The Face of the Mobile App Market in the New Year

Bangalore: The increasing number of smartphone users in the world and the competition that arises from the overcrowded mobile applications market is not only having a positive impact on app developers and the users but also has some negative effects as well, reports Kelly Liyakasa on Destination CRM. The positive impact the increase in the number of smartphone user has is the availability of smart devices which acts as a ground for many business organizations to reach their mobile audience.

According to a recent survey by Gartner, in September last year, the Apple App store experienced more than 21 billion downloads which is 71 percent more than the previous year. With monetization being a much talked about topic in the mobile app development industry, developers should keep in mind that their application should not only be visible but also fir the requirements of the users and make the experience as personal as possible.

A recent survey by ABI Research ranked Apple as a top mobile app storefront ahead of Google while Microsoft was considered the most innovative.  "Microsoft should be lauded for its initiative to extend its (app) ranking algorithm beyond raw download figures, by including factors that can actually measure customer satisfaction and retention," said Aapo Markkanen, a senior analyst for ABI. Moves like this can help break the developers free from the ‘tyranny of downloads’, decrease their reliance on costly marketing campaigns, and thus lower the barriers to entry.”

Gartner recently named HTML5 and Mobile Applications and the enterprise app stores in the top 10 strategic technology trends in 2013. This is forcing many CRM vendors to look for difference ways to perk up application discovery and downloads as well as helping customers analyze.

A CRM platform for mobile apps like Appboy can track usage and events and this will allow companies to group users based on their actions. Such information can help marketers and developers target a particular segment and improve user retention.