed across the globe. In the upcoming years, 5G deployment will gain a rapid pace to revolutionize the ways human societies and businesses tend to function. Low latency and high-speed data transfer will open up new opportunities for the mobile application market.(33)
5G deployment will massively transform the functioning and communication across societies. Mobile applications associated with smart home devices to virtual reality tours will become common due to the growing 5G network and infrastructure. 5G will also boost the implementation of intelligent cities giving rise to new problems that will be addressed through 5G-powered applications. 5G-powered applications will offer tremendous opportunity by utilizing the three main concepts of 5G, which are Enhanced mobile Broadband, Ultra-reliable low latency communication, and Massive machine type communication.(34) These are as follows:
- Enhanced mobile broadband: Enhanced mobile broadband will benefit businesses and consumers in acquiring high-speed mobile networks with enhanced capacities. B2C sectors like entertainment, media, etc., can expect huge benefits.
- Ultra-reliable low latency communication: Low latency communication allows devices to interact faster within a brief period. This will benefit various mission-critical applications such as industrial automation, remote surgical operation, autonomous driving, etc.
- Massive machine-type communication: This allows different machines to connect appropriately in industries like utilities, manufacturing, logistics, etc.
#Expansion of Composable Applications
Composability is one of the significant concerns in mobile app development. Composable applications address this concern and are one of the emerging trends in the mobile app development industry. The composable applications market can rise up to $14.35 billion by 2028, which is a positive growth indicator.(37) This vast growth can be seen in healthcare, IT, manufacturing, BFSI, etc.
Composable applications come with the flexibility to reuse and redeploy. This composable feature will lead to new investments for the growth of the mobile application development sector.(38) This growth will be driven by two significant factors: efficiency and a surge in the number of businesses. These two factors are as follows:
Efficiency and simplicity: Composable applications allow businesses to use a single model or infrastructure across different functions. This offers a less complex environment to the company, leading to reduced costs. In addition, composable applications will also be proved beneficial in continuously and constantly delivering the IT applications and services efficiently.(39)
Increase in the number of businesses: When improvements in traditional applications are made to satisfy the increasing needs of companies, the newly built applications demand stability and responsiveness. This stability and responsiveness can be acquired by using the assistance of composable applications. The template-driven approach of composable applications helps address the issues of stability, responsiveness, and delay in deployment.
#Artificial Intelligence Will Enhance the Effectiveness of Mobile Apps
Artificial intelligence has acquired immense popularity and growth in recent years, allowing devices to act more intelligently. Popular AI techniques, natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, etc., will enhance the intelligence and effectiveness of mobile applications.(40) Artificial intelligence and mobile application development have a massive scope of growth in personalized user experience, virtual assistants, mobile healthcare systems, mobile recommendations, etc.
Mobile apps powered by artificial intelligence will gain rapid growth in the upcoming years in the following areas:
Financial services: Applications ranging from fraud prevention to investment insights will support the financial sector and the people involved in investments.
Governance: This sector includes the development of AI-based applications for supporting law enforcement, utilities, and anti-terrorism authorities. The rise of these applications will provide better flexibility and ease to the government in handling the different economic and legal aspects.
Retail: Retail industry can also grow with the assistance of AI-powered mobile applications soon. This growth will be evident in applications associated with analyzing the purchasing trends, inventory and pricing optimization, tracking the ongoing marketing campaigns, extracting information from customer insights, etc.(41)
Commercial real estate: Commercial real estate can also utilize the AI-powered application in tracking the market conditions, predicting the selling price and quantity of properties, analyzing the value of town or property, determining the purchasing patterns, etc.
Transportation: Mobile applications harnessing the power of 5G and AI have considerable opportunities in self-driving vehicles, logistics delivery, traffic management, fleet management, etc.
#Apps for Foldable Devices
Foldable devices come with different displays or displays that stay active in various types of foldable states. Foldable devices provide larger screens that positively impact usability in terms of immersive user experience and multitasking. Applications in foldable devices will move from one screen, ratio, or density to another with the folding and unfolding. In 2020, the global foldable smartphone shipment was around 8 million units and will reach 100 million units by 2025.(42) This massive increase in the sale of foldable devices will be the major driving factor for the mobile applications market.
The primary considerations in building applications for foldable devices are as follows:
App continuity: When an application transitions from one screen to another during the folding/unfolding of the device, then the application must resume from the same point and ensuing continuity.
Responsiveness: Folding/Unfolding a device will impact the density, size, and ratio of the screen, due to which a responsive user interface is essential to ensure smooth operations and user experience. Responsiveness also provides the resizability of applications when the user desires to multitask and customize the app arrangements.
Foldable postures: The possible foldable poses for foldable applications are FLAT and HALF_OPENED. The user experience of the foldable device's applications must fit with these two postures to ensure satisfactory results.(43)
#Superapps Boom is About to Happen Soon
Super applications are the ones in which users can execute multiple tasks, such as payment management, ID management, etc., in a single application. In addition, these tasks of super applications can also be modified as per the user requirements. Super apps are one of the fastest-growing sectors with intense competition and opportunities.(44) Several prominent organizations are already working on super apps in e-commerce, banking, food delivery, telecom operators, etc.
Super apps use several features such as social, e-commerce, and payments within a single app. These apps generally move from profitable core offerings to additional functionalities for enhancing customer loyalty and retention. Users on super apps tend to spend more time online than traditional applications, which is a significant advantage.(45) Cost-effective stability and a core user base are the primary requirements for super apps. Key drivers behind the rise of super apps growth are as follows:
- Core functionalities with massive engagement
- Capable of unlocking cost synergies
- Partnership opportunities for adjacent features
- Access to rich user data
#Autonomous Vehicles and Logistics
The 5G boom will take place soon, and so will the implementation of Smart cities, Self-driving cars, etc. The self-driving vehicles will be capable of safely moving, parking, etc., without any human requirements. The majority of the things in self-driving cars will stay connected through sensors and other technological devices. Mobile applications associated with these self-driving or autonomous vehicles will allow users to operate their vehicles remotely.
Autonomous vehicles will disrupt the transportation industry, and this impact will be seen in other sectors, too, such as logistics. Mobile applications to assist the bagging handling systems at airports, delivery through drones, optimization of pallet loading, moving of goods, etc., can transform the way logistics operations are handled across different institutions. In addition, some organizations are also testing heavy autonomous trucks to address the challenges of transporting over long routes.(46) associated with autonomous vehicles for logistics may surge in the future.
#Cross-Platform Applications Development
Cross-platform applications are one of the emerging mobile app development trends that is a viable solution for the problems of IT management and application development. Running a single application across all platforms such as IOS, Windows, Android, etc., can drastically reduce the costs and maintenance efforts.
Often termed hybrid applications, these valuable features of two application platforms are web and native apps.(47) Through cross-platform applications, developers can use a single code base for running the applications on different platforms.
A cross-platform application framework should fulfill the following requirements to succeed:
- Multiple mobile platform support for Android and iOS is a must.
- A rich user interface including sophisticated graphics, multimedia, animations, etc.
- Smooth support for data formats and backend communication protocols keeps users connected digitally every time.
- Security must be a priority, and extensive research is required to ensure security on each supported platform.(48)
- App extension support is also vital for enhancing billing and in-app purchase capabilities.
- Users should have access to the built-in features of the devices, such as cameras, geo-localization, sensors, etc.
Cross-platform application development platforms
Flutter is an open-source UI toolkit by Google introduced for cross-platform application development. It uses a single code base through DART. In flutter, emphasis is placed on cross-platform app functionality, which developers widely use.(49) Flutter-based applications include Google Ads, KlasterMe, eBay, GooglePay, Hamilton, etc. Flutter apps are known for their extensive functionalities and user experience.
React Native is another popular cross-platform application development tool built by Facebook. Many participants contribute to its growth, such as Facebook, individual developers, tech giants, etc.(50) It is currently used in popular applications like Shopify, Coinbase, Instagram, Facebook, etc. due to the following benefits:
- Use of modern web techniques on mobile.
- No compromise on performance and features.
- The native interface allows enhanced rendering of views and accessing device hardware.
- Enable quicker implementation and development.
- Third-party extensions compatibilities.
Xamarin is another cross-platform app development tool acquired by Microsoft. It is reliable and fast in transferring the script across different systems due to the deployment of the C# language. Apps developed through the Xamarin framework deliver flawless performance and native functionality in efficiency and quality.
#Demand for Video/Music Streaming Apps will Grow
Music and video streaming applications have seen massive growth during the pandemic. This growth is continuous even after the pandemic. Platforms like Disney+ gained a lot of streaming applications market during the pandemic alone.(51) After stellar growth, the streaming market is expected to experience a boom due to a rise in the demand for entertainment platforms. The video and music streaming applications come with several functions such as on-demand entertainment, subscription-based streaming, etc. Apart from these functions, some other growth drivers of video and music streaming are convenience, cost, etc.(52)
Content for Millennials can enhance streaming services in the upcoming time. Content associated with social and emotional values can drive more growth for streaming applications.(53) New platforms and functionalities and more engaging content and genres can open up new possibilities for businesses and developers.
#Tracking Apps Have Huge Monetizing Opportunity
Developers and businesses already use Beacon technology in mobile applications to interact with customers close to stores. Advanced versions of beacon tech-powered mobile applications are tracking apps. Tracking apps help monitor different things, such as real-time locations, time tracking, etc., due to which a considerable number of people use such applications.
Due to this, tracking apps offer enormous opportunities for developers and businesses in terms of monetization. Developers can also develop applications for collecting Insights and information about user behavior for rapid growth.
#Apps for Small businesses, Freelancers and Gig Workers, Remote workers
Covid-19 Pandemic resulted in a loss of income opportunities for a massive population, including small businesses, labor, corporate employees, etc. Whereas some sectors also saw unprecedented growth. Demand for jobs started to decline, and demand for the gig economy increased significantly.(54) Gig/remote working, freelancing, etc., allows people to work on several projects simultaneously and flexibly. This is putting pressure on existing platforms, due to which there is a dire need for new platforms to support the people of the Gig economy.(55)
Key Findings
- Mobile applications are leading to significant transformation in the functioning of businesses and societies.
- Staying updated with the current mobile app development trends is necessary for any business to ensure consumer satisfaction.
- Artificial Intelligence and machine learning-based mobile applications effectively make better predictions and decisions regarding business and consumers.
- The use of Internet of Things applications is also on the rise due to an increase in smart devices.
- Beacon technology is one of the most popular trends for providing customized offers and discounts to consumers when close to stores.
- Blockchain is a leading technology for developing mobile applications associated with financial services, insurance-related services, advertising, media, etc.
- Multi Experience applications are the future of mobile applications for ensuring a smooth experience for users without any limitations associated with devices.
- 5G deployment is rapidly being deployed, offering vast opportunities to mobile applications ranging from smart cities to autonomous vehicles.
- Metaverse is an emerging virtual platform that will also assist the growth of mobile applications in the future in various domains.
- Present mobile applications are complex and lack composability. Composable applications will adequately address this issue in the upcoming time.
- Sectors like finance, governance, retail, real estate, etc., can expect significant transformations due to artificial intelligence advancements in the upcoming time.
- Insurance applications have also been widely implemented in various business areas, including sales, claims processing, customer onboarding, asset transfers, etc.
- Super apps with multiple features will also rule the mobile application development sector in the future years.
- Users of foldable devices are increasing because demand for apps that can fit multiple screens, ratios, and densities will enhance the customer experience in such devices.
- Tracking apps have a huge monetizing opportunity.
- Video and audio streaming apps will be in demand in near future.
- There is a huge demand for apps such as Utility apps, Crypto wallets, Sensor-based apps, P2P payment apps, and Mobile commerce
- Crypto wallet applications are also trending with the trends in blockchain technology.
- The emergence of P2P payment applications is boosting the growth of the mobile commerce industry.
- Instant and on-demand applications are allowing seamless user experience for businesses..
- The use of sensor-based applications will increase in the Hospitality and Healthcare sector
- Low code applications are also trending as they support a wide range of functions in various sectors.
Conclusion
The Mobile app development sector has been rapidly growing at a high pace in recent years and continues to grow. This rapid growth is estimated based on the latest application development trends such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, beacon technology, etc. By following these trends, businesses can gain more customers and support their business functions. Staying updated with these trends also assists in enhancing the customer experience as well as brand recognition.
The mobile application development sector is evolving, and various new technologies will emerge due to the combination of existing technologies. There are vast opportunities for growth for businesses in fields like Metaverse, foldable devices, super apps, multi-experience, etc. Catching up with the latest trends and options in mobile app development will empower companies to satisfy the rising needs of their customers.
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