For so many years now mobile apps have been influencing our lives and changing it for good. Their usefulness and the increasing popularity have attracted a number of entrepreneurs and app developers towards it. As per the report of Statista, mobile apps are predicted to generate revenue of $189 billion by 2020.
Today mobile app development industry is one of the fastest growing industries out there, and its future is very bright. This area is experiencing new technological advancements and having innovations every now and then. Some of them you can expect in 2019 and further are the release of Android Q and introduction of 5G networks across the globe.
The latest software version from Google – Android Q is on its way. The Beta version is already out, and it is going through bug fixes before it actually gets rolled out for the smartphone users. Today the internet is everything, and the speedy connection is what people want. The introduction of the 5G network has already taken place in many countries and is underway in some others. Soon the smartphone users will have more reliable on faster internet connections through 5G networks. This means that in 2019, and further, there will be more opportunities coming up in this area. This will be beneficial for both businesses and entrepreneurs.
Further Nowadays smartphones are the favorite place for hackers. As per the report of RSA, 71 percent of the illegal transactions take place through app accounts and mobile browsers. Hence In 2019, mobile app security will be definitely given priority as more number of people is using smartphones for financial transactions. This means app developers will work towards protecting apps from illegal activities like phishing, hacking and others.
Some of the Top Trends which you will witness in 2019 in terms of Mobile App Development are:
IoT Integrated Solutions to get better:
Internet of Things or IoT is not a new technology today, and definitely, it has created enough buzz around. IoT is all about having smart devices and sensors which can be controlled using mobile apps. Here the devices or sensors will be interconnected in such a manner that it will send and receive data over the network which can then be managed using the mobile app.
In 2019 everything will take up a step further. Internet of Things has influenced a number of industry verticals which includes transportation, eCommerce, healthcare, etc. and now it is trying to make the rest of the ecosystem better by getting deep into other sectors like real estate, the retail industry as well as the development of smarter ecosystems. The issues related to vehicle parking and traffic snarls can be easily resolved by using the expertise of IoT.
By making use of IoT in the educational sector, it will become possible to keep the teachers, students, and parents connected with each other by using a virtual device which will help to know what is happening in the class and the school or college. This will help the parents to understand how their kids are doing in the class.
Another area which has benefited using the Internet of Things is the healthcare sector. In recent years, we saw the upcoming of ‘Medical Internet of Things’ which has helped patients and doctors equally. Based on it, doctors can collect data more accurately, and it can be used to understand the condition of the patients better and prescribe medicines accordingly.
In the year 2019, we will see the Internet of Things collaborating with more business entities and coming up with solutions that automate the processes.
Beacon Technology:
This is no more a new term when we are talking about mobile app development, and we are sure that many of you are already familiar with it. The main agenda behind talking about it here is that in the year 2019, we will see more of enhancements in this area.
The technology will do more than just attracting the customers when they are near a store and sending notifications. It will be used as mobile payment beacons, at airports and even come up as customized solutions. This will help the users to get access to the information in a better manner.
In the retail industry, beacons will be used to deliver in-store coupons to the customers on their phones. It also helps in collecting data to run personalized ad campaigns and loyalty programs. You can use beacons at the sports and music venues in order to pass on information to the people and even lead them to complementary content. Events can also increase sales at events using beacons.
The use of beacons to deliver contents is also put into practice now. Some brands are now up to delivering free digital magazines using beacons. Beacons can be used to alert the travelers about any changes, delays or about weather conditions at train stations, airport, and urban transit hubs. The use of beacons may be used at homes too. It can be used to send alert to the homeowner as a reminder to switch off the light, etc.
Enterprise Mobile Management (EMM):
Business apps are expected to perform at its best, and this is where EMM is used. Some of the top EMM vendors out there are VMware AirWatch, MobileIron, Citrix XenMobile, BlackBerry and IBM MaaS 360.
One of the main challenges faced by organizations is to maintain secure access to data and networks by the increased use of the BYOD phenomenon. Approaches like Mobile device management (MDM) and Mobile Application management (MAD) were the initial responses to the issues. Enterprise mobility management (EMM) combines these two responses together to offer app management, data protection, better visibility and control, and threat management.
This means EMM will focus on to offer insight to the apps in terms of which data is accessed so as to maintain corporate compliance and limit any potential risks. For the same reason, EMM will prove to be an important trend in terms of mobile app development in 2019.
For entrepreneurs, this service will help with the management of finances and improved app security in 2019.
Application Performance Management (APM):
Performance of mobile applications keeps on changing across different platforms. So Google keeps on improving its quality in order to let the users have the best services. This is the reason users do not experience issues when accessing the apps. In 2019, there will be a focus on improving app usage experience through APM.
Today Application Performance Monitoring has come a step further just than performance checks and uptime and now this includes checking the performance at the code level of the application. By correlating the external and internal performance data, APM tools can be used to understand where and why things went wrong. Such a step helps with a number of things like reduced overhead, modern dev environments, reduced Mean Time to Repair and inter-departmental synchronization.
Some of the APM tools to be used for this purpose in 2019 are:
- New Relic
- AppDynamics
- Dynatrace
- Ruxit
- Oracle Enterprise Manager
- BMC Software APM
- Datadog
- Radware
- Catchpoint
- Solarwinds Application Performance Monitor
- CA Application Performance Management
- JenniferSoft
- ManageEngine Applications Manager
- SmartBear
- Dell Foglight
- Stackify Retrace
Mobile Wallets:
A number of people has now started to use mobile wallets, and so its demand is on the rise now. Again, with more focus on security features by the developers, the use of such mobile wallets will go up high in this year.
Customers want to enjoy easy payment methods for their online transactions, and this is something that they wish the mobile apps will do for them. So for all mobile apps mobile wallets that come with highly encrypted and secured payment methods will become the norm in 2019.
Enhancements in Blockchain technology:
We all know about how Blockchain technology has revolutionized the world of transactions through cryptocurrencies. By making use of this innovative decentralized currency, the financial sector is gaining more benefits. The best thing about such transactions is that they take place without the involvement of any third-party in a secured environment.
Apart from proving its worth in the banking and finance sector, Blockchain technology has been instrumental in disrupting the insurance and healthcare industry too.
In 2019 and coming years a good number of blockchain based mobile apps will come into existence. We will have apps for exchanging cryptocurrencies, stock market apps, electronic wallet apps based on blockchain for allowing money transactions and storing digital assets, retail apps which help customers to make transactions using bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies, digital asset tracker apps to maintain various cryptocurrency portfolios, etc.
In 2019 and further, we will witness a number of apps build across different industry sectors. The implementation of apps based on Blockchain will gain popularity to the level that the current apps in the Google Play store and Apple App Store may even take a back seat.
Growth of Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning:
Any person who has some information about the latest technologies definitely knows about artificial intelligence and machine learning. Artificial intelligence has been instrumental in influencing bidding process and in simplifying the services. When this technology works with machine learning, it can help the business to gain real-time analytics and collect valuable data.
Artificial intelligence is said to grow in the coming years, and as per the numbers set by the International Data Corporation it is expected to reach $40 billion by the end of 2020.
The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is increasing in the mobile app development area. Such a step is said to revamp the world of mobile app development. Some of the benefits of such developed apps are:
- Trend Forecasting
- Fast authentication/security
- Predicting user behavior
- Advanced searching
- Personalization
Even though artificial intelligence proved to be quite popular and successful, machine learning still needs work in order to join AI at its level.
The increased presence of On-demand Apps:
If we look at the mobile app development scenario of the last few years, you will notice the increasing dominance of on-demand apps in the mobile app market. Now this will not come as a surprise if you know that 22.4 million users spend $57.6 billion annually on On-demand services. Today on-demand apps are present across different sectors and industries. In the context of mobile app trends in 2019, it will not come as a surprise if we find an increased number of on-demand apps in the market. As per the PwC report, there will be a significant increase in the value of on-Demand mobile apps and websites and its value is supposed to reach $335 billion by 2025.
This clearly means that there will be more than a single app in the same app category and this will increase serious competition among them.
The year 2019 is quite good in terms of on-demand apps and it is said to bring in change in terms of:
- There will be more focus on personalization
- The consumer market will grow
- The food service market based on on-demand business will enter newer markets
- Home services will witness increased investment
Influence of wearable apps:
Today more innovative ideas are getting executed with the inclusion of trendy technologies in the app development space. The use of wearable apps can be considered as the outcome of the same.
As per the Business Intelligence report of 2014, the market of wearables is expected to increase by 35% by 2019. As per this report, the number of smartwatches shipped in 2014 was 33 million units, and it is expected to reach 148 million units in this year.
Wearable apps have been playing a crucial role in helping people measure some of the basic parameters that concern their health. So whether you like walking or you are into cycling, or you are someone who spends hours in the gym, wearable apps will play a key role to send data and receive important insights about health. Such an app will smartly monitor parameters like sleeping hours, heartbeat, amount of cholesterol, blood sugar level, etc.
The importance of chatbots will increase:
When it comes to on-demand apps, chatbots have turned out to be an integral part of them. On-demand apps are more about offering customer services directly, and these chatbots help to respond to the customers quickly in real-time. Chatbots are computer programs which work as virtual assistants, and there are no human interactions involved.
As per Statista, the chatbot market will grow in the coming years, and by 2025 it will reach 1250 million. Today the technologies like AR and VR are getting together with chatbots to offer unmatched services to businesses in order to provide them with better competition in the market. Chatbots have been instrumental in revolutionizing the customer service industry and is playing a significant role in boosting customer relationship management.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality:
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are together called “Beyond the Screen,” and these two technologies together have been able to influence the audience at a great level. Today the use of augmented reality and virtual reality is high in creating advanced gaming apps, and apart from that now they have started to work in the social media sector too.
When we talk about the use of augmented reality in the gaming sector how can anyone forget the example of Pokémon Go! The use of this technology is now moving towards the social media space, and with its implementation by big names like Snapchat and Instagram, the apps are said to be more interactive, and there has been an increase in user engagement.
When it comes to a social media campaign, AR can be said to be the best tool. Again, in order to turn any human face into digital character, social media platforms have now come up with integrated AR filters.
As per the report of Statista, it is said that the global market of AR and VR is said to go high drastically and reach $209 billion by 2022.
Cloud for mobile apps:
Many think Cloud is a luxury for mobile apps, but things would change in 2019. Cloud offers immense possibilities and benefits to businesses as well as users, and in this year the number of people will learn about it.
Some of the benefits that you will enjoy using Cloud for business are improved loading capacity, reduced costs in hosting and streamlined business operations. Again, by using Cloud a number of issues related to security are getting resolved, and it is making mobile app development faster, reliable and secure.
Additionally, by making use of Cloud technology like AWS, Dropbox, SlideRocket, and others, it is possible to build mobile app solutions that are powerful and runs efficiently on the Cloud.
In short, in 2019 we will witness more of mobile apps built for smartphones which need lesser storage space.
Instant Apps:
Instant apps were introduced in 2016, and just within a couple of years, they have become immensely popular. These apps do not require to be downloaded. Such apps are smaller in size and from a user perspective is user-friendly and convenient to use.
No doubt the facility to use the app without having it downloaded is the key reason for its increased popularity. This means you can have an app without taking up the phone memory as well as share it with friends with ease.
Some of the well-known instant apps which you can find in the market are Red Bull TV, New York Times Crossword, Buzzfeed, Onefootball, etc. Moreover, you can start using the app at the earliest as you will not have to waste time for download and installation.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP):
The Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMPs are nothing but a variant of HTML in a shorter manner. This is used for faster loading of pages and high-performance processing.
Big name like Google offers AMP services to business clients. AMP services work the same way how search engine optimization work for websites. You can use it to gain visibility for your mobile app, get higher traffic as well as improve app ranking.
Conclusion
Today mobile apps have turned out to be a very important element influencing our lives. It is even tough to imagine spending a day without one. Our lifestyle has changed, and we make use of one or other mobile applications to carry out tasks like booking tickets, ordering food, shopping, paying bills, banking and much more. Now, this clearly means that people are always in search of the highly responsive app which is fast and trendy still. For the same new trending technologies are used from time and again. Trends come and go, and so it becomes important for the app developers to keep an eye for the same to stay a step ahead in the competition.
