According to a survey by McKinsey, nearly 77% of company CIOs are gearing towards a mobile-first approach as a digital transformation strategy.
This figure is expected to grow further, considering that the next generation of consumers will be digital-native and more familiar with smart mobile devices. Besides, the mobile market is booming, with more people visiting websites on mobile devices instead of computers.
As a result, the business case for mobile applications is continuously expanding — considering that 81% of adults in America own a smartphone compared to just 35% in 2011.
Therefore, the need for mobile apps to help attract new customers and retain existing ones cannot be overemphasized. In this article, we look at the key aspects of the development of mobile applications, including definition, custom app development approaches, and top trends.
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What is Mobile Application Development
Mobile app development refers to the processes and tools involved in creating software apps designed to run on mobile devices. The development process involves building installable bundles of software, such as assets, codes, and binaries, as well as back-end services, such as API data access. What’s more, this process involves testing the application to ensure it runs properly on target devices.
Mobile app development considers the two most dominant platforms in the smartphone industry:
- iOS from Apple for Mac and iPhones
- Android from Google for generally all other OEMs
There may be similarities when developing mobile apps for both platforms, but the process involves different tool chains and SDKs. By targeting both platforms, mobile app developers can build customized applications for a wide range of mobile devices.
Types of Mobile App Development Approaches
In the planning of custom app development of mobile applications, one of the most immediate decisions is to choose the app development approach to use. Here is a breakdown of the four major alternatives:
- Native applications: These are mobile applications built and written in the language of the operating platform — either iOS or Android — by using integrated development environments (IDEs). They're easily customizable and feature-rich.
- Hybrid-Web apps: These mobile apps are built using web technology such as CSS, HTML, and Javascript. They are bundled app installation packages working on a web container. Though not as feature-rich as native app development, hybrid apps are more cost-effective to develop.
- Progressive apps: Progressive web applications are built without store delivery and installation to utilize browser capabilities. They provide a familiar app-like user experience because they can work offline, be added to the home screen, and run in the background.
- Cross-Platform apps: Also known as encapsulated apps, these applications are written using different programming languages and tools and then compiled as a native mobile app running on a device's OS.
The choice of which development technology to adopt will be guided by the pros and cons of each approach. This will include your development team’s skillset, the budget allocated to the task, the intended features of the app, and the target device for the app.
Top Trends in Mobile App Development
Recent studies have shown that the global market for mobile app development is expected to hit $44.3 trillion by 2027. Technological advancements and growing consumer demands are just some of the factors currently influencing custom app development processes. However, there are new emerging trends. Here is a list of the top five trends expected to dominate mobile app development.
- Use of 5G to improve speed, traffic capacity, decreased latency, and network efficiency.
- Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in healthcare, education, and businesses to create better user experiences and content perception.
- Predictive Analytics to leverage AI, machine learning, data modeling, and data mining to estimate app development times, predict errors, and amount of testing.
- Low-cost development aided by a shift to microservices and containerization hence encouraging the adoption of low-cost apps. This allows for quick rollout and reduces development complexities.
- Mobile commerce necessitated by the growing over-reliance on smartphones for online shopping.
Conclusion
As we enter the fourth quarter of 2022, it is evident that the future of digital success lies in customized mobile applications. There's no doubt that mobile phone users have surpassed PC or laptop users. Therefore, investing in custom app development is the surest way to match your audience's behavior and your business model.
If you're an enterprise with little or no mobile app development experience, there's no need to worry because NIX United has you covered. With a team of over 3000 software specialists, NIX is readily available to put their expertise and skills at your service. This is your chance to improve your product delivery and value to your customers through customer-oriented mobile applications.