App-Scoop

​Mobile optimization is becoming more and more trendy these days and it is no surprise. According to Mashable in August 2013, 17.4 percent of all global web traffic came through mobile devices and this number will continue to grow in 2014. So if you don’t want to lose your piece of the pie, it’s time to step into mobile world.
Now, if you are looking to expand your company’s presence on the mobile, would you consider making a mobile app or a mobile responsive site? Firstly, let’s understand the difference between the two! 

​A mobile app is a software application that the user needs to download to access data. Mobile apps can be downloaded on smartphones, tablets and laptop computers. Whereas, a mobile responsive site is designed specifically for smaller screens or touch screens. The user is able to access the website from mobile device’s web browser.
Now, let’s take a look at the data that explains to us the time spent by the user by using the mobile app and the mobile web. 
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Through this graph, we can determine that the number of users using mobile app has been consistently growing; whereas the users using the mobile website has been stagnant. But before we come to any conclusion, we’ll need to take a detailed look at the differences between a mobile website and a mobile app. 

Which One to Choose?

Given a choice between the two, it is important that you decide what you need to choose depending on your end goal. For example, if you wish to make an interactive game, then it is best if you make an app. For example, it is much simpler to play Angry Birds on an app than on a website browser. Ideally, most mobile apps should have a mobile friendly website.

Advantages of a Mobile Responsive Site

If the goal is to market or boost public communication, a mobile responsive site is much more advantageous to help in your mobile outreach strategy.

Available instantly: The user can just click on the link to view the required content on the site; whereas the user needs to download the mobile app. There is a huge barrier between the initial engagement and the actual conversion.

Compatible across device: A website can be opened in an iPhone or an Android.

Mobile websites can be updated instantly: It’s much easier to change the design and content of the website. You can simply publish the edit once and the changes are immediately visible, whereas, in an app the user needs to install an update to use the new features.

Easy to find: It’s much easier to find a website than an app. It is much easier for users to find a website because their pages can be displayed in search results and listed in industry-specific directories, making it easy for qualified visitors to find you. 

Time and Cost: Mobile websites are much cheaper and easier to maintain and develop than an app.

Support and Maintenance: Supporting and maintaining an app (upgrades, testing, compatibility issues and ongoing development) is more much more expensive and involved than supporting a website over time.

Advantages of a Mobile App

Now let’s take a look at the advantages of a mobile app:

Interactivity/Gaming: An app is perfect for interactive games like Angry Bird, Pokémon, etc.

Personalization: Apps offer personalization, i.e. offering tailor made communication to users based on their interests, location and usage. Identifying the location, helps the application software to guide the user and offer him/her real time geo-specific content.
Procure data without internet connection: An app is also useful when the user needs to procure data on the phone without internet access. Let’s take the example of a banking app. The app has the provision to provide tax calculation, determination of loan limit, installment calculation, etc. without internet connection. Even though some mobile responsive sites allow you to access cache, you must know that they can offer very limited features.

Apps are Faster: Apps run faster than mobile responsive sites. Apps usually store their information on the mobile app which makes it faster for the user to access rather than using web servers, which sometimes have no connectivity or are slow.

Getting Notified: It’s much easier to get notified about the latest development or news rather than getting to know only when you access a website. There are two kinds of notifications: push notification and in app notification.

In app notifications are when the user receives the notification when he/she opens the app; whereas a push notification allows the software to send a notification which the users receive regardless of the activity that they are doing on their mobiles. According to a source, “There have been instances where the push medium of notifications has delivered click-through rates of 40%.”
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Users Spend More Time on Apps: As per Flurry Analytics, users spend more time on apps than mobile websites. It states, “Mobile users spend 86% of their time on mobile apps and just 14% of the time on mobile websites. Moreover, the average time users spend on mobile apps is also increasing. But a point to consider here is that users spend a majority of their time on gaming apps and social media apps.”
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Conclusion
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The mobile app v/s mobile responsive site debate can be ended with a simple solution – the end goals. If your mobile goals are marketing driven and if the aim is to deliver high end content to the client then a mobile responsive site is the answer. On the other hand, if the user wants an interactive and personal experience then a mobile app is the solution.
One must also remember that it’s not always necessary that you’d need to choose between the two. Some businesses/companies could need both a site and an app; for example, Facebook. There are many users that log in from desktops as well as use mobiles to check regular updates. Hence, it’s not always supposed to be a debate. In the end, it’s all about choosing the right tool and expanding the horizon of your business. 

You don’t need to wait for a Hollywood director to make a movie that makes digital technology look larger than life. Augmented reality has already made way into our lives, slowly but surely, through digital apps! The best thing about AR apps is that they bridge the gap between the digital world and real world.

Do you remember the Pokémon augmented reality app that became a big phenomena? ​

To explain in lay man’s terms, ​​the app developers put an overlay of digital data on top of real world objects. This was a marker-based augmented reality app.  These apps enable the software to pinpoint particular patterns when it used together with a device camera, i.e. a smart phone or a tab to overlay digital information over the real world. Hence, the players could see the different Pokémon’s sitting on tree tops or running in a garden or hidden in a restaurant. When the player pointed towards the Pokémon, they saw a virtual UI on top of the object. These kinds of apps can be used to create 3D imagery or even text over real time images.
There are also location based augmented reality apps which provide data on a specific location of the user’s devise.
 For example, Google Maps allows the user to understand his/her location and the road to their destination. This location based augmented reality apps also make it possible to know if there is traffic on the road and the fastest route to their location. Uber and Ola use similar technology to understand where their client is waiting for the cab and the client can also keep a tab on the whereabouts of the cab.
Some of the best augmented reality apps include Facebook, Snapchat, Sky Map, etc. Facebook and Snapchat allow live videos, filters of animals and also photo filters. Sky Map is an app that shows you the location of the stars when you hold the device facing the sky.

Future of Augmented Reality Apps

Originally developed or the Military, AR apps have been around for a long time. The potential of AR is vast especially in the education sector. We already have AR apps such Google Translate that helps the users to translate text into different languages. However, the only criterion is that the user needs to have some form of camera to overlay images on top of the real world. The future lies in getting over this barrier of 2D traditional computing.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s Oculus, Samsung, and HTC Vive are looking to revolutionize the supply chain issues. This technology will allow supply-chain managers to make quick decisions, save on travel expenses and increase productivity. Imagine, if supply chains could have access to 3D representation of their factory floors. The Managers could inspect issues with immersive, virtual renderings of conveyor belts in overseas warehouses using a wearable headset.

 Recommendations of AR Apps

We bring you the top recommendations of free AR apps that you must download in your Smart phone and try them out for yourself:
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Ink Hunter: Ink Hunter lets you try out pre-made tattoos, as well as your own designs, and they can be oriented in whatever position you like and placed on any part of the body. The app previously only supported black-and-white tattoos, but its latest update added support for color tattoos as well.

Quiver: Given smartphones are more tailored for adults than adolescents, the staggering dearth of AR content for children isn’t exactly surprising. Thankfully, Quiver (formerly known as ColAR Mix) works to bring your child’s 2D color books to life with animated images that spring directly from the Crayola-lined pages upon your kitchen table.

Augmented Car Finder: Augmented Car Finder is an app specifically designed to help guide you to your vehicle. Once the car’s location is set, the app creates a visible marker showing the car, the distance you are from it, and the direction you should walk to find it. It’s most useful for places like stadiums, convention centers, outdoor concert venues, and other crowded areas or those lined with massive parking lots. Users can also utilize the app to find their seats in large theaters and concert halls.

Amikasa: Amikasa helps you style your room and figure out your desired layout before you ever buy a piece of furniture. Using your iPhone or iPad’s camera, you can easily walk around your bedroom, kitchen, work office, or any other room you decide to furnish, and place 3D models of various items to see how they look, or to discover their ideal placement. This includes the ability to tweak the color, because maybe that cherry red chair suits the room better than the peach. The most recent update also added more kitchen faucets, cabinets, burners, and wallpapers, giving you even more options to design your perfect room.

Google SkyMap: Just point your phone upward when it’s reasonably dark and clear outside, and Google will point out all the different stars, constellations, and planets that are visible to your phone’s camera. It even allows users to search for specific stars and planets not presently visible on your screen. Once found, the on-screen interface and directional compass will then directly guide you to said star or planet even if it’s hidden.

​Being a top brand makes it mandatory for you to have your own application to drive engagement and get access to customers that generate revenue for your business. So, the most important thing is if you are giving your customers a good experience because word of mouth is one of the most used and effective marketing strategy to keep your customer base engaged.
Let’s take a look at 7 strategies that top brands can use to keep their mobile users engaged: 

Simplified Login Process for New Users

It is of utmost importance to create a simplified login process for customers. Keep the signup less complicated with basic fields or else the users are most likely to abandon the app. For example, Facebook’s sign up is a 5-step process; name, number or email address, password, date of birth and gender.
Once the user signs up, the app educates the users about functionality and features through gestures and actions while the customer uses it.
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Notifications

With the advent of push notifications, you can increase customer engagement by targeting messages based on the customer’s behavioral and data preferences, for example, a discount or a sale on a particular product.
We must also keep in mind, that the customers like to be in control of the content that they receive on the mobile phones, so it’s important that the application has a ‘switch on/switch off notification’ option.  
Content is King

Your brand must implement lead nurturing programs that help you identify the needs, interests and actions of the customer. Audience segmentation based of in-app behaviors and demographics can also help monetize the company’s apps with better ROI.
For example, food apps such as Zomato has content for almost all restaurants with general information, reviews, menus and highlights. They also have live updates for the week, such as discounts and offers on certain days of the week. 

Rewards

Your content might be the best, but research claims that most customers sign up on the application to get discounts, coupons, special promotions and rewards. Giving these incentives to the user can go a long way encouraging customer engagement and boosting brand loyalty. Rewards can be given for the usage of the app or by providing special discount codes.

Social Media Engagement

Showcasing your content and announcing discounts or rewards can best reach your audience with the help of social media. Social media marketing can provide a huge customer base that interacts on a daily basis. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pintrest and many other social media sites churn updated content on a daily basis.
Top brands can create engaging, personalized content by following the social media trends to attract their customers. The application can send push notifications that contain relevant content that makes the users engage with the app on a daily basis.

Make Sharing Easier

Incorporating social media apps in your application makes it easier for your user to share. You can make the user market your app by providing him/her benefits or reward points on sharing the application with a certain amount of users. When top brands make the app ‘share-friendly’, it’s easier for the customer to ‘like’ and ‘share’ on social platforms. Did you know, Instagram users have shared more than 30 billion photos and 3.5 billion likes per day? The reason is “because it’s that simple!”
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Requesting Feedback

It’s important that regular feedback is taken from the user that is engaging with the application. Users that give you a higher score, Net Promoter Score (NPS) are your app promoters, whereas, those who score the app low are ‘detractors’.
The feedback form should only have relevant fields and should be easy to fill out. Listening to the users helps you improve the app store ratings and work on the feedback. Airbnb doesn’t only ask the person who rents the place to upload a review but also the person who is the owner of the place to write a review. The feedback given by both the parties ensures transparency and allows the user to make an informed decision. 
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As we’ve understood, brand strategy for your application is an endless cycle. The customer’s expectations are increasing day by day as new apps, brands and social media strategies arise. The basic point that needs to be kept in mind is the customer’s benefit, seamless experience while using the app and easy navigation skills.
Listening to the customer, incorporating feedback and keeping your content up-to-date will help you withhold your loyal customers and draw new ones. So the questions is, are you now ready to entice your users and be the next top mobile brand?

The road to application development can be rough and rocky. There can be cost and time overruns due to inaccurate planning, ambiguous guidelines, flawed execution, and unrealistic expectations. So, what can you do to protect your valuable assets from going in vain while outsourcing your app development project? You must understand the core concepts and scepticism encumbering the world of outsourcing to discern how not to get screwed up by the app developers.

Understanding the Project and the Process

Project management and application development are specialized endeavors that require a skillful approach, professional design, top-notch quality and a resonating user experience. Such perfection comes from expert-level developers and designers. Further, there are other supportive dimensions to outsourcing such as security and analytics, facilitating ongoing support, and ensuring a robust app development. So, to guarantee you have a user-friendly, glitch-free, cost-effective app; you must become familiar with key elements within your project as well as the development process followed by the company you are hiring. 
It will be beneficial to develop an understanding about how outsourcing works for your freelanced projects and develop an understanding of the project management practices and development process followed by the outsourced company before moving forward. You can look for cues that help you identify the credibility of the processes followed by the company. 
Additionally, you should have an understanding about the platform your app will target and the devices your app will support. You must have a precise action plan and clear objectives about your target audience as this understanding helps in providing precise, unambiguous specifications to the developers to avoid any future misunderstandings.
The best entrepreneurs and credible development agencies facilitate proper documentation for all high-level requirements once the details have been finalized. The document maps your vision regarding technical product specifications. Documenting the details help the customers understand what they will receive after the development cycle. In turn, it works as a guideline to the developers and designers in mapping perceived expectation of the client to actual implementation in code and design. This practice helps in avoiding ambiguity from both ends.
Credible outsourcing organizations create a detailed project plan enlisting any milestones, deliverables at each milestone and a plan to monitor progress. Normally, progress is monitored on a weekly or bi-weekly basis via review meetings. The deliverables after every milestone are sent to the client for verification and approval. Further development is restored after receiving client sign-off. 
Sometimes, outsourcing involves hidden development costs. Before you sign your contract, beware of discussing and enlisting all hidden costs that may outflow your valuable funds. Outsourcing agencies with a strong development process also provide a warranty period that may vary between 30 days or more depending on the project size, to facilitate support and maintenance once the app goes live. 
Discuss all these details along with a well-deployed payment schedule. Break up payments throughout the app development cycle so that you only have to pay when a certain milestone is reached. And lastly, don’t forget to do thorough background research before you put your resources and funds to hire potential developers.
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Prepare for the Future
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The world of technology is ever changing at enormous pace. The development model followed by the outsourcing agency you are hiring must be flexible enough to adapt to these changes. Many times specifications change during an ongoing project. Choosing a firm that can react proactively to such situations saves you from challenges later. Look for organizations that follow an agile methodology as organizations employing such methodology perceive change as an opportunity for betterment rather than a threat. Agile methodology helps designers and developers recognize and ascertain problems much earlier than the time they occur and adjust along the way. In this manner, the developers can respond quickly to the changing market trends thereby generating huge business value.

​The Project Management Triangle is also referred as the Triple Constraint, Project Triangle, or the Iron triangle and highlights the three quality guidelines for project management: 

• The quality of work is ascertained and constrained by the estimated budget, pre-specified deadlines, and scope of the project.
• A project manager can flexibly trade between constraints.
• When changes are incorporated in one constraint, necessary counter changes must be implemented in other constraints to compensate and counter-balance the previous changes. If this practice is not followed, quality will suffer.

One scenario of adjusting constraints can be if you want a project completed fast, increase your budget or cut down on the scope. Similarly, when you increase the scope of a project, budget and schedule require equivalent adjustments. You cannot cut down on the budget without adjusting the scope or schedule for the project. And if you do, the delivered project’s quality will decline.
However, trading between constraints so quickly and adaptively is not as easy in practice as it sounds in theory. Sometimes, it simply may not be feasible.
The road to successful application development may not be a linear path. Staying informed along the way is the first and foremost step to protect you from having a poor experience with an app developer. 

​A common sentiment we have harped on in our blogs is that today’s mobile application market, like business in general, is as competitive as ever. This competition necessitates the critical element of utilizing creativity to stand out and create a unique identity through the design of a positive user experience (UX). Often, people associate UX as simply the aesthetics of an application. Nonetheless, UX transcends beyond the surface design as it implements design founded upon thorough research and continuous experimentation to deliver an enjoyable experience for mobile application users. The following 5 common UX errors highlight items to avoid to ensure app success:  

Mistake #1: Relying on One Person or One Department for the UX Design

A mobile application’s user experience ought not to be one person or department’s sole responsibility. To create the best user experience, input must be collected from a cross-section of various departments and or roles. This broad team approach will contribute to a more polished user experience as varying experience and perspectives will be funneled and incorporated into a single laser beam focus.

Mistake #2: Failure to Evolve

UX design should not have a hard finish line. Rather, a mobile application’s UX should perpetually evolve as a result of the continual experience of understanding your own mobile application, changes in the market, and by taking the time to listen and understand what current and prospective users enjoy and dislike. You may wish to have a beta version of the product tested by your core users.  

Mistake #3: Designing For Your Own Likes

Often, during development, teams develop and design applications strongly in line with their own preferences. The preferred method of UX design is to distance your own preferences and biases from genuine user preferences. It is critical for your mobile application to resonate with users and as such, you must design with user’s must-haves and nice-to-haves at the forefront of your mind. Having a user-centric mentality with all aspects of mobile application development will drive you to think about your clients and propel you to make decisions rooted in research rather than assumptions.

Mistake #4: Having a Complicated UI Design

When creating the UI, apply the KISS (Keep it Simple Silly) approach. UI has to be appropriate for the nature of the application but in general, having an unnecessarily complicated UI design will take away rather than contribute to the overall UX. This stems from the inevitable distractions and the inability for the user to locate what they are searching for. Such inability to easily and quickly access information and or complete the user’s task will inevitably cause annoyance and abandonment of the mobile application.

Mistake #5: Overwhelming Users with Excess of Valueless Features

​Similar to the previous point, less is more in terms of a mobile application’s features. Too many features may take away focus from the vital features of the mobile application. Moreover, if the cursory features are poorly developed, it has a negative effect on the main elements of the application itself and taint the perceptions of users. It is a better return on investment to build up the core strengths of the mobile application rather than provide an additional feature that is less meaningful and has less impact on the overall UX. The buffet approach of trying to cater to every user’s preferences may attract additional users but will more than often frustrate your application’s core, loyal users. Mobile applications and companies in general, create the foundation of trust by delivering their products and services to their core users and costumers in a manner that is consistent in its focus.
 

Provided that a current focus within the realm of information technology is that of mobile application development, the great magnitude of attention has brought with it competition and in turn, demand from the market requiring developers to develop products that are:

• easy to use
• perform better
• have a quick develop time, and
• cost effective

To help achieve such objectives, a hybrid mobile application called Reactive Native has been developed by Facebook to combine the above considerations to take mobile application technology to an enhanced level. Below are some of the features that make Reactive Nature enticing to developers and or their clients:

Strong community and ecosystem

​Being a product of Facebook, Reactive Native has already established a vast network of individuals interacting in forums that are aimed at idea and information sharing. These individuals are comprised of not only many of Reactive Native’s developers who are willing to share their expertise and knowledge openly and freely to the public, but members of the general public who are enthusiasts and eager to share their vast knowledge and resources which have already lead to many improvements to Reactive Nature.  

Cost reduction and code reuse

The primary reason that Reactive Native was developed was to reduce the challenges of those that were writing user interface for the internet, iOS, and Android. An estimated total of approximately 90% of the code in Reactive Native can be reused between Android and iOS. Moreover, Facebook made Reactive Native open source, which allows it to be compatible with platforms such as Windows and tvOS. Both the ability to reuse code and the open source element helps to reduce application development time, which not only makes application development less expensive but it also saves time or allows time for modifications to be made along the way.

Effective developer experience

Native app development may most of the time prove to be a tedious endeavor since it is characterized by inefficiency, inadequate time for deployment and less productivity from the developer. This is not the case with Reactive Native which adds the aspect of speed to web application development. Reactive Native’s ReactJS UI library for web application provides room for the efficient functioning of applications, simplified programming methods for hybrid mobile development and DOM abstraction. These aspects help to improve the application development timeline and enhance overall efficiency. For instance, Reactive Nature builds in efficiency because it allows for changes to be observed by simply refreshing the browser. Most alternative mobile application methods do not allow for this instantaneous feedback because the developer is required to deploy code-cycle in order to implement any change.

Can be combined with native code

Initially, Reactive Native was primarily developed to support only iOS. Nonetheless, enhancements to Reactive Native created compatibility with other operating systems. This again saves developers time, in turn saving clients’ money, since it allows Reactive Native to combine with other native codes without having to use any other frameworks.

Conclusion

​In light of the high demand for mobile application development, there was and there still is a need to simplify the mobile application development process. Reactive Native has progressed mobile application development towards achieving such an objective.  

​Creating a robust mobile application rife with value is a necessity for success. Nonetheless, success for mobile apps, akin to all products and services, is strongly dependent on effective marketing. Most mobile applications are located in the Apple or Google app stores ready for free download or purchase. The challenge, however, is for your mobile application to stand out and not fall victim to being drowned out within the ocean of more than a million mobile applications.
How does one go about marketing their mobile application to emerge from the crowd?
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​The following are 5 important mobile application marketing considerations:  

​When discussing marketing, individuals at times forget the product or service itself and only consider elements like logos, colors, taglines etc. However, what cannot be overlooked is the importance of investing the appropriate amount of time, energy, and resources in developing a product that delivers value. Marketing is a vital tool to product success but marketing alone cannot achieve, or at the very least, sustain optimum success. By developing a robust product that delivers value, the marketing for a mobile application will be easier and more effective. 

​Service can make or break the ongoing success of your mobile application. In addition and in line to the items mentioned in item 3, you can utilize the mobile application to send push notifications to the users to offer them a variety of benefits. For instance, if your mobile application is a game, you can send secret or bonus items free of charge or at discounted rates to your users. Another example is that you can allow users of a business mobile application to get additional features free of charge for a trial period or for a reduced price. Let your creativity run wild as the options are virtually endless. 

​Big or small, every organization will need to develop and execute a social media strategy. The benefits of social media are plenty! Through social media, you are able to not only create and enhance brand awareness but also do so at no cost (unless, you are purchasing adverts). A further benefit of social media is the capacity to utilize the numerous platforms as an effective communication medium for and between the application owner and the application user. This manner of communication allows for promotion, engagement, and feedback to help improve the mobile applications. Moreover, the engagement allows users to leave positive reviews within app stores, which again helps your mobile application from standing out in the crowd. 

​Every organization desires premium rankings within the application stores to obtain the most downloads and in turn, users. The way in which the rankings work within Apple’s and Google’s respective application stores differ from one another and it is important to be aware of these differences so that your mobile application can climb the rankings. Apple’s App Store rankings can be improved by ad-driven links whereas Google’s Play rankings are dependent upon application usage (the greater the application’s usage ratio per download, the higher Google Play will rank your application). With this mind, you are better able to determine where to best allocate your resources and how your marketing ought to be targeted.

​If you more than one mobile application, an excellent (and free!) way of marketing your mobile applications is to expose your users to the mobile applications you have. This can be done through push notifications, internal banners, and links within each of your mobile applications.  

For any construction project, time, planning, and effort are essential. To build a beautiful office building, management needs to invest in concrete, bricks, mortar, equipment, and human resource, among others. The same goes with application (app) development. Both front-end and back-end development take time, effort, and resources, which is why estimating the amount of time to build an app is quite hard.
So how long does it really take to build a mobile app? After the planning, strategizing, and organizing stages, most information technology (IT) companies will say that development can take anywhere from two to six months—but really it takes much longer than that.
Let’s go through the mobile app building process together. While many online IT courses will say that mobile app development is easy, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Before getting down to business and actually building the application, a lot of planning and strategizing needs to be done. This includes ironing out the concept of the application, when you want it to be launched, and who will handle the project. Pre-planning also includes assigning roles and defining boundaries, allotting budget, and setting goals, among others. 
Apart from that, you also have to check if there are applications similar to yours out there. Before getting too excited, you have to know if what you plan to introduce is new to the world—if it’s not, then you have to know how to differentiate yourself.

Before starting the design and preparation, first you have to identify which operating systems and devices you want to develop your app for—iOS, Android, Windows, all? Next, the team must get together and iron out the final details—what functions the app should have and what the app should look like.
A storyboard containing all your ideas will also help smoothen the development process. During this stage, it will also be beneficial to quickly build a prototype to ensure your plans were well thought out. Remember, quickly making a prototype is beneficial for testing purposes—it does not have to be perfect, just functioning.

The last thing you need to do before actually building your application is designing the user experience (UX). The success of your application will rely heavily on the UX, later, as dictated by the user interface (UI). Ironing out the design and codes of both of these functions is essential before the actual app development can be enacted.

After all the pre-planning and preparation, here comes the actual building of the app. Select the platform—Swift, Agile, etc.—you would like to use to build the application and start enacting your plans, making sure that the code is flawless.

After building your application, testing your program out for bugs is essential. Releasing a faulty product is always a bad thing to do. If the public sees that your application is filled with inconsistencies, there is no coming back from that. Starting strong should always be the best way to go.

​At App-Scoop, we believe every person and organization experiences one of two mutually exclusive states, either growth or decay. In an effort to educate our readers and provide insight into the latest mobile app trends, below we highlight 4 of the more exciting mobile app trends of 2017 we have observed:

​Smart apps for homes are continuing to be developed that help with monitoring and the better use of utility resources. For instance, mobile apps for the home allow users to remotely control the home lights, heating, home locks, and alter and monitor home security features from anywhere around the globe. This affords homeowners an intelligent new method to keep costs down and also addresses the rising concerns of parents and care providers to monitor their aging parents, pets, and children.
 
The Internet of Things is the interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects both household and otherwise, allowing them to both send and receive informational data. According to http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/internet-of-things-market-573.html, the Internet of Things market is estimated to grow from $157 billion (US currency) in 2016 to $661 billion (US currency) in 2021. The integration of the Internet of Things application is impacting transport, security, healthcare, energy, education, and automobiles. Given the breadth of its applicability, it stands as one of the mobile app trends to watch out for in 2017.

As discussed in http://www.ascendle.com/blog/top-7-trends-in-mobile-apps-for-2017-and-beyond, technology companies are beginning to embed their technology with more sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI). For instance, Apple has developed Siri, IBM has developed Watson and Microsoft has done the same with Cortana. This AI technology could further be commercialized to impact virtually any industry and can be utilized for any form of education, professional development and even lead to further replacement of employee jobs and job functions. Moreover, as highlighted by Hollywood films, the AI technology can be useful for personal company and entertainment. 
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​Location based services are gaining further momentum and gaining focus within marketing efforts. Mobile apps with location based services embedded allow for a business to do such things as:

• advertise at one specific store or specific stores and not across all stores;
• cross-promote with corporate affiliates or partners; and
• provide nearby customers with spur of the moment or timed specials. 

 
In essence, location based services allows a company to target customers in specified areas and engage with them through various promotional or information alerts. 
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​2017 will introduce a minor yet convenient revolution with Android Instant Apps. Android Instant Apps have the capacity to instantly load on a phone without the need of downloads or installation times. The instantaneous nature of Android Instant Apps will serve those constantly imploring for technology to become faster, stronger and more robust. Additionally, the particularly beneficial element of Android Instant Apps will be overcoming the reluctance some users may have in trying a new mobile app.
 
Technologically speaking… the future is brighter than ever!
 

​Building a technology-based start-up without a technological background is a daunting challenge to most. Although bright business and technological ideas invariably fuel excitement, the excitement often is quickly overshadowed by trepidation over the lack of technical skills and a technical background. Start-up success should be premised on the viability of the concept rather than primarily the technical execution. In spite of technological shortcomings, one can build a technology-based start-up (and eventual empire) through persistence, organization, and intelligent decisions. Below are a few rudimentary strategic ideas and elements to consider to help build a technology start-up even without a technical background. 

​Ideas may be small and simple, or large and complicated. Crystallize your thoughts and ideas by documenting them. The act of rolling up your sleeves and taking the necessary time at the outset to write down your business idea has numerous benefits to visionaries and entrepreneurs. One of, if not the most important benefits of writing down a business idea is that allows for the opportunity to gain clarity. Writing down business ideas allows one to think more clearly, creatively, and critically about what it is that they will be creating and or selling. Additional benefits of writing down business ideas are that it averts the chance of forgetting ideas, and increases excitement and follow through with ideas.

​After you have documented your business idea and formulated a business plan, it is wise to reach out to your target market to better understand the desirability and feasibility of your product or service and collect feedback to help build upon your original idea. Some of the sort of questions you would ask your target customers would be:
 

• Would your technology assist them with a current problem?
• Would they pay for it and if so, how much?

 
In the event that you require more detailed guidance in understanding the sort of questions to ask or the information you should seek, it is beneficial to take  Steve Blank’s free online class on the Udacity website. 

​Depending on your time and interests, you may wish to learn to code to help bring your tech start-up to life. Nonetheless, a more prudent use of your time may be to recruit a technical partner who can manage the technology end of the business while you work on the business itself.  Although you may be reluctant to provide a percentage of the ownership share of the company at the outset, it may be your best bet to take on a partner to progress the initial idea into a product and in turn, a viable business. In essence, when one lacks both the necessary technical skills and the monetary resources to outsource the development work, working with a partner is virtually essential. Keep in mind that a smaller share of a viable business is more valuable than sole ownership of a non-profitable business or simply just a great idea.
 
Commonly, entrepreneurs will rely on their personal and professional network to team up on tackling new start-ups. This allows entrepreneurs to work with those who they feel most comfortable with. Nonetheless, alternatives to resorting to your personal and professional networks are to create connections and recruit through various networking events, university job fairs, start-up events etc. Additionally, online tools like LinkedIn and Angel list are excellent platforms for creating connections with various technical and non-technical professionals. Like all important personal relationships in life, it is critical not to rush in selecting those who you wish to work with in starting or managing your company. Perform reasonable due diligence in determining whether the individuals you have selected not only have the capability of completing the nature of work required but also fit well personality-wise. Toxicity and disharmony among work relationships will more often than not result in failed start-ups. 

The success of all business enterprises requires marketing and an ambitious sales team as the product or service it offers must be known to potential buyers. Do not wait to have a polished product or refined service before commencing your marketing and sales efforts. In terms of branding, you can begin creating an identity through the creation of a tailored image consisting of particular colors, a logo, taglines, social media channels etc. With respect to sales, you can begin introducing the product or service to your target market even before you launch the business off the ground. Not only will it allow you to gain feedback to help you refine your product or service but it will also lay the foundation for future sales efforts.
 
Like Rome, start-ups and viable businesses are not built overnight. You have to be patient and maintain enthusiasm and drive during the entire process. Invariably, there will be challenges but resilience and drive are a part of the genetic makeup of every successful business enterprise.
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Enjoy your entrepreneurial journey!