Regardless of where you live in the world, there’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected every one of us. It is evident in how we now have a need for a new normal, and that every major facet of society, be it education, business, or healthcare, has been heavily impacted. The community lockdowns have forced people to confine themselves within their homes. Many businesses have shut down, and the economy, in general, has slowed.
And while we can never say that the pandemic has brought any good at all, what we can say is that we have been forced to adapt and rethink many things because of the pandemic. We’ve begun to discard things we’ve held on to for so long in favor of modern solutions. One silver lining of the pandemic is the new path we are forging for ourselves when it comes to the technology available to us. Had we not been forced to do so; we would still be stuck with the archaic methods of teaching that have remained unchanged for centuries. We’ve seen a significant improvement in the health of the environment, and we’re now forced to come up with new ways to survive.
One of the changes that we need to embrace is that our mobile devices and the mobile apps that run on them are more important now than ever.
How are they now more important?
The fact that we have to stay home already demonstrates this. Our movements are hindered, businesses are limited in terms of operating capacity and are thus unable to cater to the demand for goods and services. We also need a more effective way to ensure that students receive quality online education. These are challenges that we cannot face without the help of technology that is available to the vast majority of people. After all, what use is a solution when only a handful of people can benefit from it, while the rest of society suffers from the problem it was meant to solve?
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How important will the mobile app industry be?
According to this statistic, mobile app revenues have been on a steady rise since 2014. This trend is projected to continue its upward slope in the coming years. While this is the projected trend, the pandemic has no doubt caused a major surge in this trend, especially considering the fact that the vast majority of people use the internet for a wide variety of things, whether it’s for business, entertainment, or information. During times when social distancing is encouraged, the reign of mobile apps can only be cemented further.
What makes mobile apps so crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic?
The primary reasons that the demand for mobile apps and their developers is spiking are:
1. Online shopping
Nobody knows how much longer we will have to endure the Coronavirus pandemic. It is also for this reason that many people went panic buying when news of the onslaught of the virus spread. This presents a logistics problem in that many stores are quickly running out of stock, which in turn, causes those very stores to close down.
Shopping apps help control the flow of these goods through proper planning and by providing consumers with a convenient purchase method. Online shopping apps can only become more popular given the fact that even when we’re under strict lockdowns, the needs of consumers remain, and so does the demand for certain items.
2. Contactless deliveries
The rapid spread of COVID-19 infections has undoubtedly increased the fear of people globally, enough that communities exercise social distancing and also do their best to minimize their interactions with other people. While this hurts businesses in the food industry, delivery services have given these businesses a second wing through which to try to recover.
About 95% of American families make use of at least one food delivery app and this is a mute but eloquent testament to the demand for these services.
3. Information dissemination
Even though the virus has affected the vast majority of people, the irony lies in the fact that many people know dangerously little about the virus. The fact that the smartphone is the world’s most popular prosthetic makes it a prime platform through which to send information. But, as you may have already guessed, in order to do that, we need apps that are designed to do exactly that.
These apps don’t even have to be tailored to fulfill that specific function. In fact, even the use of pop-up notifications by other apps can already fulfill the goal of disseminating important information.
Note: there is, however, the problem that these apps, as useful as they are at spreading information, can also be used to spread misinformation if left with the wrong people. This is where the reputation of a brand and an app become paramount. People need to find trustworthy sources.
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4. Additional business revenue
Besides all these benefits that we’ve previously mentioned, mobile apps also rake in additional revenue for the businesses that use them, not only do they enable businesses to get in touch with their target market, but some apps also create new revenue streams through in-app purchases and subscription services. When we consider the current state of the economy, any income is income that is valuable.
So, even as we’ve already established the reasons why apps and app development are both in high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, that information isn’t going to be of much use if you don’t know which types of apps to invest your efforts in. Luckily, we’ve got that covered too.
What app types enjoy a high demand?
1. Healthcare apps
I think it’s easy to see why the global healthcare market has spiked in value since the pandemic. The demand for doctors and medicine is overwhelming and by extension, so too are healthcare apps that help guide users in self-diagnosis and self-treatment. Some healthcare apps help users get the consultation they need with their doctors without having to expose themselves to the COVID-19 threat as well as the innate dangers that hospitals have.
2. Social media apps
Not only are social media apps a source for entertainment and information, but they also serve as a means for communication between friends and families. They help people check up on each other, and social media apps even function as a marketplace for people to buy and sell items they need. Let’s not forget the fact that these apps also provide a welcome distraction from the upheaval that we are all enduring.
3. Online education apps
Education is a very important facet of life; one that simply cannot be put on hold for too long. Not only will this cause delays for a student in the long term, but this will also deprive the economy of a major source of income. Schools will not be able to generate income if there aren’t professors to teach and students to enroll. Thus, the need for apps that are geared toward facilitating online education is dire, especially when you consider that we not only need to ensure that students are able to receive the quality education that they pay for, but also that teachers are able to validate the results yielded by student outputs by preventing cheating.
Online education apps will also help create a more streamlined experience by creating a system through which students and teachers may interact on a secure channel and so that the activities given by teachers are recorded and computed swiftly and accurately.
Despite the many complaints from both the studentry and faculty of many schools, online education might just be the innovation that the education sector has long needed. It is completely possible to acquire a good education online as long as online sessions are executed properly. What we need now, more than ever, are good ideas, an app to allow users to benefit from that idea, and the developers to create the app and to ensure that the app not only functions well but also delivers a pleasant user experience.
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App security
Another reason why we need well-developed apps is that the internet is also home to cybercriminals. This creates a worrisome number of vulnerabilities that endanger each and every user. And with scenarios such as this, it is not merely the brand’s reputation that is at stake, but also the sensitive data of the brand’s patrons. It is for this reason that you need reliable software developers to ensure that the apps that you intend to launch are secure.
“We all know the dangers that come with data leaks and how they can harm a person’s finances as well as his or her reputation.” – as nicely explained by Hassan Basharat, the Executive Director at GoodCore Software, in his recent press release.
Apps are the future and they have been for the past eight years. The demand for apps can only increase. Especially when we consider the fact that there doesn’t seem to be an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is for this reason that investors might want to strongly consider investing their resources into app development.
