Nigeria has witnessed an explosion of mobile apps in the last couple years, making it convenient for smartphone users to do everything from paying bills to saving money, shopping, ordering food, keeping up with news, tracking their health, and so much more.
The mobile app industry is thriving and with technology moving so quickly, it can be difficult to keep up-to-date with the latest trends. In 2015, we saw the mobile app market maturing from smartphones and tablets to wearable devices and Internet of Things. There was also focus on app analytics and mobile app marketing. Now that 2016 is upon us, it is important that you are primed to take advantage of the trends gearing up to take information technology to the next level.
It is also a good time to take stock of some interesting mobile app trends to look out for in 2016, and so Jovago.com, Africa’s No.1 online hotel booking site, lists down 5 mobile development trends to expect as the New Year trudges on.
Mobile Banking, Payments, and M-Commerce
Making purchases or transferring funds via smartphones, tablet, and services is becoming a necessity for Nigerians. In fact, using a mobile phone to purchase goods has become nearly as common as using a credit card or POS these days. This is a huge encouragement for developers and as such, 2016 will see continued development of apps that can process transactions faster, safer, and easier, without the need of physical debit or credit cards, or cash.
Development of free apps
At present, over 80% of all apps developed in Nigeria and used by Nigerian are free, and this percentage is expected to rise by the end of 2016.
Experts predict that developers for Android, iOS and Blackberry apps will rely more on in-app purchases for revenue generation. They also state that mobile web apps are likely to grow in popularity as well. In-app advertising will go beyond banners and integrate various ad formats. Generally, developers will shift away from the paid download model and Mobile app advertising as well as in-app purchases will be a primary focus of monetization.
Enterprise apps to soar over consumer apps
All big enterprises in Nigeria are likely to have their very own app development platforms this 2016 as they will leverage mobile application development platforms to develop and deploy mobile apps.
As expected, enterprise telephony management will grow, and third-party enterprise app developers will stand a lot to gain. There will be boundless opportunities for Nigerian app developers to work on building and managing applications for enterprise market.
Faster Mobile Development
Organizations and enterprises are finding it difficult to keep up with the consumer’s demand for applications, and with these budding demands, the main focus of mobile app developers in 2016 would certainly be to shorten the development lifecycles and reduce the timeframe between “ideation” to launch- shortening the ‘ideas-to-apps’ development cycle.
The New Year will likely herald rapid app development tools and frameworks in the market; along with rapid iterations and a ‘Quick-To-Market’ approach to development. Aside from consumer demand, this trend will allow companies to survive in their fiercely competitive domain, as the absence of delays will please and draw more clients.
Apps emphasize on user-experience and App Analytics
No doubt, an app needs to retain its efficiency and functionality across all devices, and as such, developers have to constantly analyze big mobile analytics data. While mobile apps are still relatively new to the Nigerian tech market, 2016 will see businesses collecting big data on how users interact with the technology.
Cross-platform app development will become more critical than ever and developers proficient in that will have more chances of success. On the other hand, user analytics will usher drive key decisions in the app development process to create better user experiences.
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