The Future of Mobile Apps for App Publishers and Developers

How many Mobile Apps you have on your Smartphone apart from the ones which were pre-installed?  The answer may be from a couple of Apps to 50 Apps max based on your need, smartphone usage, the size of ROM on your device, etc.

You will be surprised to know that there are more than 2.2 million (22 lakh) Apps available on Google Play store and Apple store has got 2.0 million (20 lakh) Apps. Do we really see all of them? Not really as there will be Apps which are Country specific, region specific, Apps in different languages, etc. which we don’t see.

What is the scene on downloading these Apps? More than 1 billion downloads are with all the apps belong to Google & Facebook. These 20 Apps are free and most of them are distributed pre-installed on your digital device. If they are not, you are likely to install them on the first day of purchase J

There are only 125+ Apps with 100 million and more downloads and big players are in this segment. For 10 million and more downloads there are 1800+ Apps where some popular games and business Apps are also there. I am putting these numbers and some thoughts here for everyone in the Mobile App industry to think about it.

The parameters which users consider while downloading any mobile App are its rating, languages supported, Country of origin (for location specific Apps), Usefulness of the App, Easy user interface and sometimes uniqueness. There will be more parameters to add to this list, but as an App developer/publisher, you need to check these parameters before releasing an App in the market.

The statistics above shows that it’s extremely difficult to go to the top level in downloads and equally important is staying at that position. A great new App or a game may start with thousands of downloads but will eventually decrease and no one is counting how many have uninstalled. As the device has limited space, users will uninstall old Apps which they are not using and will make room for new Apps. Still, we have considered here only Apps on Android and iOS. There are more on Windows and some more niche OS and also the Apps installed in private domains.

Releasing new versions of your App with new features, keeping the users engaged and encouraging them to keep using your App is equally important once you publish your App. Not everyone is doing this, but getting fake likes on Facebook and getting paid downloads is not going to help a publisher in the long run. It takes consistent efforts to remain on top (at least in your space) for the mobile App.

For developers, it is important to use the latest technology, reusable code, new features and great UI and UX for the Apps for someone to use your App. With the number of Apps being developed and published, the developer community should be happy but maintaining the quality of these Apps is in your hand and no one likes to use an App with defects/bugs. Java, Objective C, C++, Swift, C# & HTML5 developers are having a lot of work to do in this sector provided they continue to upgrade their skills regularly.

The most important factor to consider in Mobile Apps is an App should not be developed as everyone else is doing it. A thought needs to be given on whether the usage is one time or continuous. For one-time usage, developing and maintaining an App is a costly affair. If multiple users are going to use the App regularly, it makes more sense to have an App published.

As usual, you can add your thoughts, views, and comments below this blog.