4 Emerging Platforms for Mobile Apps

May 26, 2017
 
Ashley Rondeau

It’s an exciting time for mobile apps for many reasons, but one of the best is that apps are no longer confined to the small rectangles in your pocket or lap. These days, smartphones and tablets are not the only devices that can utilize apps, which just makes them that much more useful. Let’s take a closer look at the four platforms that are poised to be the next big venues for mobile apps.

1. Digital assistants.

It already feels like the Amazon Echo is “old news,” even if the at-home digital assistant powered by Alexa became widely available only in 2015. But now that Google Home is in the mix, and both Apple and Microsoft seem close to releasing their own standalone devices powered by Siri and Cortana respectively, this market is about to heat up.
Not to mention the recent advances in these assistant devices as well. Amazon just released the Echo Look and Echo Show that adds a camera and screen for added functionality. Furthermore, Google is already gearing up to release Google Home 2, though the jury’s out on what features it might add.

With their functionality and relatively low price tag (Amazon’s Echo Dot is just $49.99), it’s not hard to imagine these digital assistant devices becoming ubiquitous in the average home in the near future. Thus, this is a tremendous opportunity for companies to create apps that take advantage of these “hubs of the home.” Your business should do well to plan for these upgraded devices. How could your app utilize an Echo Show? Eventually, someone could say “Alexa, what’s on sale today at XYZ?” and XYZ’s app would pop up to display the appropriate items.
Apps have always been about convenience, and being available on an at-home device that’s always at the ready is about as convenient as you can get.

2. Virtual reality.

Companies are slowly figuring out what to do with virtual reality technology, and it’s poised to lead to some exciting innovations. The bottleneck is/was the headset itself. Google Cardboard was cheap, but limited and uncomfortable. Oculus Rift was comfortable and powerful, but extremely expensive. But Google, HTC, and Lenovo are all working on new headsets that are both powerful and will cost in the mid-hundreds. This may be the tipping point to bring VR to the masses.
VR, of course, has almost unlimited potential as a platform for new apps. With a whole virtual world to play in, companies can do just about anything. Facebook Spaces is an attempt to try “social” media in a whole new way, by literally making your interactions social in a virtual space. It’s gimmicky, sure, but it’s not hard to imagine people hanging out virtually who want to interact with an app all together. Maybe they want to window shop, or try on clothes, or check out a virtual restaurant. Will your company have an app that can plug into this world?

And who said VR has to be hokey or just about goofing off with friends? Researchers have been utilizing VR to advance medicine or get a 3D view of what it will be like to colonize Mars. If you run a manufacturing company, 3D modeling of products that you can actually interact with may save millions in R&D. Real estate companies can offer VR tours of properties. While creating apps for VR may be on the more difficult side of coding for the moment (meaning, an 8-week Swift bootcamp won’t nearly be enough to create a robust VR app), we’re still excited to see the possibilities in the near future as mobile apps are redefined for the VR age.

3. Augmented reality.

Augmented reality is similar to VR, but these apps overlay virtual objects in our real world. PokĂ©mon Go is still the most well known AR app thus far, but this technology has more potential to be the next big thing, even before VR, since it requires less hardware and easier-to-create apps. And companies are already taking advantage of the power of smartphones to provide a service for their customers. Lowe’s, for example, has announced a “Lowe’s Vision mobile app” that uses Google’s Tango AR technology to place virtual Lowe’s products in a customer’s home, so they can see how the object may fit in certain areas.

At the moment, the app will only work on phones/tablets that have Tango technology, but it’s an ingenious app that is a good proof-of-concept of how businesses can leverage AR mobile apps to provide another service to users.
AR apps don’t have to be complicated to be of use. Google’s Goggles app already does a great job at recognizing items in real life. By tying your app to that technology, it would be simple to pop up information on your products if customers ever want it. A great example of this is being developed for diabetes care, whereby pointing a smartphone at diabetes medication will bring up additional information in order to help people take the correct medication at the right dose at the right time. For the elderly, who can sometimes forget whether they took a certain pill or not, these AR apps can become an effective way to manage prescriptions.
Combined, the VR and AR market is estimated to be worth $37 billion in ten years. There is real potential in this technology, and companies should have these types of apps on their road map.

4. The Internet of Things (ie, everything else).

From wearables to cars to ill-conceived juicers to entire cities, the Internet of Things may eventually make every and any thing a platform that can host apps. This is both intimidating and exciting at the same time. After all, if your company can dream up a mobile app for any household device, you could probably make that happen. A company in Denmark is already working on a window that can display augmented reality objects on it. Imagine these glass panels in every home. Scary, but fascinating!

While the coming IoT revolution is nothing to really be scared about, if implemented wrong, it’s easy to see the general public being turned off to the idea. No one wants her coffee machine trying to sell her shoes. So it behooves companies to come up with smart and useful ways of putting their mobile apps on all our connected devices. And that time is now because, of the four platforms on this list, the IoT market is the one that’s booming right now. IoT mobile apps are already gaining traction, so be sure your business is not falling behind in this tech race.
What do you think of the emerging mobile app platforms listed here?

So, if you don’t know where to get started with a blueprint for your app, Rocket Farm Studios can take the pressure off.

How Mobile Tech is Solving a City’s Transportation Issues

May 19, 2017
 
Ashley Rondeau

If you’ve ever lived, run a business, or even just visited Boston, you’ve probably lamented this at least a hundred times: transportation. From the subway to traffic to the never-ending construction, getting around the city is often a headache. It’s the classic example of a glorious mess. And because of that, it’s the perfect city to see a real impact from mobile tech solutions. Let’s look at four examples of mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) technology that is reshaping how Boston gets around.

1. Public transportation ridership increases due to mobile app

A recent study by the American Public Transportation Association showed that public transportation usage is down all across the country except for just a few places, and Boston is one of them. Govtech.com asserts that when a city embraces technology, it can buck the downward trend of ridership:

In Boston, commuter rail ridership increased more than 3.5 percent while transit overall grew by 1.4 percent. A big factor behind this growth is the city’s commitment to making the transit experience more seamless for riders. For example, open sourcing the city’s data has led to better services available to riders. Now, companies are able to develop smartphone apps that inform riders of estimated arrival times and delays, a service previously unavailable.

The article goes on to say that mobile ticketing on Boston’s commuter rail has helped increase patronage, and also points to New York City’s public transportation success from investing in tech solutions. As these dense cities become even more populated, and with an eye for environmentalism, smart implementation of IoT technology seems to be the key to getting people on buses and trains and out of their cars.

2. Smarter cars mean safer driving

Boston road were basically old cow trails that were paved over when new fangled motorized carriages came into fashion. That’s why nothing makes sense and it’s a city full of weird left turns and one way streets. Add in the new problem of distracted driving and the city is seeing a surge of car accidents.
Distracted driving is a very bad use of tech. On the side of the angels though are companies pushing to bring more driverless vehicles to the city’s streets. And it’s no easy task as nuTonomy is learning as they expand to denser areas of Boston Metro:

Even though the sheer miles of roadway [are] not massive, the increase in complexity is enormous,” said Matt Wansley, nuTonomy’s general counsel.

Teaching a computer to drive in Boston might be akin to achieving the Singularity, but despite the steep learning curve, experts think we’re just five or so years from seeing this happen. This will usher in less congestion, reduced emissions, and most importantly dramatically reduced car accidents. Mobile driving tech and a more connected city that can accommodate the demanding IoT requirements are needed, but we should expect to see a drastic change to how Boston drives within the decade.

3. Tech can help taxi drivers compete, if we let them

Uber, Lyft, and other ride-share apps have taken over busy cities like Boston, and it’s no secret that this change has left many taxi drivers out to dry. Now, they’re fighting back with mobile tech solutions of their own to help them compete in a mobile-first world.
CabFare is an app that “allows a passenger, once inside a cab, to automatically record the trip and pay the fare electronically, via a Bluetooth connection between a smartphone and a device the company is distributing to participating drivers.” It has the potential to greatly improve the customer experience during the traditional act of hailing a cab on the street; something that Uber and Lyft can’t do.

Unfortunately, Boston regulators have banned CabFare from being used to pay for taxi rides “because the company is not using one of the two approved credit card processors for city taxis,” and this highlights a problem that mobile tech will run into over and over again: legislation.
Keep in mind, this tech promises to be a win/win for the taxi drivers who expect to see an uptick in ridership, and for customers who will have improved options. This will also drive competition between taxis and ride-share companies which is always good for the customer. Disruptive technology like this will always butt against old legislation and ways of thinking, so it’s up to voters and a government that embraces tech solutions to help shape a better transportation future.

4. Mobile tech that is socially conscious

Speaking of embattled Uber, many commuters have decided to forego the convenience of the ubiquitous ride-shape company due to a slew of issues. The worst of these issues have caused female users to flee in droves because they no longer feel safe using the service.
That’s where Safr comes in, which is basically Uber for women that only hires female drivers (though any gender can hail a ride). Not only does it provide a layer of security as women are much less likely to sexually assault a customer, but it provides more jobs for more women who typically earn “34% less than their male counterparts.

Transportation isn’t just about efficiency and cost. It should also be comfortable and safe for all parties involved. We hope to see more and more tech companies cater to different groups of people with different needs like Safr is doing in Boston, to show that mobile technology isn’t just about ROI, it should aim to improve lives in general.
We are living in an exciting time (and place!) as we witness how mobile technology changes how we move from point A to point B. Now, if we can just teach robots to find parking after a Nor’easter, we should be all set.

So, if you don’t know where to get started with a blueprint for your app, Rocket Farm Studios can take the pressure off.

5 Reasons Apple is Poised to Dominate the Mobile Enterprise Market

May 11, 2017
 
Ashley Rondeau

Recently, Apple CFO Luca Maestri announced that the tech company set a “new enterprise revenue record for the March quarter, and we expect this momentum to continue for the remainder of the year.” Considering that a) Apple just passed $800 billion in market capitalization (the first US company ever), and b) back in 2015 Tim Cook stated that their estimated annual enterprise revenue reached $25 billion; it may be surprising just how big a revenue source the enterprise market is for the tech giant.
Apple seems to be pushing hard to be the solution to mobile enterprise, and they just might win the market. Here are 5 reasons why Apple may beat out everyone else.

1. Greater mobile security.

Android’s problem has always been fragmentation. Even though it has a 64% share of the global smartphone OS market, that’s spread over generations of Android OS; some which are wildly outdated. In fact, less than 8% of Android devices are running the latest version:

The issue here is that older versions of Android are more susceptible to malware. One source states that a new Android malware is found every 10 seconds. But Apple’s OS has never suffered this same level of fragmentation and most devices running iOS run the latest and greatest version.
Add to this the fact that there are still generally less malware to be found on iOS devices, and enterprises who are becoming increasingly security-conscious have more incentive to choose Apple devices for their business.

2. Longer device support.

No company wants to spend time and money constantly updating smartphones, tablets, and laptops for their employees. In the mobile space, this process can range from an IT headache to a straight up nightmare of patching, bringing new devices online, or troubleshooting. Android devices have had shoddy update support since anyone can remember. Even for Google’s own phones (Nexus or Pixel line), support is limited to 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of security patches.
Meanwhile, Apple’s devices see much longer support. The article linked above points to ongoing security update support for the iPhone 5, which was released back in 2012. So if you’re running an enterprise with hundreds of mobile devices, do you want to update them every 2 years or know that even after 5 years, these devices will still be supported? It’s a no-brainer here, and if Android (and Windows) wants to compete, it needs to increase software support for at least its flagship devices.

3. BYOD is the new reality.

Of course, some enterprises are foregoing company-owned hardware entirely and are adopting a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) philosophy for its employees. In fact, this market trend is becoming quite popular to the tune of $35 billion and poised to double in a few years. But shouldn’t this benefit Android, since most people in the world use Android devices? Not so fast. We’re talking the enterprise market here, and it’s still true that higher-income people are more likely to own an iPhone.

While we’re not saying that only rich people work in enterprise companies, the numbers don’t lie: as of two years ago, the iPhone and iPad still dominated the enterprise BYOD market. Because Apple has been so successful penetrating consumers at home, the BYOD movement is just porting that success over to the business sector. Apple’s competitors are going to have a tough time battling on two different fronts that Apple already owns.

4. Big corporate partnerships.

Maestri dropped some big names in his recent conversation with analysts:

  • Volkswagen standardized the iPhone as its corporate smartphone.
  • Capital One is buying Macs for its employees, as well as Apple Watches.
  • Deloitte assigned 5,000 people to its new Apple practice.

SAP. Cisco. And of course IBM’s “MobileFirst for iOS” which might be the biggest one of them all. Enterprise after enterprise are lining up to work with Apple’s hardware and software as they move forward into a mobile-first landscape.
And Apple is making all this very easy for enterprises by pushing their Mobility Partner Program which is the company’s concerted effort to dominate the corporate market. Apple knows it has a lead here, and it’s pulling out all the stops to make sure they stay ahead of the pack.

5. The Apple brand is still coveted.

Despite missteps in the eyes of the most tech-obsessed (ie. “Macbook Pros have gone downhill!”), the brand of Apple is still the reigning king of tech. That’s why even though the Apple Watch is just so-so, they’ve found a niche with enterprise companies. That’s why they crossed $800 billion in market cap. That’s why everyone in Silicon Valley works off Macbooks. And that’s why enterprises still just want to use Apple products.
Can Android or Windows compete with this mindset that’s taken root in all of our brains? Maybe, but it’ll take them a Herculean effort. Remember, the Microsoft Surface was supposed to be the mobile device that dethroned the iPad in the corporate world. But at the moment, sales of the Surface are down and iPad sales for the enterprise market are up:

If we had to place our bets, we’d say that Apple will be dominating the enterprise space for the next few years. Anyone want to take the under on Apple hitting a trillion dollar market cap?

So, if you don’t know where to get started with a blueprint for your app, Rocket Farm Studios can take the pressure off.