Top 7 Mobile App Trends of 2017

Pay no attention to the image above. These are the seven mobile app trends that are dominating 2017.

1. Age-Responsive Design

Depending on the age of the user, design responds to their needs, from the size of buttons, the size of the fonts, the products and services offered, the number of pages for navigation, screen brightness and more. The world has already adopted layouts for devices and now it is time to adopt for people by their age. Depending on the level of being a digital native, navigation menus will either clearly guide on the next step or anticipate the swipes from experts. First timers will be presented with stripped down interfaces so it's easier for them to interact with the limited feature sets. Font sizes and spacing will match the eyesight needs of the older generation. This also impacts the colour schemes used.

2. Wearables

They will integrate with mobile apps and insurance providers to offer a connected ecosystem. Expect copycats of the Fitbit and Apple iWatch as the pulse of the user will literally be something everyone will want a dataset for.

3. The Internet of Things

As the consumer IoT market takes off, consumer electronics companies are looking at ways to track data that predict behaviours and demands.  The opportunity allows the insertion of smart listening devices that can gather data at scale versus the limited sampling used today for market research.

4. Reality Warping

With augmented and virtual reality taking off, mobile app trends point to a growing demand in the activation space, with users across mall levels taking part in group activities via their smart devices. Snapchat currently dominates this space. In achieving a presence with the attention economy, more companies are coming to use for VR supported content with and without VR headsets in tow.

5. Unity 3D

For businesses in the cross-platform game, this game engine will be a must have in mobile development, closing off the many issues in building apps across devices and use cases. Mobile app trends point to a growing demand for this services. A great alternative in the BETA phase is Integry.

6. Machine Learning

It's disruptive power knows no bounds. With voice-based digital assistants, businesses are looking forward to exploiting the underprice Google Now, Siri, and Cortana to reach audiences across the psychographic spectrum. More apps will gain neural networks such as Prisma.

7. Commerce

It's already taking off and the Amazon-Souq deal will only douse the spark with gasoline. Careem digital wallet, Grab digital wallet, Google Wallet, and Apple Pay. Look them all up and see the adoption. How much longer can you afford to wait? Don't become another Harvard case study around 'too little too late".

To understand what corners of your ecosystem are being disrupted, reach me on [email protected] today.