MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT: A FIELD WITH ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES

Initially mobile phones were used as a convenient alternate of Wired or cordless phones with an additional facility of messaging and inbuilt phone directory. From that initial stage now mobile phones have replaced those wired telephones, watches, transistors, cameras, and many more other electronic devices. Such exploding popularity of mobile phones has opened a new opportunity of software creation or development in the field of mobile app development. In fact, mobile apps nowadays have become an essential element of almost all the businesses, and returns through it are projected to break all previously set business goals. This potential and growing industry has attracted businesses from all corners of the marketplace as consumers are now detaching themselves from desktop computing and turning to their mobile devices. The roots of development of mobile applications have originated from traditional software development. This software is developed to utilize the unique features and hardware of mobile devices. Nowadays, modern smart phones and tablets are equipped with various add-ons like Bluetooth, NFC, artificial intelligence, Wi-Fi, GPS, cameras and many more. These mobile phones and tablets can be used for virtual or augmented reality, barcode scanning, capturing photos, storage of data and more. Mobile apps should utilize the full range of smart phone features, which creates new possibilities of mobile app development. 

With the launch of iOS in 2007 and android in 2008 Mobile App development has expanded to new horizons. Mobile apps are generally of three types’ viz. native apps, hybrid apps and mobile web apps. Native apps are apps created for a specific platform (iOS or Android) using the software development tools and languages supported by these operating systems. These apps don’t work on other platforms. Apps developed in mobile web app framework are compatible with many platforms and require only minimal changes to ensure complete functionality on each operating system. We can view a mobile web app on Android, iOS or Windows tablets. Hybrid apps permit us to make use of the diverse and unique elements of each native system. They are a mixture of native and mobile web apps. Mobile app development industry is an industry of continuously changing nature. Typically, at every six months or even earlier, a new version of an operating system comes out with unique features that mobile apps can utilize. Developing for either specific version of the operating system, or even for any native operating system, generally requires developers to try multiple solutions to find the one solution that suits their development needs. Developing an app is only worthwhile if it is a useful app in its users view. A bad user experience will always drive customers away and will make that app useless.

Mobile App Development process generally consists of steps like idea generation, design, development, testing, launch and marketing of developed app. Just a few years ago, if anyone wanted to develop an app, he had to either have coding knowledge or pay someone to develop the app for him. Fortunately, low-code and no-code apps and services have appeared over the recent years to help us bring our vision to reality without having deep knowledge of coding. Five newest platforms which help us build a mobile app are Appery, Mobile Roadie, GoodBarber, Appy Pie and App Machine.

The progressive Policy Institute of the United States in a report released in 2019 said that India is one of the leading countries in mobile app downloads and will surpass the United States in the largest developer population by the year 2024. This statement is sufficient to describe the business opportunities in the field of mobile app development.  India has progressed exponentially in the areas of Mobile App Development. In the last few years, apps developed by Indian App Developers are being hosted in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. In spite of being a young player in the market the Mobile App Development Industry has already crossed the revenue that other IT or IT enabled Industry has procured.  This Industry  has evolved and  grown drastically in a short period of time and has got people who would have never thought of using software in their entire life and are now experts in using a Smart Phone and all the essential Apps that the phone has to offer. It is safe to say that a Mobile Phone is now not only used for its actual purpose of calling and sending SMS but a lot more than that.