The Case Against “Installing” Apps

April 4th, 2013 | Posted by Liron Shapira in App Trends | Functional Web - (0 Comments)

We see five major problems with the concept of “installing” native apps.

1. Allocates local resources too rigidly

“Shrink-wrapped software” is what we call ’90s-era desktop applications sold as cardboard boxes on store shelves. Shrink-wrapped software is the precursor to today’s native apps.

A shrink-wrapped software application has to set itself up to work 100% offline. It uses a lot of local storage space and computational resources (and requires a lot of up-front installation time on your local machine).

Web apps usually do their computational heavy lifting on server farms in the cloud, so your device only has to provide a tiny fraction of the local storage and computational resources needed to run a web app – often less than 1%.

Are native apps like the 100%-locally-running shrink-wrapped software that originated the concept of installation, or are they more like 1%-locally-running web apps? Actually, both options are overly rigid resource allocations.

A native app can be located anywhere on the local-to-remote spectrum, depending on how it splits the work between its remote servers and your local device. There might even be multiple points on the spectrum for a single app. In principle, every app’s local-to-remote ratio can be in constant flux, dynamically adjusting its local device footprint (e.g. to populate a local cache using predictions about what data the user will want to access next).

2. Has an outdated concept of “updating”

In the age of shrink-wrapped software, when a user wanted to update their version of an app, they had to get their hands on a newer CD-ROM and repeat the whole installation process.

On the web, updates are automatic and completely transparent to users – users don’t have to think about the whole concept of “updating”, nor make decisions about when to update – it just happens silently over the internet. And on the web, updates happen incrementally – users only download the updated code and data necessary for rendering their current page within a web app.

Today’s native apps have the technology to update automatically like websites do – they have access to an internet connection most of the time. And today’s native apps have the technology to update incrementally – they’re often architected as a hierarchical combination of functional components (e.g. a payment-processing component, a map-rendering component, etc), and in principle the individual components of an app can update incrementally just like the individual pages of a web app.

But in many cases, updating native apps is neither automatic nor incremantal today. There’s no technical reason for this, but there is a conceptual reason. Our outdated concept of installing apps is responsible for our outdated concept of updating apps.

3. Is device-specific

It’s nice that you only have to install an app once per device (until an update becomes available, that is). But if you install an app on one of your devices, chances are you’ll also end up installing it on your other devices. And if you want to use your app when you’re at a friend’s house, you might end up installing it on your friend’s devices too.

You’re bound to encounter lots of app-enabled devices in your life. Why should you have to worry about installing your apps on every device you encounter? Device-specificity is just an arbitrary limitation of installation.

Web apps don’t have that limitation because they’re prepared to be launcehd from a state of zero local resources. If you use the OkCupid web app on your laptop, you can go to your friend’s house who has never used OkCupid, and instantly log into your OkCupid account by typing"www.okcupid.com" into their browser.

It’s a good bet that native apps will eventually drop the concept of device-specific installation. They can copy web apps’ incremental downloading solutions, and they can even go a step farther.

For example, one day you might be able to configure the device in your pocket to constantly signal your presence to the other devices in the vicinity that you might be able to use. The nearby devices will silently make predictions about which apps you’re most likely to want to use on them, and preemptively download relevant resources to be ready to run these apps quickly.

4. Adds up-front wait time

Shrink-wrapped software taught users to expect long wait times for mysterious progress bars called “installers”. A shrink-wrapped software installer might take a few minutes to copy an application’s files from a CD-ROM onto your computer’s hard drive, and then run configuration scripts to register it with your operating system.

Nonzero up-front wait times are a fact of life for any kind of app, but at least web apps address the problem proactively. Web developers routinely think about incremental downloading - programming their web apps to always download the smallest fraction of code and data necessary to provide the current user experience.

The web has taught us to expect instant gratification. Point your browser to a web app and you might have a bit of up-front wait time, but the web’s progress bars fly by at warp speed compared to shrink-wrapped software’s.

Today’s native apps have brought back the installation process.

On the plus side, the native app installation process makes life easy for app developers; it saves them the work of figuring out incremental downloading solutions. But developers can’t afford to comporomise user experience for their own convenience.

Just look at how much work Instagram‘s developers put into making a snappy experience for their users. Their native app has a clever scheme for uploading a user’s photo while they’re writing a caption and tweaking various options, so they never have to wait on a progress bar.

Apps like Instagram, with that level of focus on user experience, would do anything to minimize their users’ up-front wait time. Their installation step seems out of place in today’s world of instant gratification.

5. Breaks linking

Web apps have an extremely useful feature that shrink-wrapped software never had: linking. On the web, we take it for granted that Instagram photos and OkCupid profiles have URLs and are linkable.

Native apps installed on your device also have the ability to open certain links, but the installation requirement makes it risky to send around links to apps. For example, if you have one of IMDB’s apps installed on your device, then a link to imdb:///title/tt0114709 will launch it and go directly to its Toy Story entry.


But if you don’t have an IMDB app installed on your device, that same link will take you to a screen like this:

That’s why people share links to web apps all the time, but rarely share links to native apps. Native app platforms have weakened the concept of linking while strengthening the concept of installation. They really should be doing the opposite.

Conclusion

Developers will always try to maximize monetizable value for users. That’s what drives the long-term trend toward a web of high-level functions – the Functional Web.

Native app installation forces users to think about low-level concepts – which device they’re installing on, how much storage space it has, and when to upate. Plus, it makes users wait longer for apps up-front and it breaks in-app linking. In the Functional Web model, native app installation is a low-level implementation detail that gets abstracted away from users.

In a previous post, we saw how the Functional Web abstracts away the native-to-web app spectrum. In the first section of this post, we saw how the Functional Web can potentially abstract away the local-to-remote app spectrum. It’s also a good bet that the Functional Web will abstract away the installed vs. not-installed app dichotomy.

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How to Court Mobile Gamers

January 24th, 2013 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends - (0 Comments)

How is this game so good at killing my productivity?

Many know the feeling. Angry Birds. Fruit Ninja. Tiny Wings. Draw Something. Words With Friends. Temple Run. Temple Run 2. The list goes on. What starts as a harmless romance turns into quiet determination, then blatant obsession, and most inevitably, a messy break up.

                                 

Mobile game addiction has always been somewhat of an enigma from a consumer standpoint. When it comes to developers, however, a proven method for success has started to emerge. According to a study by Flurry, the most successful companies in the new mobile economy very closely monitor consumer behavior differences by game genre, enabling them to make informed decisions when it comes to developing apps with high retention rates and solid monetization strategies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on the x-axis (90 day retention) and y-axis (Frequency of use per week), landing in quadrant I is the goal of all mobile game developers. This symbolizes games that build a loyal following through social means (Words With Friends – 15.1 Million monthly avg. users), or catch fire on their own and succeed monetarily through the ever-popular freemium model (Temple Run 2 – 20 Million downloads in four days). Let’s be real—you’ve at least been tempted to buy more gems after falling off the edge in TR2. Don’t worry, we won’t judge if you did.

Quadrants II-IV are the genres that either fail to maintain longevity with users, don’t engage users enough short-term, or both. Strategy games often capture a fan base well, but for only a short time—i.e. Letterpress. It’s fun, but the charm wears off quickly. Quadrant IV represents genres that are the opposite—poker games, Solitaire, and “endless” games like Drop7 (think Tetris with numbers)—which don’t have a lot of depth, but users return to over a long period of time. Finally, Quadrant III represents genres of games that along with a low frequency of use, don’t present as many opportunities for monetizing the user because the content and game mechanics can be more involved (i.e. “skill” games like The Walking Dead).

Taking this data into account, it would seem that the best practice is to abandon genres such as action, card battle, and casino, and focus on implementing a social element into whatever idea strikes one’s fancy. This is not necessarily the best course of action to take — what it really comes down to is leveraging this information about genres and applying it to a few key golden rules when getting down to the dirty work:

  1. User experience is crucial: Mobile game developers (MGDs) that ignore the in-app experience ignore both their potential user base and the prospect of gathering revenue. If users aren’t attracted to the experience of using your app, they’ll spend less time in it. This hurts retention rates, which in turn makes it difficult to display advertising to users or engage them with in-app purchases.
  2. Deliver relevant advertising in a nonintrusive way: If you’re relying on ads to generate revenue, know your user base so you can deliver them ads that won’t detract them from wanting to spend time within the app. Don’t frustrate them by showing ads at the height of the gaming experience.
  3. Keep them coming back: Regardless of the genre you choose, your game will benefit from rewarding users who come back. Whether that’s the “just one more level to see some cool stuff” effect, or the fact that all their friends are playing (Fear of Missing Out, a.k.a. FOMO, is a real thing), you need to instill some kind of longevity into your game.

So if you’re a developer, it’s valuable to take note of these points if you’re taking a swing at trying to create the next big game. As the mobile industry continues to expand, there’s bound to be a great deal of jostling amongst people like you trying to land a slice of the pie. If you’re a player, it’s important to realize that no matter how sick you’re bound to get of said next big game, there will always be another one ready to draw you back into a tumultuous relationship. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

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Apps are the Sixth Sense

January 17th, 2013 | Posted by Liron Shapira in App Trends - (0 Comments)

This post was written by Liron Shapira, CTO.

The Quixey team was at CES 2013 last week, and this year it wasn’t just about the meetings - I actually found some time to visit the show and take in the booths.

The trend that struck me is that apps are becoming the sixth sense. Here are five companies at CES 2013 which are augmenting our natural five senses.

Lumoback

As you’re sitting and reading this, can you feel your spine? Do you know if it’s at the right angle? Because that’s what a LUMOback device can sense for you.

I talked with Charles Wang, MD, co-founder of LUMOback, at their CES booth. Charles told me that people are often surprised with what LUMOback senses:

It’s hard to be aware of your posture and actually sense it. When people look at the LUMOback avatar and notice that it’s green, most of the time they would have thought they were sitting really far forward. But the reality is that they’re sitting up straight.

By the way, I noticed Charles’ own back posture looked really confident and upright.

Withings

I bet you’re still using a low-tech solution for measuring your weight and heart rate. Withings makes an app that displays data from their proprietary health-sensing devices. Their high-end offering is the Smart Body Analyzer.

As you would expect from the bathroom-scale form factor, the Smart Body Analyzer senses your weight when you step on it. But thanks to that metal part in the middle, it can also meausre your body fat and heart rate. Oh, and it constantly measures your indoor air quality.

SmartThings

Want to sense more about the objects in your house? SmartThings makes sensors for everyday objects, and lets you dynamically program behavior. If you’re not home and someone comes to your door, a SmartThings motion sensor could send you an email about it.

SmartThings has a growing offering of products, and the possibilities are endless – like combining their open/shut sensor with their smart power outlet to turn off your air conditioning if anyone opens a window.

MyBrainSolutions

You know parents would love to sense? The precise, real-time development of their child’s brain. Luckily, there’s MyBrainSolutions. They offer a web app with games for kids. Little do the kids know, the games are actually mental tests. And they all feed into a dashboard for parents to track thinking skills, emotion skills, feeling skills and self-regulation skills.

Beam

So you want a sixth sense? How about an entire sensory presence?

Beam is a telepresence technology that lets you participate in events like CES from the comfort of your own laptop and webcam. Videoconferencing isn’t a new invention, but Beam is taking it up a notch by letting you remote control a robot that has your face. At CES, I talked with a robot embodying a saleswoman who was working remotely from Palo Alto, California.

After I took that picture, the Beam sales representative turned away and started wheeling toward another CES attendee visiting the booth. She didn’t have to be in the room to be an effective saleswoman on the floor!

Conclusion

Seeing all these sixth-sense apps at CES was eye-opening for me because it highlighted the limits of human perception. Like when I think the air quality in my bedroom is fine, it might actually be steadily declining. When I think my house is warm and cozy, there might actually be an open window. When I think my child is doing well in school, their brain’s development might actually be lopsided toward one type of intelligence. And when I videoconference into a meeting, I’m still missing the sense of walking around the office and talking to people one on one.

I’m looking forward to living in 2013 with an increased sensory awareness of my body and my surroundings, thanks to apps.

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What’s a Smartphone without Apps?

October 5th, 2012 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends | Culture | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

To be blunt, it’s just a brick.

As smartphones become more a necessity and less a luxury in our day-to-day lives, it’s important to take a step back and consider how we got there. Is it the simplicity of navigating the world thanks to Google Maps? Is it the convenience of having email right at our fingertips? Is it the ease with which we can communicate with family and friends through calling, texting, and various social networks?

The answer is, has been, and will always be, apps. Even the most basic of functions on your smartphone—phone, messaging, calendar—are apps, though you might not think of them that way. We at Quixey like to define apps broadly—as simple tools that add functionality to a platform.

With that definition in mind, consider the way you call people on a smartphone. The call feature appears as an icon on every home screen, but you don’t think twice about its similarity to other apps because it’s the most fundamental aspect of your phone. However, just because you have a default calling app, doesn’t mean that it’s the only, or even the best one available.

So what you think of as the “phone” in your smartphone isn’t glued to your home screen. You can download a number of calling apps, like Viper, to replace it. Similarly, you can select from a number of alternative messaging apps, like biteSMS, to swap for your default texting app. What your device offers is a clean slate for you to customize. It’s up to you to pick apps that maximize functionality.

The different apps you download, from games to organization tools, in some sense serve the same purpose—they’re add-ons that breathe life into your smartphone.  So taking a good hard look at the way your apps are arranged is valuable—which ones do you let just sit there, because they came with the phone? How can you swap out certain apps to make your phone better? The app ecosystem has exploded over the past few years following the success of Apple’s App Store (which hit 25 billion downloads earlier in 2012), proving that there won’t be a shortage of unique apps to choose from anytime soon.

In some ways, a home screen is the ultimate form of expression. When you use a device all day, every day, you project everything about yourself onto its interface. Some smartphones are littered with games and gimmick apps. Some have all apps neatly organized into folders. Everyone’s home screen is unique, and that’s because we all value certain apps differently depending on the way we access them on a daily basis.

A smartphone without apps isn’t a smartphone at all. Take away the nearly-limitless potential of added functionality on each of our iOS, Android, or Windows devices, and we might as well be carrying around dusty old rotary phones. That’s why we at Quixey care so much about enabling the user to find apps that do exactly what they want. If they’re the key to transforming your smartphone from a brick into an invaluable do-it-all device, then we want to make sure you can do just that with as little effort as possible. So take a good look at your smartphone’s home screen and imagine how it would look if it was just blank.

We know, we cringed too.

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What is an app?

August 16th, 2012 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends | Uncategorized | Vision - (0 Comments)

Quixey is the search engine for apps: we help you find apps that do what you want.  But what are apps?  It turns out to be a tough but important question.

The term “app” became popular with the development of mobile platforms like iOS and Android.  As more and more people began to use smartphones, our understanding of apps became focused on mobile apps.  This shift makes sense, but it doesn’t give us a complete picture of what apps really are.

At Quixey, we define apps as simple tools that do what you want.  Above all, apps are useful and apps are everywhere.  Let’s talk about what that means.

Apps are useful
All apps help you do something you want to do.  Some inform, some entertain, and some connect. Whatever their purpose, apps add value by providingthe specific functionality you need, when you need it.  This is why our search engine asks you the question, “What do you want to do?”  At Quixey, we believe that apps are defined first and foremost by how they’re used, by what they can do for you.

Apps are everywhere
Apps live wherever you are.  Whether on a desktop or a tablet, on an iOS or an Android smartphone, you can access apps that help do what you want.  Let’s look at Dropbox to see how the same app exists on many platforms.

Dropbox is an app.  It lets you store your files in the cloud and access them across all of your devices.  Whether you access Dropbox from your computer, your iPad, or your Android smartphone, the underlying app remains the same.  You are accessing the same app and the same data regardless of what platform you access it from.

Why is this important?
By thinking of apps broadly, as simple tools that add value across platforms, we are challenged to build the most comprehensive app search engine possible.  Quixey can help you find apps on platforms as diverse as iOS, Salesforce, and Chrome.   Wherever you go, no matter what device you use, Quixey can help you find the right app for what you want to do.  We focus on finding the app that you need, then we tell you where to find it.

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With Unlimited Information Available, App Developers Help Make it Useful

July 15th, 2012 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Imagine a river of information streaming from connected devices everywhere: your fridge monitors the items placed within, letting you know what’s about to expire; traffic sensors provide real-time notification of a slowdown on your route to work; the lights in your apartment signal whether they’ve been left on…the possibilities are limitless.  This type of information exists already and the reach of this Internet of Things grows exponentially each year. However, the information layer that’s spreading all over the world is often just data, unstructured and messy, that needs to be processed into something useful and functional. The key to leveraging this data is apps.

Apps leverage the information layer and process the data into convenient solutions for particular problems.  They provide the useful information and functionality you need, when you need it.  Take the example of the lights in your apartment.  In some sort of digital home environment, your lights are connected to the internet. Your lights send intermittent signals about their status, are they on or off?  That’s great, but the data itself isn’t enough.  That’s where apps come in.  If you’ve left home and can’t remember if you left the lights on, you can pull up an app on your phone and see that, yes, the lights in your kitchen are still on.  From there, just hit the off button on your phone, and your kitchen lights turn off, miles away.

The app I just described is a smart, efficient solution to a particular problem.  It turns all the data created by connected devices in your apartment into actionable information, that the kitchen lights are on, and offers the functionality to turn them off.  All this takes place wherever you have an internet connection.

As the information layer continues to spread, as connected devices become more and more ubiquitous, we will rely on apps to make that information useful and actionable.  The future belongs to those who can best leverage the information layer.  Thankfully, no matter what you want to do, apps can help–and Quixey can help you find the right one.

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How to Make a Killer App

December 23rd, 2011 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends - (0 Comments)

This post was written by Julia Lipton, Director of Marketing and Communications.

With millions of apps, why do certain apps become popular? How can developers build killer apps?

We’ve found that lots of super popular apps have three things in common:

    • Leverage social platforms
    • Avoid the first start problem
    • Design a great user experience

Let’s use Spotify, which gained a large share of the US streaming-music market shortly after its launch, as a case study.

Full disclosure: I’m a Spotify addict (but I’m not being paid by them, despite what my co-workers might say to the contrary).

Leveraging social platforms

Developers should take full advantage of what social platforms have to offer. Spotify did – they took advantage of the Facebook platform for the US version of their app. Their logic was simple: since all your social connections are on Facebook, they could build the ultimate social music experience there.

Before Spotify, a slew of other apps vied for a piece of the social music streaming space without leveraging a social platform as a means of growth. For example, Last.fm created a social experience within their destination site because Facebook wasn’t around when they launched in 2002.

Last.fm’s social registration process had too much friction. First you had to create an account. Then you had to download a desktop app that tracked what you were listening to. Then you had to convince all your music-sharing buddies to do the same. Finally, you had add your friends’ usernames to your Last.fm friends list.

By leveraging Facebook, Spotify cut out almost all these steps and tapped into Facebook’s massive audience to build a community of their own. I didn’t have to convince my friends to join, because my friends were already there.

Today, trying to create a social music-sharing app without tying into a social platform seems crazy. No wonder Last.fm added Facebook Connect in June and built an app on top of Spotify’s platform in late November.

Avoiding the first start problem 

It doesn’t matter how great your social product is if people don’t use it. But if your app depends on having a large network of users to be compelling, how do you get initial traction? The answer is that you can attract users to your product by building value for individual users.

Even if none of your friends use Spotify, it still offers a compelling value proposition: an unlimited source of free streaming music. You can listen to full albums, create your own playlists, subscribe to other people’s playlists and listen to online radio stations. If you build an app with this kind of value proposition for your first users, you can bootstrap to the critical mass of users you need to achieve a network effect.

Even if your app isn’t social, it’s important to think about how it’s going to gain initial traction. Don’t launch your app until you have a solid go-to-market strategy.

Designing a great user experience

We’ve all heard that “the customer is always right.” In the app world, the user is always right. If users aren’t returning to your product, it doesn’t mean they don’t “get it.” It means your product isn’t sticky enough.

Apps need to be simple, intuitive, easy to use and enjoyable. Spotify isn’t the first app to have playlists, radio channels, social sharing, artist biographies and a huge music library. But it’s the first app that made these things into a great user experience by being easy to use and seamlessly social.

Spotify is only one of many app success stories. If you can manage to leverage social platforms, avoid the first start problem, and design a great user experience, you can propel their level of massive growth for your own app.

[Infographic] – The Mobile App Ecosystem

December 15th, 2011 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends | Functional Search | Functional Web | Press - (3 Comments)

Since we have the world’s largest database of apps, we thought it was about time we crunch the numbers, and share some information with the world. We hereby present the first ever Quixey infographic!

We are obsessed with apps, math and everything else infographics. So stay tuned, and let us know what you’d like to see in the next one at @quixey and facebook.com/quixey!

Check out the full story on TechCrunch, “If Freemium Is In, Then Why Do Paid Apps Still Reign Supreme?“

What You Need to Know about the Chinese App Market

November 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends | Industry News - (0 Comments)

This post was written by Julia Lipton, Quixey’s Director of Marketing and Communications.

A few weeks ago, I visited China with my family. I’ve always been fascinated by China, so I was eager to geek out in the tech world outside of Silicon Valley. While I was there, I stopped by TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, spent some time with our Chinese VC (WI Harper – a truly incredible firm), chatted with hundreds of consumers and spoke with lots of VCs.

During my trip, it became blatantly clear that China is a market that developers should pay attention to. It’s the largest mobile market in the world, with the most apps and the most usage. Yet it’s still an emerging market with plenty of time left to get in the game.

But developers in China have to be careful. It isn’t always easy to develop apps there due to competition, copycatting and market fragmentation.

The Market Basics

  1. The sheer size of China’s mobile market makes it impossible to ignore. There are over 850 million mobile users in China. Moreover, mobile internet usage is surpassing PC internet usage.
  2. Android is currently the dominant mobile platform in China. But the majority of consumers say they their next device will be an iPhone, which is relatively new to China. And iOS developers are in high demand.
  3. The market for Android apps is highly fragmented. Unlike the US, where almost everyone uses Google’s Android Market, China has over 70 separate Android marketplaces, seventeen of which have significant user traction. Of those seventeen, nearly all are third-party players. Fun fact: You won’t see China Unicom, Baidu or Google in the top seventeen Chinese app marketplaces. Amazingly, almost every Android smartphone user I spoke to uses at least two marketplaces regularly.
  4. The Chinese are heavy app users. While most countries have increased their app usage (defined as the time spent using apps) by anywhere from 300% to 500% on average over the past year, China has jumped ahead by a tremendous 870%. So what are they using all these apps for? The Chinese are obsessed with local, mobile social and gaming apps (even more than US consumers).

Consumer vs Enterprise Apps

  1. The consumer app market is tough for developers because copycats often publish successful knockoffs overnight. Not to mention, stealing source code is considered a legitimate business model.
  2. If you don’t have defensible technology — and even if you do — you’re running for your money in China. Developers are cheap, and if they can create it overnight, they will.

    For example, a knock-off company owns Groupon.cn and operates it exactly like the American company. There are actually 2,000 companies in China running various Groupon clones for the aggregate buying market.

  3. The market for apps is so large that developers only need a small slice of the pie to be successful – that’s why they keep entering this fiercely competitive market.
  4. The Chinese market is hot right now, and app companies are getting sky high valuations. When I stopped by TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, multiple VCs told me the same thing: Valuations are high, and a $50+ million series A is not uncommon for an app development company. Protip: If you’re a US developer, consider raising money in China. These VCs seem to think you’re worth a ridiculous amount of money.

Tips for Developers
Everywhere I went, people were eager to give me pointers about developing apps in China. So I thought I’d share them with you here.

  1. The Chinese language is difficult and it can’t be ignored. If you want to enter the Chinese market, you need to support Mandarin.
  2. Not all of China is the same. China is a big country with over 1.3 billion people. Know your target market and have a launch strategy so you can start building a critical mass within key communities.
  3. You have to move fast. If you don’t move fast, someone else will move faster.
  4. Valuations are higher in China. In the past quarter, VC funding in the Chinese market increased by 84%, up to $1.3 billion. According to VCs, many pre-launch companies start with valuations in the tens of millions.
  5. Chinese app developers rarely innovate. Rather, they look at what succeeds in the US market and recreate it locally. Everyone is “the [blank] of China”. (After walking through the Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, where developers were launching new apps, I can confirm this is definitely true.)

The Chinese market has a lot to offer developers – most importantly, lots of users. Although the competition can be fierce, savvy developers will realize the importance of the Chinese app space as it continues to grow.

We Want More Than Just Static Content

October 28th, 2011 | Posted by Quixey in App Trends | Technology Trends - (0 Comments)

Last week, a video went viral that captures how technology is changing human behavior. The video, “A Magazine is an iPad That Does Not Work,” shows an adorable one-year-old girl frustrated by the lack of functionality in her magazine. From a toddler’s perspective, paper is just a broken touchscreen.

YouTube Preview Image

Times have changed. This toddler will never pick up a magazine at the grocery store or buy a textbook at the bookstore. She’ll probably never visit a newsstand or unfold a road map.

In today’s fast-paced world, we want more than just static content, we want the dynamic interaction that comes with apps. For the digital native generation, touchscreens will be the only way to access content, and the portal to the app world.

This isn’t just about the one-year-old girl. We all want more functionality in our lives, and technology is evolving rapidly to meet our needs. It is only a matter of time before we’re all saying, “Remember the days before apps, when things were in print?”