In 2021 alone, people downloaded over 143 billion apps onto mobile devices. This number was only slightly higher than 2020, which had increased by over 27 billion from 2019. During the pandemic, many people realized they could do much of their business from home right from their phones, which has now become a permanent solution.
It’s clear that the mobile app development industry is rising, and drastically so. This is because smartphones are taking over the globe, and fast. Studies show that there are currently over 6 billion smartphone users, and the number is expected to keep rapidly climbing.
The highest-grossing app store on the market continues to be Apple’s App Store, despite having significantly fewer total users than Android. In 2021 Apple brought in $85.1 billion in app revenue alone, with Google Play coming in second at $47.9 billion. Games make up the majority of revenue, bringing in a total of $89.6 billion in 2021.
What Is A Mobile Application?
A mobile application, or app, is a computer software or program specifically made for mobile devices such as phones, iPads, and tablets. Apps generally have a somewhat limited function, generally isolated to their sole purpose. There are two kinds of mobile apps: native apps and web apps.
Native apps are apps such as your calendar, photos, or contacts. These apps are preinstalled on all Apple devices and written to work on that specific platform. Other apps can be written as native apps and are created to work solely on the platform they were made for. These apps can be cross-platform but are built from the ground up separately for each one. Native apps generally run much smoother and can tap into the device’s resources such as the microphone, location, camera, and more.
Web apps are single-source apps written the same way across the board. Examples would include photo editing apps, Gmail and other email apps, as well as Microsoft 365. These apps release just one version and update them across the board at any given time.
Why Have Apps Become So Popular?
Our world is obsessed with convenience, and what is more convenient than being able to do virtually anything right from your phone? There are apps for literally anything these days, from banking to shopping, health and fitness, sleep tracking, movie watching, gaming, and so much more. This became even more prominent amidst the pandemic, where contactless interaction became a critical way of life.
With mobile apps, you can access virtually anything “on the go”—in your car, on your lunch break, at the park, or anywhere. Whether it’s work-related, personal, or entertainment, you have it right at your fingertips. You can order food, access your banking, submit insurance claims, make appointments, and update your calendar. The possibilities are endless.
Apps have become so prominent in our day-to-day life that it’s almost become expected. People don’t always have time to make a phone call or wait on hold; they expect instant support when they need it and how they need it. Businesses, both large and small, have apps or mobile websites at the very least. If you don’t have an app, do you even really exist?
What Are The Pros Of Mobile App Development?
It should be obvious just how much support we get from these apps in our day-to-day lives, but there’s even more to it than that. Mobile app marketing is imperative for business success in today’s world. It produces countless jobs, ranging from creation to design to maintenance. It allows businesses to have immediate feedback from their customers in seconds.
The list goes on. Here are just a few of the pros of mobile app development.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
Because mobile apps are created for a specific operating system (OS), more often than not, they will produce a superior customer experience. Native apps, in particular, generally tend to outshine their cross-platform sisters in terms of user satisfaction. It can be an inconvenience to search for a website and wait on load times, bad connection, or other hiccups. By downloading your app, users will have instant access to your brand 24/7.
Improved Communications
Features such as push notifications allow you to consistently be in contact with your users, increasing engagement and revenue. By sending reminders throughout the week, you keep your brand top-of-mind with customers in a way that social media or email can’t compare with. Some businesses also develop in-app chat options, so customers can get help with issues or offer feedback at any time.
Creates Loyalty
By seeing your brand on their front screen, customers are more likely to turn to you than competitors. Knowing that customer service is just a click away is a great way to keep strong relationships with your users. By having the app downloaded and ready to go, users have a much more convenient way of finding what they need instead of searching through the internet. Having your app listed in both Apple and Google’s app stores increases your reach significantly.
Faster Service
No customer wants to do with a phone call what they could do with a couple of taps. By ensuring your apps are consistently maintained and updated, you ensure your users get the fastest performance possible, saving them time, and gaining you a loyal user. Apps in the food industry have been a lifesaver for businesses, especially fast food. Allowing customers to place specific, customized orders ahead of time, cutting wait time and human error by nearly half.
Offline Capability
Mobile apps are already downloaded and installed onto a user’s mobile device, so they will still have access to at least basic app functions and content, even if they are not connected to the internet. This way, your users never feel disconnected from your brand, even if they are disconnected from the web. The ability to run without the internet is also beneficial because the app doesn’t rely on network speed to load, making for a smoother and faster loading experience.
Personalization
With a mobile app, users can have the option to add a personal touch to your brand’s app pages. This can be something as subtle as font size, or more dramatic customization like background photos, color schemes, and themes. By having the ability to tailor the app to their tastes, users are far more likely to feel a connection and loyalty to your brand.
Interactive
With native mobile apps, your app will have access to some of the mobile device’s features, such as the microphone, camera, and location. By integrating these features into your app, you’re creating an interactive and unique experience for your users that they will not likely forget. Consumers can upload personal photos, use location detection to have a more personalized shopping experience, or use functions such as tap-to-call right from their phones.
What Are The Cons Of Mobile App Development?
It’s safe to say that the pros far outweigh the cons when it comes to mobile apps. After all, it wouldn’t be such a rapidly rising industry if they didn’t. However, every good thing has its downsides, so here are a couple of drawbacks in the mobile app development industry.
Expense
Because it’s such a big industry, the cost of having a mobile app developed is getting higher. Whether you know your stuff and do it yourself or you hire an outside company, it’s not a cheap endeavor. You just have to decide if it’s worth it to you and your brand. Additionally, you have to wait and see if any given app store even approves your app before you can place it on the market.
Support
If you want your consumers to have access to 24/7 support, you have to have people ready and willing to offer it. Staffing can be difficult when starting a new business, especially if you’re looking for ‘’round-the-clock workers. You need knowledgeable and dependable people so that you won’t let your customers down.
Continuous Updates
Mobile apps are not visible in search engine results and can produce less visibility than a website or mobile website. This is because they have to be searched for in the app store, downloaded, and installed. They also need regular maintenance to fix bugs and be regularly updated. This can be a minor inconvenience for users who have to go in and update the app before using it.
Privacy Issues
Mobile apps take in data from a variety of different sources, and sometimes this gives hackers an easy in. If your app requires any type of personal information from your users, such as name, phone number, birthday, etc., you must have top-notch security measures in place. Cybersecurity is another industry that has taken off over the last decade or so, and it’s an incredibly important resource to use to minimize the risk to your users.
Orases Can Meet All Your Mobile App Development Needs
Deciding whether or not to develop a mobile app for your brand is a big decision, and you’ll probably have a lot of questions. However, weighing the pros and cons is just the first step you’ll need to take to make the right choice for your business, and Orases is here to help.
For all of your mobile app development, cybersecurity, or other custom software development needs, call 301-756-5527 to speak with an expert today or get in touch with our team of mobile application developers online. What we do, we do it well. See the difference today.
