Over the last few years, mobile apps have burst onto the tech scene with remarkable momentum. There’s an app for just about everything, from games and social networking, to cooking and personal training.  But while consumers clog up the networks with their insatiable appetite for data consumption, business owners are constantly striving to create innovative and exciting ways to market their businesses – and apps are their newest tool.  Ilja Laurs, chief executive and founder of Getjar, the world’s second largest mobile apps store, has some thoughts on where the apps industry is headed. Here’s his take on the top trends emerging in the apps-sphere:

  • Covering all platforms - Apps used to be only smartphone or iPhone phenomena, but now they have exploded across all types of phone, from low-end devices to the most advanced business phones, such as the Blackberry. Successful developers will try to cover all platforms because this is the only way to sell on a massive scale.
  • New ‘freemium’ model for apps - Paid apps used to be the most popular way to make money, but now a new ‘freemium’ model is proving to be more profitable. This is where you provide a free basic service and get a huge consumer following with millions of users. You can then charge for premium services on those apps, such as in-game items. The most successful ‘freemium’ services are able to generate up to $100 lifetime user values.
  • More use of mobile app analytics - One of the most important things for mobile app developers is to know what happens with their apps after the download (how many times does each user launch the app after the download). Some 80% of apps are launched only once, so it is very difficult to make an app that the consumer decides to stay with and use again.  Getjar, Flurry, and other companies provide analytics that allow the developer to measure how consumers use their apps.
  • Mobile site wrapping into app - Developers can make small apps that sit as an icon on the user’s phone, and when clicked, it launches the browser, sending the user to the mobile site. Through this users can access websites just by clicking a phone icon, which is much easier than opening up browsers and typing URLs, especially when phones don’t have a touchscreen or keyboard. 
  • Conversion Optimisation - Developers can create an experience for a visitor, with the aim of converting that visitor into a customer. For example, an app about fashion could be targeted at people with pink Motorola phones, because developers believe they will be the most attracted to that app.
  • User billing becoming easier - A while ago developers had to work with carriers to enable payments, which was an expensive, long and difficult process. Only the largest developers were able to partner with a few dozen carriers to enable billing in 20-50 countries. However, now companies such as Zong, Boku and Payphone provide an easy way to process mobile payments globally.