It is'for the past 3 years: we are we are witnessing the decline of mobile applications. Replaced by the applicationss web apps, native apps are now obsolete. Well, not so much. 2019 has signed a record in downloads, continued by the containment that led citizens to their app store.'applications. L'future of applications is bright: thanks to 5g and subscription-based services, the market is expected to cap at $90 billion.
Towards the end of mobile applications?
App Annie, the guru of'mobile data analysis'says, the2019 was marked by a 5% increase in mobile app downloads in France. of mobile application downloads in France. The good news is however to be qualified: cike any mature market, France shows a very small increase compared to the rest of the world (+45%). Moreover, it is not the new applications that are shaking up habits, it is not the new applications that are shaking up habits. The appss native are the same since 2016 Netflix, Deezer, Tinder...
How to explain such a situation?
D'On the one hand, the applicationss On the one hand, native applications are less and less in line with behavioral habits. L'requirement in terms of'commitment (download and registration) and the memory required on the smartphone encourage users to turn to other'other solutions.
From the'other side, companies are developing progressive web applications (PWA), very popular alternatives. Availables from n'any browser, thees PWA (Progressive Web Apps) correspond to pages web pages builts in responsive design. Its s requirent no download and offersnt a seamless experience. Many services are leaning towards themobile sites like delivery services (Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat...). Accessibles on all types of media, the sites fluidify the'experience d'a screen to the'from one screen to another.
PWAs also attract developers with a seductive promise: lower development costs, reduced effort, time and updates. Since thes sites mobile webs are readables everywhere, no need to'No need to have a development team for iOS and one for Android. There is also no need to double up on updates or'No need to wait for the validation of stores. The referencing is done more quickly and PWAs are not dependent ons on changing versions of the IT systems.'operating systems.
Technologies that should shape the cell phone of the future
Native apps do not'have not said their last word. Thanks to a skilful marriage between technology and circumstances, they are becoming increasingly popular.'a chance to convince again.
Argument n° 1: thethearrival of 5g. The new generation serves both users and developers. The reduction of latency will allow the creation of augmented reality apps or applications that handle sensitive data (telemedicine). To date, these development paths have not been followed.'en sont qu'at the stage of reflection.
L'most immediate impact of the 5g is in the mobile gaming. Via cloud gaming, publishers can now offer much more powerful games, with a quality close to that of console games. Usimple smartphone is enough to play multiplayer games like Call of Duty (No. 1 in the world).1 in the charts the month of its release). The cloud gaming platforms Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud have already positioned themselveses on the 5g.
Thanks to the stability and connection speed promised by 5g, companies will be able to offer'other experiences live broadcasting, Augmented Reality, voice search... No real revolution in sight, but a significant improvement of the'experience on mobile.
A pandemic context that favored the use of mobile applications
The circumstances also helped in the download of'The increase in the number of applications has slowed the decline of mobile applications. The global containment associated with theThe global containment of the COVID-19 outbreak has prompted the world's citizens to spend more time on their phones for business or personal reasons. tospend more time on their phones for business or personal reasons. This alone'in France alone, citizens spent 2.9h per day on their smartphone, compared to 2.5hours on average. As a result, pro apps, especially video conferencing apps, have seen their popularity rise.'skyrocket: the Zoom app has been downloaded 22 times more in recent months than at the end of2019. On the entertainment side, video games were the most popular (+55%) and social networks (60of the average time).
Clearly, native and web applications have a bright future ahead of them. It's up to developers and marketers to surf on the 5g in order to offer content in line with the future uses that are already taking shape.
