Major advancements are coming to the world of mobile app development in 2020, and the question for developers around the world is will they be ready to adapt and bring their users into the next decade?
To see just what’s lurking around the corner for both end-users and the app developers that create the apps with which they interact, let’s take a look at two major spaces that promise to grow by leaps and bounds over the next 10 years.
IoT
Gartner has predicted that by 2020, there will be roughly 20 billion devices connected to the Internet of Things worldwide. They also predict that this will result in an additional $300 billion in worldwide business revenue. As IoT continues to become more widely available, the cost of doing business in this area has gone down, while the power of IoT tech and its accessibility — especially in the world of mobile apps — has risen steadily.
Industrial IoT investment is also on the rise, and a recent survey shows that 45% of medium- to large-sized businesses worldwide are adopting the Internet of Things into their daily business, while another 20% plan to do so by 2021.
Smart Cities are on the rise as well and continue to be a big area of innovation in the IoT sector, accounting for 23% of all development in this sphere.
But what does this mean for your average app user? The answer is that the Internet of Things promises a new wave of active engagement options. By interweaving connected devices, sensors, analytics, as
well as cloud networking, what your smartphone or wearable can do is ultimately up to the imagination of the developer designing the next big app.
The only real hurdle is the complexity of the technology, which is why Apple’s Home Kit and Android Things toolsets can help any mobile app development agency navigate the IoT maze. These tools allow
To see what this technology can do for end-users, take a look at Amazon Go for an example of smart, innovative inventory tracking that blends efficiency with customer service using an IoT-based solution.
Smart tags are attached to items in the store and unclip automatically after paying. This system dramatically speeds up the entire checkout process which offers customers more freedom when using mobile self-service checkouts, which also allows business owners to reduce the cost of staff, and manage their inventory in real-time.
This type of technology promises to disrupt the entire shopping process, and positions business owners to reallocate resources to improve efficiency and revolutionize customer service.
Wearables
Another area that will see big changes in the app development world in 2020 and beyond is the wearables space. While the ubiquitous Apple Watch (and to a lesser degree, the FitBit) will always be a solid direction for the development, the next decade promises more novel forms of exciting new wearables.
Consider Seismic, a company truly pushing the limits of wearable tech. They have recently introduced what they call Powered Clothing, which uses robotic components to read and complement the very movements of users, actually augmenting their strength and promoting good posture.
Seismic’s smart clothing line may only have a limited release, but other companies aren’t waiting around and are executing their own similar products on a much wider scale.
With the right mobile app connected to the right wearable devices, users can log their sleep cycles (Oura), condition themselves away from bad habits (Pavlok), and even detect early signs of breast cancer (Cyrcadia).
Of course, as these new novel wearable items become more mainstream, mobile app development teams will be playing an increasingly vital role in how these smarter devices actually interact with users.
While wearables can be developed as standalone devices, it is likely that many of them will still rely on smartphone connectivity in order to boost their functionality, and the right mobile app development team will recognize that usability is key to developing wearables that people will actually wear.
If you’re looking to design the next big app in either the IoT or wearables space, be sure to connect with a team that looks ahead when developing mobile apps, that understands the trends, and that recognizes where we’re headed in 2020 and beyond.