Mobile applications continue to dominate business marketing efforts in all industries. Corporate giants and small businesses are equally exploiting mobile applications for branding, improving customer engagement, and driving growth and sales. Mobile applications have become a necessity for large and small businesses- a way for them to connect with their users.
According to a report by Statista, consumers will predictably download 352.9 billion mobile apps to their connected devices.
Smartphone app development trends have drastically shifted in the last five years. Due to changing buyer habits, businesses have ramped up their mobile apps to reflect buyer relevance in this digital age. Simplistic, faster, and more efficient apps have taken the front seat, while heavy mobile apps with a host of functionalities have faded into the distance.
Businesses today are striving to make their websites even more mobile-friendly, given the fact that a majority of site visitors enter through a mobile device.
However, an effective mobile app strategy takes more than a responsive website. Therefore, here are seven hot trends in mobile app development for you to stay ahead of any competition.
Cross-Platform Smartphone Applications
Businesses today want to reach every nook and corner, and every kind of buyer. This becomes possible with a cross platform smartphone app- one which can be cost-effectively deployed across multiple mobile platforms.
While cross platform apps save time and money, they are a faster way to reach a wide audience. For this benefit alone, companies would be willing to get cross-platform apps developed and deployed to improve sales.
iOS dominates as the high-end market with users who have the willingness and capacity to spend on smartphone apps. Android brings with it a humongous user base of consumers who value affordability and ease of use.
Windows is still growing as a market for business apps. But, any businesses wanting to reach out to the maximum buyers would feel compelled to take advantage of all three platforms through cross-platform development
and designing now and more so in the future.
Mobile App Development Technologies AI and ML
Smartphone applications developers are starting to have an affinity towards these emerging and already soaring technologies- artificial intelligence and machine learning. AI and ML have dug deeper into mobile app development and the trend is nowhere slowing down.
Virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa are proof that mobile app development is now incomplete without AI and ML. As years pass us by, the importance of a virtual assistant on your mobile device- one who takes care of all utility tasks- will only increase. Already, VAs have rendered us habitual of having someone perform menial tasks for us.
Would we break our habit anytime soon? Not unless it comes with a security price tag.
By this measure, AI and ML will inevitably become inseparable aspects of smartphone applications.
Wearables and IoT in Smartphone App Development
Wearables have become a major hit amongst consumers and are also used in organizations as part of the workplace culture. Wearable devices have created a space and demand for themselves in the business landscape, one that won’t fade away anytime soon.
Mobile app development trends are incomplete without considering what effect they might have on wearables of tomorrow. Industries that have dug comparatively deeper into wearable usage are healthcare, fitness, and horology.
For other industries, there is still time before they get serious about wearables. Even so, this year promises to bring us more wearable devices apps- in a bid for businesses to reach that small userbase of wearable device owners that is steadily expanding.
Chatbots in Smartphone Application Development
According to Statista,
the global chatbots market will expand to $1250 million by 2025. Chatbots are apparently solidified into the digital reality of businesses today. Customers prefer to interact with chatbots to carry out small tasks through self-service, studies have shown.
Businesses are utilizing chatbots to carry initial customer service conversations- a trend that also saves employee time and allows reps to focus on more important tasks.
Within mobile apps, chatbots create a welcoming atmosphere and break the ice for prospects to initiate discussions and begin collaboration. Thanks to the advancements in AI, it does not take a lot of effort for smartphone app developers to integrate interactive and intuitive chatbots into apps.
Enterprise Smartphone App Development
Enterprise apps are improving in both quality and quantity consistently. Organizations are striving to better their employees’ performance and productivity, engage better with their customers, collaborate with clients, etc., through cutting-edge enterprise grade applications.
For this reason and many others, enterprise apps are getting more and more feature-rich and robust with every passing year. Moreover, security arrangements for enterprise grade apps are improving, thus leading to an atmosphere of trust between business executives, employees, clients, and customers.
Since employees today are habitual of using their mobile phones to get work done, organizations are leveraging this behavior by allowing them to carry on tasks through their mobile devices, on the go.
AR and VR-enabled Smartphone Applications
Immersive experiences? Yes, please. With the wide though short-lived success of Pokemon Go, businesses got a sense of expanding on AR and VR efforts beyond gaming.
Today, interior designing businesses are using these reality-bending technologies to give their customers a view of their property post re/design. Industries are loving the way AR and VR can create experiences that become a part of reality for customers.
AR and VR are also being used in the advertising industry to make marketing material that lasts for long in any viewer’s mind. Mobile applications that allow for artificial reality experiences will undoubtedly continue to be one of the hot trends this year.
Blockchain Smartphone Applications
Mobile wallets and smart contracts based on Blockchain are on the rise. Mobile apps that allow for a secure payment gateway to exchange currency will continue dominating financial exchange.
Blockchain based smart wallets are allowing businesses to open their customers to a whole new world of ledger maintenance, payment methods, and tracking. Through state-of-the-art mobile apps based on Blockchain, institutions are allowing customers to leverage secure and encrypted payment channel.
On-demand apps, instant apps, and in-app security are some other trends that will flock the attention of smartphone app developers. These trends point us towards a faster and more efficient mobile app development ecosystem- one that will focus on solving pressing industry challenges for businesses.
Partner with a Credible Smartphone App Development Company
Mobile app development is not an inexpensive process. And so, when mobile apps fail (99.99 percent of the time- according to Gartner), they leave the top management depressed and with huge losses of time and money.
Choose your development partner wisely. At CDN Solutions Group, we make sure you don’t lose your hard-earned cash on a doomed mobile app. We comprehensive learn about your business requirements, proactively add to your plan, and strategically execute the cycle of smartphone app development
Our smartphone app developers are proficient in handling complex business or enterprise grade requirements and develop solutions leveraging leading technologies such as AR, VR, AI, ML, IoT, Blockchain, Beacon, etc.
We specialize in working with Enterprise, Retail, Consumer, and Start-ups, but have dependably delivered solutions for healthcare, insurance, and many other industries.
Looking for a team of expert smartphone application developers? Reach out to us today!