Destination Mobile Apps

There seems to be a new industry that is seeing more entrepreneurs than anywhere else. Low start up cost, low fixed expenses, shoe-string marketing budget with marketing based on social networking sites and need for only few tech savvy minds to get the business up and running, is what is driving this new industry. This is the new generation Mobile applications industry that is seeing growth unheard since the IT boom days of the late 90’s. I would contribute the emergence of this new industry to one single company which has emerged like a phoenix from the ashes and taken its place as the largest US company surpassing the giants like Exxon. Yes I am talking of Apple Computers. The launch of iphone brought about a revolution in the world. The very meaning of smartphone changed forever and it brought about a new breed of Application developers to cater to different need based and entertainment based applications that would enhance the experience of the iphone.

We have come a long way since the days of iphone with the launch of newer versions of iphone, ipad and a host of Android based smartphone and tablets. Applications based on Blackberry and Symbian platforms are also seeing quite a lot of activity. Industry reports peg the growth of these applications in exponential terms with the industry revenues pegged at several billions of dollars till 2015.

However I have my own reservations on this aspect. It’s not unknown that when the going gets good, research companies go overboard in their estimates. This in-turn pulls in too many new players in the industry which ultimately sets the stage for the untimely demise of the same and negative publicity of the whole concept. My observation on the mobile Applications industry comes from the fact that we have lakhs of Applications on App Store and for Android phones, but only a handful of them which are actually downloaded regularly and are of any significant utility. So I am concerned about the other app developers who got lured by the huge potential in this industry but then got lost in the crowd. I agree it’s a survival of the fittest like in any other industry. If you have a killing application it would definitely make its own mark.

My other observation comes with regard to the saturation being seen in the App space. Normally any smart phone user would not install more than 10-15 applications on his device unless he has ample amount of time to dabble with the apps the whole day. Now with applications available for almost every segment, the opportunities for newer developers are getting narrower. So my advice to aspiring mobile application developers is that check the App stores to see the applications which are the most downloaded, what categories see the most hits and which ones are also at the bottom of the heap. Market is definitely large and has space for many more developers to make their mark but caution needs to be taken to not get lured by any mirage in the world of Apps!