The lines between digital, mobile, technology and apps are blurring in today’s world. We at Robosoft are keen followers of developments in this arena. Here’s a quick summary of what’s buzzing:
Amazon Go: Re-writing the rules of retail again?
In a move which is likely to have far reaching impact on retail, customer experience and maybe even jobs, Amazon unveiled plans to launch Amazon Go – a grocery shop without a checkout process. At the center of the experience is an app, which uses machine learning, sensors and artificial intelligence to track items customers pick up. The users’ Amazon account will be charged and receipt sent to them once they leave the store. Currently in Beta, the first shop is likely to open for the public in Seattle by early 2017.
Amazon Go is a manifestation of an integrated customer experience where a mobile app plays a central role. Moreover, the traditional idea of a simple app done with a few wireframes and lines of code is history as such digital experiences are driven by a coming together of usability studies, complex engineering, big data and advanced customer intelligence.
Facebook Messenger launches Instant Games
A few days ago Facebook launched “Instant Games” platform within its Messenger app. With over 1 billion monthly users, the addition of new games is likely to further increase engagement and time spent on the app. A couple of years back Facebook built a massive gaming platform for desktops with developers like EA and Zynga. But, as users shifted to mobile devices, it’s revenue from games fell down to 3%. Therefore, the move by Facebook to launch gaming within its Messenger app may help the company and the game developers to monetise and increase their revenue.
Google introduces App Maker
Source: www.blog.google
Recently, Google introduced App Maker, a low code application development tool for businesses to build simple customised apps that run on Google’s cloud platform. The tool provides a powerful cloud-based IDE that features built-in templates, a drag-and-drop UI, and point-and-click data modelling to accelerate app development process. It also includes support for HTML, CSS, Javascript and Google’s material design visual framework for anyone to develop sophisticated apps in a short span of time. App Maker is now available through Google’s Early Adopter Program for G Suite Business.
Additionally, Google also announced the addition of seven new apps including Virtu, LumApps, DocuSign, Freshdesk, Zoho Invoice, Zero and Asana to the “Recommended for G Suite” third party partner program.
‘Communitainment’ apps are now a trend
In the past few years, the average amount of time spent in media apps has increased from 46 minutes per day in the year 2014 to 133 minutes per day in 2016. Reported by Flurry Analytics, the data is a good news for apps that cater to the entertainment section. Previously being thought of as a fad, the new data is clearly an indication towards a trend which is here to stay. According to the reports, “the generation that was just five or six years old when the iPhone was introduced nearly 10 years ago is now the largest population spending time on their mobile devices.” These teens are an avid user of live streaming and dedicated streaming apps. Time for the app developers to take note of this growing trend.
