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:
Apple announces new initiative for India
In a recent press release, Apple announced its plan to open first developer centre in the country. The new facility would be named as “iOS App Design and Development Accelerator” and will be located in Bengaluru. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the developer centre will give the developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world.
Acknowledging the announcement in an article in the Times of India, Rohith Bhat, MD and CEO of Robosoft Technologies, said, “It’s a big validation that India is a very important market. Tim Cook referred to India as the next China — that shows India’s place under the sun.”
The very next day, Apple made another announcement about opening up a new facility in Hyderabad, India that would focus on developing Maps for Apple products.
With an estimated base of 220 million Smartphone users in India the prospect seems bright for both Apple and the iOS developers.
Android Instant Apps
At the recently held Google I/O conference, Google unveiled Android Instant Apps, hinting at a future where apps and web will be indistinguishable from each other. The new feature would allow users to use apps from a link without having to download them on their device. Google is planning to roll out this feature to users in the later half of the year. To make use of this feature app developers would have to modularise their apps.
Developers and tech enthusiasts are already singing praises about this new feature but can it help brands in any way? Ben Davis, a senior writer at Econsultancy, shares his views on how Android Instant Apps can work for marketers.
YouTube VR app
After the announcement of Daydream, a platform for high quality mobile virtual reality, at the Google I/O event, YouTube showed off its new VR centric app. The app is most likely to be full-featured with more personalisation, for users to be the pit stop for videos in virtual reality. It will be interesting to see how the navigation would be different on Daydream from that of other VR headsets like Gear VR.
Facebook tests news feed
Facebook is reportedly testing customisable news feeds allowing users the ability to control what they want to see in their news feed. The categories in the news feed run really deep, which means you have good control over what interests you the most. If Facebook rolls out this feature, it will be much easier for the marketers to target users based on their preferences.
