Trade shows are among the most intense things a tech company will have to deal with. There are investors to impress, companies to connect with, journalists to answer, and consumers to impress. The last group of people is especially important, as trade show mobile apps and other applications have increasingly led the way to showcasing what a tech company has to offer.
It’s no wonder mobile applications have become very popular in the last decade. With the majority of consumers now owning a mobile device, there’s almost nothing standing in the way of a mobile-dominated future.
Here are some of the upcoming trends that we can watch out for:
The move away from gamification
Gamification may have been a trend in productivity before, but recent studies suggest that the practice is doing more harm than good. While the idea of gamification is sound, the inherent work-reward-compete system that is the foundation of its existence can do real harm to mobile users who find it too easy to fall into patterns of mobile addiction.
Not only does this practice harm the users; it also leaves a bad impression on the company and its practices. There’s a time to bring in gaming elements into non-gaming spaces, but with the ease of access in mobile applications, gamifying everything will most likely become very limited to niche applications as time passes by.
Fiercer UI and UX battles
It’s no secret that design has influenced the development of many of the most popular mobile applications, but the subtleties of it have been relatively unknown until a couple of years ago. When the Internet was new, the focus was mainly on feature over form. People wanted to see what this new technology was capable of and didn’t mind the possible consequences.
But today’s mobile landscape is different. The concept of intrusive advertising has already made itself known to mobile users, and messy design is now seen as a deterrent to prolonged user interaction, a critical metric for a mobile application’s success. It’s likely that more emphasis will be placed on the user interaction and user experience of apps to counter this.
Augmented reality
Perhaps most of us have heard of augmented reality. Once a tool of sci-fi, it is now made popular by games and niche apps. However, the world of AR is starting to find some real applications when it comes to mobile apps. Technology developed specifically for user-phone interaction is proving more popular than ever, and the novelty of AR is at its peak.
In addition, AR is being used as a tool with a variety of applications across different industries, not just gaming and education. The ability to recreate space digitally via your phone has long been a demand of the market, and with the correct tech now slowly rolling out, we can see this demand being fulfilled in more creative ways.
Mobile applications will continue to be the future of tech for a long time, being more enmeshed in our daily lives. By looking at these trends and acting accordingly, users and developers can guarantee harmony between tech and real life, and perhaps even a better future with careful use.
