8 Killer Mobile App Development Trends to Rock 2016
Mobile apps are inseparable part of our daily lives now. As per a latest report by BI Intelligence, there has been a 48% increase in purchases made through mobile devices from the previous year. A report by ComScore suggests that more than 60% of web traffic generated by leading nine US retail sites have been mobile users.
While all these statistics and figures are indicative of the dominance of mobile apps in every walks of life, developers worldwide and the businesses are busy coping up with the newest development trends and emerging technologies. A new technology and a new development trend refer irrevocably to a new opportunity rather than just a challenge. 2015 has been a happening year with several new and breakthrough trends in design and development began journey showing great promises. There are some interesting trends that are already looming large in the horizon. Let us have a closer look at the 8 killer mobile app development trends to unfold in 2016.
1. Swift programming will take lead
Swift, the latest programming language from Apple, ever since it has been launched garnered a lot of attention from tech communities and particularly from developers. The language designed to work both in the capacity of an application language and a systems language, offers greater reliability in writing codes by the developers. As per the company reports just in initial few months after its release in this year September it enjoyed 11 million downloads as part of the Xcode tools. Swift is faster than Objective C and is the biggest release till date for a rapid app development environment. In 2016, the new programming language can take lead in developing diverse apps for iOS, OS X, Apple Watch OS, and Apple TV OS apps.
2. More cloud driven apps
Cloud technology is booming thanks to one app multiple device approach. With mobile and wearable devices making it obvious to access apps and data from any device and any location, cloud is naturally going to take the central role for a vast majority of apps. As integration and synchronization of apps across multiple devices will continue, cloud driven apps will continue to be adopted by more businesses and developers in the coming year. Moreover, some of the world’s top tech giants are working on integrated cloud platforms and cloud based data engines.
3. A whole array of new cross platform tools
With the simultaneous and often competitive growth of several mobile platforms and with the rise of wearable tech and smart TVs, no business now considers developing app for a single platform. With plentitude of devices and their advanced features and functionalities, apps need to address the requirement for multiple platforms and devices with a cross platform development approach. In the recent time we have seen an array of cross platform tools to play a decisive role like PhoneGap, Appcelerator, Sencha, Titanium, Unity3D, Cocos2d, etc. In 2016, several other cross platform development tools and frameworks can join this league adding value to app development for multiple devices.
4. Spark will rule Big Data
You have Spark with its in-memory computing for the fastest ever data processing and capability to handle large amount of data in an application ready useful manner. Obviously, as the most advanced technology for data processing it made the prospect of Big Data look quite big and in 2016 we can expect more data and analytics companies are throwing their weight behind Spark. With Cloudera and IBM already pushing it harder for leveraging Spark in more demanding data apps, Spark will play a decisive role for developers and techies worldwide.
5. NoSQL will be the winner among databases
NoSQL is still lagging behind other databases in spite of the fact that it is the most scalable and cloud-ready database till date. With the increasing importance of cloud and capacity to scale rapidly, NoSQL has begun to rise in popularity and enjoy more patronage. With many companies are already declaring to choose NoSQL to befit their cloud ambition, NoSQL is very likely to win the favor of a great array of enterprises including even some brick and mortar companies.
6. Mobile pay will push mobile commerce
Our love for mobiles goes hand in hand with our love for mobile commerce. Several ecommerce leaders began to shut their websites and decided to stay as apps only and there are many ecommerce biggies who give more priority to mobile traffic in their decisions. Around 90% of the ecommerce traffic accesses the store from either smartphones or tablet. So, there would be no sign of stop in this trend at least in the near future. The trend can even be bigger with latest technologies like Mobile Pay options offered across the platforms and devices. The integration of wallet and devices is going to be stronger and so the integration of ecommerce and mobile.
7. Location technology will continue to play bigger role
GPS based technologies like the Beacon really revolutionized the business marketing, promotion and shopping experience. In the coming year Beacons is likely to be stronger to render its location tracking benefits for niches other than retail. Brands like General Electric already ventured to incorporate Beacon in a light range made for retail stores. The technology also prompted interest in security agencies to use it for security measures. So, through Beacons location tracking will continue to experience new applications for businesses and other civic purposes.
8. Wearables will continue to grow as a horizon
After Google Glass and Apple Watch what new to expect in 2016? Thus the expectation goes in our minds. But in 2016 the focus can rest on more on making wearable devices bigger, better and richer with experience than just offering another smartwatch or optically mounted computer. Smartwatches are already showing promise to become fully standalone mobile devices and 2016 can just be the beginning. At the same time, wearable tech will continue to be more fashionable rather than being gadgets that no one actually wears. Latest trend in making smartwatches look like regular watches is an indication of this trend.
About the Contributor
Juned Ghnachi is a creative marketing strategist and co-founder at IndianAppDevelopers.com, a mobile application development company, Juned specializes in social media content, community engagement and lead generation strategy.
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