What is the fuss about mobile apps?
Working with start-ups has always fascinated me. They help to bring out the hidden talent in you, accustom you to various mindboggling situations and the most important of all-they help you to grasp the inside out of running a business and comprehend some vital decisions that make or break situations!
My last working experience with a Social Media firm answered a number of questions (thanks to business studies as a subject that built up my inquisitiveness related to business). One fine day i asked my founder as to how will he channelise the initial revenues of over a million? (I would have shifted to a better office,given my hardworking employees a hike, bought in better computer systems, marketed myself better via those expensive Facebook and Google ads and what not). But he surprised me with an instant obvious sounding answer- Come up with an application for my own venture.
You cant really question a founder on what he plans to do with the revenues! Hence I resorted to the ultimate saviour of all times- “Google baba”. After exactly ten minutes my entire stand on revenue utilisation changed and i had a clearer picture of how the online business runs and what makes it successful.
Some basic pointers that I learnt were –
- You need to save the time of your customers by making your services fast,efficient and to the point.
- You need to hit the bulls eye and deliver what people expect out of you.Never beat around the bush.
- Make yourself readily accessible,you waste one extra minute of your customer and they shall skip to the next best alternative.
The answer to all the above concerns was an Application software designed to be used on your portable devices to simplify life and make stuff more convenient. The rising app fever is evident from the fact that in 2010 the American Dialect Society listed “app” as the word of the year.(Now that was something!) An application software is a blessing in disguise for both the end users and the business houses in terms of a better browsing and shopping experience for the former and better profits for the latter. It is indeed a win win situation for both. No negatives of an app comes to my mind . According to market research firm Gartner, 102 billion apps were downloaded in 2013 (91% of them were free) and generated US$26 billion, up 44.4% on 2012’s US$18 billion.An analyst report estimates that the app economy creates revenues of more than 10 billion euros per year within the European Union, while over 529,000 jobs have been created in 28 EU states due to the growth of the app market.
The applications have had such a strong impact that even the educational institutions today , ranging from primary schools to post grad universities- all are in a dire need of an app that would make administration’s work more simplified and would give the students a better learning experience. Institutions like DPS and Amity have already reaped in the benefits from the same and captured the huge first mover advantage.
The upcoming Application market will indeed be that “X” factor one firm will posses over the other. This market is still in its fertile period with humongous opportunities for the entrepreneurs and policy makers wherein the first mover will capture it all without incurring huge costs. So its time you pull up your socks and stop lagging behind your competitors.