Looking back at the past year from a technology perspective, all we can say is that 2020 should be at least as ground-breaking as 2019. But with a lot of technology trends & buzz words being promoted around, which one will you actually trust to lead the strategic direction of your next mobile app?
If you ask us, you shouldn’t trust any of them. At least not until you are 100% sure that whatever the new concept or technology you are trying to adopt in your new mobile application, it is what your users really need. We know Blockchain, AI, Machine Learning and VR all sound cool and cutting edge, but don’t just use them to attract more eyes to whatever it is that you are building. It won’t last.
For the past decade, at RebelDot, we have built and worked with over 40 startups and companies around the world, and if there is one valuable learning we could share, is that the real success of your digital product is hidden in the PROBLEM you are solving for your users, or, in other words, the idea behind your web/mobile application. It has to be relevant to the market you wish to penetrate. Now, of course, we are not talking about the fantastic user interface you are imagining for your mobile app or that one unique feature you are planning to revolutionise the industry with. It’s more about the weight of the value you wish to place on the market by launching your new web or mobile app.
Do you have what it takes?
Before you start building your next mobile application, here’s what we recommend you ask yourself:
What is the problem I am solving with this web or mobile application?
Whom am I solving this problem for & who are my users?
Checking these two important questions will provide the right framework for starting to build a digital product that has great potential for healthy scaling. Now, of course, it is a good idea to make sure you check to pulse of the technology ecosystem from time to time. You want to make sure that if there is a new technology that might decrease the cost of your application, ease the experience of your users of simply help you get the most out of your new built, you know of it.
Also, you might want to pay a bit more attention to how you engage your users from the very first seconds of their digital experience. For that, we recommend you reading this comprehensive Splash Screen Guide.
Now might be the best time to start building a mobile application. Here's why:
In Q3 of 2019, iOS lead consumer purchases growing 95% over Google Play.
Beginning of 2019, TechCrunch reported that the global app revenue continues to climb, thanks to the growth of the gaming industry and of the subscription economy. (TechCrunch)
In 2019, App Store users spent $14.2 billion, up 22.3% from the $11.6 billion they spent in Q3 2018. Google Play generated $7.7 billion in revenue, up 24% from the $6.2 billion spent in the year-ago quarter. (TechCrunch)
When it comes to app downloads, according to App Annie, Google Play and iOS downloads grew over 10% in Q3 of 2019.
While iOS downloads remained stable in 2019, Google Play grew its downloads by 10% to nearly 23 billion. Google Play leads iOS in downloads by 175%, with non-gaming apps accounted for over 60% of downloads across both stores.
In 2020, Global mobile application revenues are projected to generate a revenue of $188.9 billion via app stores and in-app advertising. (Statista)
Already visualizing your new application being downloaded by thousands of users? Let’s shed some light over the 2020 mobile and web application trends & new technologies that might help you get there.
Blockchain Technology
Being a pragmatic yet revolutionary technology, blockchain goes beyond cryptocurrencies and bitcoin. With its capabilities of creating more transparent and secure environments while saving fair amounts of money, it has reached the performance of impacting a variety of industries and sectors by changing how contracting works.
Some of the areas in which blockchain is seen to bring the most value are secure sharing of medical data, music royalties tracking, cross-border payments, real-time IoT operating systems, personal identity security, anti-money laundering tracking system, voting mechanisms, original content creation, crypto exchange and real estate processing platforms.
Blockchain + IoT = ❤
We already know that blockchain is a standalone disruptive concept for every tech aficionado out there. But have you thought of combining it with IoT? It might bring some considerable improvements to the way transactions are made, including some decreasing of risks.
There is a smarter way to do smart contracts: Ricardian Contracts.
What is a smart contract? According to Investopedia, a smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. The code controls the execution, and transactions are trackable and irreversible. (Investopedia)
In simple words, they allow trusted transactions between anonymous parties without the presence of any central authority.
Smart contracts are great and all that, with one minor issue — they are not legally binding, so it is pretty hard to build a legal case against an existing fraud. And here is where Ricardian Contracts step into the scene.
While Ricardian Contracts have first been introduced in 1995, they somehow managed to penetrate today’s blockchain scene, by having this unique trait of being digital documents that can be both understood by humans and machines. This means you and your lawyers should be able to read it and perfectly understand it.
According to 101 Blockchains, a Ricardian contract is a human-readable legal agreement that once agreed upon and signed by both parties, gets converted into a machine-readable contract to define the intentions of both parties. (101 Blockchains)
A fundamental difference between Smart and Ricardian contracts is that while one (Smart) executes an agreement without being legally valid, the other one (Ricardian) records agreements between parties, having a legally binding character that is valid in court.
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay.
While AI has been the technology hit of the 2010s, it looks like it is here to stay.
AI in entertainment and media. Have you seen Robert De Niro in the Irishman?
If you kept an eye on the result of AI in creating music or any kind of art that is out there, you will probably agree with us when we say that AI has a long way to replace humans from creating any form of art that is actually enjoyable.
If like us, you spend some of your time binge-watching on Netflix, you might have seen Rober De Niro’s extreme de-ageing in The Irishman. Like it or not, de-ageing or ageing of human faces is now possible with the assistance of AI, and it’s safe to say it’s a tiny bit of all the transformation AI is bringing to the entertainment scene.
In 2020, we are already familiar with personalized recommendations powered by AI. Getting back to Netflix, they personalise the content stream you see on the go, and this is not even a secret anymore. Processors are now engineered in such way they are capable of generating real-time analytics, offering the content an technology that we consume on a daily bases an important and personal twist.
React Native and Flutter continue replacing Kotlin and Swift for Native Android & iOS development.
In one of our past articles, we covered a few important aspects of how React Native has already disrupted the mobile development scene.
Being supported by Google, Flutter, a fairly new name on the mobile development scene is seen to acquire more authority and trust from developers in eastern Europe and around the world. It promises the building of mobile apps in record time.
Relator.com, Tencent, New York Time’s Ken Ken puzzle, Square and Google Assistant are just of few of the apps that are already using Flutter.
Internet of Things.
Today, internet-powered things are everywhere. It’s because we grew to love things powered by the power of the internet & connectivity and this is clearly reflected in the way investments are growing year by year as technology giants are developing more IoT apps.
Hint: If you are looking to get your hands dirty with some IoT this year, take a look at the impressive market size of smart home devices. Here is something we found while browsing around. It is from Strategy Analytics.
Final words.
Today, more apps are being released in the App Store and Google Play store than ever. While this could be both good and bad for your next mobile application, it is getting more clear that in order to craft a digital product that stands out on the market, you will need more than cutting edge technology or clinging to the hottest technology trend that is out there. Standalone, these two can’t do enough in order to ensure the success of your business on the market. Take a look at a software development process and before starting to tech around, make sure you spend a great deal of time in researching the scope of your digital application.
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