4 Mobile Development Trends to Watch Out for in 2018

By Rob Andrews, Independent Technology Author

The future of society as we know it seems to be set to be based around mobile devices. That has never been more clear. More people than ever are using smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices in order to interact with the world. They also allow users get the information and experiences that they desire, doing everything from searching for advice to playing mobile poker and blackjack.

In fact, it is estimated that 2.53 billion people around the world will own a smartphone in 2018, which is 36% (more than a third) of the world’s population. Then in 2020, that figure is set to increase even more, rising to a massive 2.87 billion people. Half of the population of China is expected to own a smartphone by the time we get to 2020.

What this all means is that the time has never been better to look at mobile development and a marketing mobile focus to grow your business. Mobile devices are where your audience is spending increasingly more time and money and in order to reach your customers, you’ll have to create content or figure out how they can interact with your business via the medium of a pocket-sized touchscreen.

It also means that 2018 is going to be huge for businesses and entrepreneurs now realizing this, or doing something about it. There are four mobile development trends to watch out for in 2018 as many people gear up to take their business ventures mobile, preparing for major success in a new technological era.

Internet of Things and Wearable Apps

People are now adopting wearable devices and connected devices that suddenly feel like a necessary part of us and our daily lives. It’s not just where they play poker and read their emails, it’s also where they track their health.

Sales of wearable devices are soaring, driven by the performance of the Apple Watch which now has approximately 40% market share. The Apple device, now in its third generation, allows users to do things such as interact with Siri, monitor their heart rates, listen to music and more. Meanwhile, Fitbit’s range of wearable devices (including the Fitbit Flex and the Ionic smartwatch) are designed specifically as health trackers. Fitbit’s devices boast features such as health insights and fitness guidance.

These health trackers have completely revolutionized the healthcare and fitness industries. Apple’s pioneering ResearchKit technology allows doctors to gain medical insights to help them make discoveries, for example. The technology is also expected to impact health insurance, identifying patients best suited to drug trials, and monitoring of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.

And Internet of Things (IoT) devices are shaping our lives too. This includes hardware such as the Google Home and Amazon Echo smart speakers which allow us to talk to virtual assistants and find out all sorts of information. The handy devices can give us the weather forecast, tell us what’s on at the cinema, give us our daily itineraries and so much more. They’re so helpful that it’s no wonder why smart speaker sales tripled during 2017.

More and more people are purchasing these devices and in 2018, pivoting your mobile development strategy to take this into account will be absolutely paramount.

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Accelerated Mobile Pages is an open-source technology that affects online publishing. The AMP Project, which is being led by Google, was created in order to better optimize web content (including articles and advertisements) for the web.

Since Google first began to show web users AMP pages in February 2016, over 900,000 web domains have begun to publish AMP pages. More than two billion AMP pages have been published online. As of February 2017, Adobe estimates that 7% of web traffic to top publishers in the United States are AMP optimized.

AMP pages now show up in the search results of the world’s biggest search providers (Google, Baidu, Yahoo Japan, and Sogu) and social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit all distribute, link to, or support AMP optimized content.

AMP offers many potential benefits to publishers and business who publish their content using the technology. For example, pages built using the technology will load faster on mobile devices. This is the main selling point of the technology because faster loading pages are of more use to mobile users and won’t be frustrated them as a slower loading page would. Product pages and e-commerce sites are also said to benefit from increased conversion as a result of AMP optimization.

Moreover, AMP can help you to increase your ranking in Google search results and improve your brand awareness. Since Google takes a page’s loading speed into account when calculating search results (and how high your page will be on it), AMP could potentially get your site higher in the results. Plus, as Google now users AMP snippets in search results, optimizing your pages with the technology will help you to increase brand awareness.

Mobile web usage has now surpassed web usage on computers, confirming that most people search the web from their smartphones and tablets. If you are a content provider, writing about anything from Texas Hold ‘Em tips to souffle recipes, AMP technology is a vital trend to follow in 2018.

Mobile Payments

Long gone are the days when you would pay for everything using coins and cash; mobile payments are officially here. Increased security regulations surrounding mobile payments (e.g fingerprint sensors), rising adoption of NFC-enabled card readers by major retailers, and the launch of services such as Apple Pay and Android Pay have made it far easier to pay for goods and services.

And it’s not just paying for goods that has become simpler thanks to mobile payments. Playing mobile games, including mobile poker games like Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Hi-Lo has never been easier. Players can easily take part in poker tournaments to win cash and to have fun, just by using their mobile devices. Mobile apps make it easy to play poker on the go, letting players get into games quickly and without fuss.

Not only can players gain full access to their poker game winnings through mobile apps (including tournament tickets) but doing so is completely secure. Increased security measures surrounding mobile payments make paying for real money online poker games like 7 card stud, Snap and Blast no hassle at all.

Support for various payment methods also make these poker games accessible for players, no matter how they would like to pay. It means that you can take part in poker games such as Flopomania in just minutes, or take advantage of webcam poker offered on sites such as 888poker thanks to your device’s “selfie” camera.

In future, other mobile app developers – including those who provide poker games and other services – will need to support these mobile payment platforms. It provides users with added convenience.

On-Demand Apps

Speaking of convenience, there are few mobile development trends making lives easier quite like on-demand apps.

Some examples of on-demand apps include Uber, the taxi-hailing app with a name that has now become synonymous with “getting around”. Meanwhile, apps like Urbansitter allow you to quickly look up and hire top-rated babysitters in your area. There are apps for just about every service you could think of, including cleaning, professional masseuse, takeout, and even holiday housing for your dog!

In 2018, anyone who provides a service will need to develop a mobile app if they want to get in front of people who most want to hire them.

Mobile usage has already changed society in unexpected ways, giving rise to new industries, jobs, and ways of interacting with one another. The technology has given us the keys to do whatever we want, whenever we want, including playing poker and cleaning our clothes. It’s why it’s more important than ever to consider these mobile development trends and to stay aware of how technology is shaping your business, your audience, and the rest of the world around you.