Mobile software development has enhanced almost every aspect of our lives so quickly that most people don’t quite realize it. Our smartphones are constantly fixed to our hands and we couldn’t imagine going back to the Luddite days without relying on some function of technology, the Internet of Things, or using something digital. But some industries are leaps and bounds ahead of the others when it comes to rolling out mobile software that seems so intrinsic to our lives. How are these top three industries – of finance, entertainment, and personal health – utilizing the benefits of mobile software technology?
Finance
One of the most important industries for growing mobile software is the finance industry. Mobile banking has seen a meteoric rise, with disruptors such as Monzo offering a new way of banking that matches the needs of customers – especially millennials. The app allows for ease of payment between friends, savings schemes that help people track their expenditure, and detailed analysis to help budget better and make money go further. With a million customers at the start of 2019, the end of 2021 may see that figure increase fivefold.
Indeed, software also exists to help people get involved with online trading. People can use apps and programs to gain a crash course in forex trading, stocks and shares, and even manage investment portfolios. This helps bridge the gap between those who trade regularly and those afraid to take the plunge, by providing resources and chances to test out trading before exchanging money. The growth in mobile software in the financial sector helps present a challenge to long-established and often stuffy banking companies.
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Entertainment
The entertainment industry is all-encompassing, but most aspects have benefitted from mobile software development that has seen a boost in business and a commitment to developing technological solutions for the future.
Streaming services such as the genre-defining Netflix, Disney+, and Hayu have optimized for mobile to enable people to watch on a range of devices. Music streaming sites are also booming, forcing long-term players such as YouTube to up their game to compete – through its pay-for ad-removal service and its streaming for gamers. However, mobile-first Quibi seems to have failed to achieve any of its metrics and is being touted as one of the most expensive flops in history. This provides an interesting lesson in how mobile software could and should be deployed in the entertainment sector.
But mobile software for gaming is continuing to flourish. Gaming has been up on last year every month so far, promising further investment for the industry and how it utilizes software. For example, Pokémon Go continues to achieve a healthy number of downloads, four years on from its inception, and there are many other examples of the same AR software since being implemented – i.e. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Moreover, for those who want to play mobile slots for free there are many opportunities as online casino providers are ensuring that customers know they are optimizing for mobile as best as possible and taking advantage of growing mobile enhancements such as the ability to run on faster internet. Furthermore, software that interacts with smartphones has enabled campaign games that may be streamed to Twitch, such as League of Legends, Fortnite, and Minecraft, to be better accessed on mobile devices.
Personal Health
The personal health industry has seen a boom when it comes to software, especially for mobile. January 2020 began with the Peloton launching and gaining mixed results, yet it showed just how integrated exercise and personal health and fitness technology could be with the personalized classes and connectivity between body and machine. Moreover, FitBit (and its rivals) use the IoT in order to present you with a more scientific analysis of your exercise regime, which helps to achieve goals, track progress, and create a data-driven snapshot of your fitness.
Personal health has even been gamified, as the app Zombies, Run! shows. The app features a game to be played while out running that sporadically forces you to run faster when zombies are approaching. It utilizes fitness tech and game tech to combine the two for those who need more impetus to exercise. Moreover, innovative Australian company PixelForce has developed an app, Fitbotic, which helps track fitness through motion detection (such as automatically registering repetitions in bodybuilding). The icing on the cake for Fitbotic is that it pays you through credits for doing your exercise routine.
Mobile software doesn’t just come from smartphones, but from anything that isn’t fixed down. Wearable tech, such as smartwatches, and mobile-optimized sites are as important for delivering software solutions to mobile-savvy consumers as apps are. While finance, entertainment, and personal health are gaining from the more obvious benefits of mobile software, there are countless other industries embracing the technology. This means that there will be an investment drive for the base technology, which will ultimately lead to wider adoption.
