Thanks to the unprecedented sales of smartphones, and a remarkable improvement in internet speeds, the use of Mobile Apps has become almost pandemic. And it isn’t just the gaming and entertainment based apps that are being welcomed by the masses but also apps that are dedicated to news, business and shopping, and also those that are intended to ease the act of travelling, banking and other such services. Today, if come to speak of the Mobile App economy, we are practically talking about the entire world - with the developers, providers, and users, all included.
The Numbers: As far as speculations are concerned, it can be easily deduced that the present day Mobile App economy will almost double itself by 2020. While the gross revenues from the economy clocked at about $41 billion in the year 2016, they are expected to spike to a whopping $101 billion in 2020. Hence, it doesn’t come as a surprise that right from your street side fast food vendor to centralised banks are all allocating a dedicated budget to app marketing strategy.
Internet of Things: Not only will the increased penetration of smartphones will contribute to this booming economy, but the much-coveted Internet of Things, or IoT as we know it, will also have an important role to play. How? Well, it is believed that as many as 20 billion devices will be web-connected by the year 2020, and if we go by the speculations of certain analysts, this figure may well touch a staggering 100 billion. Whatever the figure might turn out to be, one thing is for sure, it is too massive to be ignored or taken lightly. In fact, for what it’s worth, it will prove to be a complete game changer.
Beacon Technology: With the revenues from apps expected to grow by manifolds, the inclination towards introducing new apps with novel ideas seem only justified. This unparalleled boost in the app market can also be attributed to the improvement in the location-based beacon technology, especially in the healthcare and retail space. Thanks to the increased vitality of personalisation, this technology’s attempt at bridging the gap between on-ground and online experience is witnessing astounding success. The technology helps the app users to rely on real-time data such as average time spent by a customer, footfall, etc. thus acting not just as a promotional but also an engagement tool.
Downloads: Now coming to the number of downloads. If we were to go by expert opinion, app downloads by the year 2020 are believed to be in excess of 280 billion. If that’s true, it will not come as surprise, that the developing economies of China and India will be the front runners, thanks to their extensive share in world population. As a matter of fact, India alone is expected to contribute to at least 20 billion downloads by 2020, thus emerging as the 4th strongest Mobile App economy, next only to China, US, and Brazil. With the nation’s 25% Android users, using at least one cab service app, the future of apps offering commonplace services like travel, food, and beverage, and banking is rather bright. For what it’s worth, even health care services including medical supplies, pathology centres, and even emergency services, are on their way to finding a place in the common man’s smartphones.
From what it looks like, the future of Mobile App economy is more than just promising. Moreover, it has something in store for almost every line of business. Hence, no business, whether in the B-to-C space or in the B-to-B space, should miss out on the opportunity to maximise its sales and revenues using the rather simple yet rewarding marketing tool that the modern-day Mobile Apps have grown to become!
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