How is Coronavirus Impacting the Mobile App Industry?
Global pandemics are a rare phenomenon but can be deadly for mankind. History is a brim of evidence of how pandemics in the past have impacted human lives and industries around the world. Think of a world pandemic like Plague, popularly known as the black death, that killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century. The plague had an immediate and staggering impact on the world economy and led to a massive change in the workforce.
Today, however, the world battles a different yet deadly pandemic called the novel COVID-19. A pandemic that has affected millions of people around the world and brought the world economy to a standstill. From healthcare and manufacturing to travel and e-commerce, the impact of COVID-19 on certain businesses around the world is staggering. But with that being said, there are some industries that have recorded a rather positive impact of COVID-19. These include the on-demand industry, the mobile app industry, e-payment, online gaming, and online entertainment.
Speaking of the mobile app industry alone, there are both positive and negative impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak on this industry, as conveyed by multiple experts around the world already. So in order to understand the kind of impact Coronavirus has levied upon the mobile app industry to date, here’s our point wise-take on the issue which includes both positive and negative impacts of the present outbreak.
List of Ways in Which the Coronavirus is Impacting the Mobile App Industry
Here’s our take on how the novel COVID-19 is impacting the mobile app industry.
1. Rise in the Number of App Installs
As the world accepts the new reality and cities head for a lockdown, people have begun seeking new ways to keep themselves entertained at times of self-isolation and quarantine at home. Hence, digital mediums like mobile apps have come up as bigger saviors with people now looking for more innovative and better applications for use. Tasks like shopping, payments, etc., are all being performed through apps that have resulted in higher app installs. This has brought a potential opportunity for both iOS and Android application development companies around the world in various verticals to innovate and develop apps that people prefer and need at this hour.
2. Mobile App Spending to Double Despite COVID-19
Even though app store revenues have declined due to the impact of COVID-19, there is considerable growth projected this year and in the coming five years. As per a statistical projection, app store spendings globally would surpass $100 billion for the first time by the end of the year 2020. In fact, this trend is set to continue for the next five years with a nearly 20% rise projected year-by-year. By the time we reach the year 2024, mobile app spending would have crossed $171 billion.
3. The Consumer Spend to Dip
Even though there are early encouraging signs owing to the growing number of app installs, the consumer spending rate as well as the user lifetime value is set to go down due to the potential economic recession around the world post the outbreak of COVID-19.
4. The Popularity of Gaming Apps to Surge Up
With world cities on lockdown and offices working remotely, people around the world are having to spend long hours at home. Hence, this has compelled a large chunk of the world population to seek alternative ways of killing their boredom, eventually leading to a staggering rise in the number of installs for gaming apps. As per a recent February statistic, gaming apps have seen an average download rise of nearly 40% with trends only pointing upwards.
5. The Rise in the Need for Communication Apps
The biggest gainers during the whole COVID-19 lockdown have been the communication apps like Zoom and Google hangouts. With private and public organizations around the world opting for work from home, applications that offer to message and video conferencing services have come up as the biggest gainers.
Not only this, but people working in both government and private organizations today are finding ways to automate their work. This has led to a rise in the popularity and demand for native and web apps. The reason is simple to understand. If you begin discovering a web app for work, or perhaps even a native app, you would find there are thousands of such applications available for free access today that offer both video conferencing and other such features.
These apps offer efficient services and have been specially designed for remote workers. While some of them were unknown to users before the pandemic, COVID-19 has come up as a boon for these apps as their popularity has dramatically surged. Take an example of one such web app for instance. According to Zoom, the number of its users spiked up to 200 million within a span of 2 months, from December 2019 to March 2020.
6. Greater Opportunities for Small-Scale Developers
At a time when the majority of top companies around the world are feeling the effects of COVID-19, opportunities for small and medium-scale app developers are rising. With the economic recession in the world, various Fortune 500 companies have detached contracts with potential bigger players in the market and are looking for small-scale but reliable digital partners. Hence, the opportunity to bag bigger contracts for smaller digital service providers has risen to an extent.
Summing Up
A world pandemic like COVID-19 today has hit global firms around the world hard. While businesses like travel and manufacturing have been the worst hit, industries like app development have still benefited to an extent. With rising app installs and larger opportunities for developers, the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on the mobile app industry has been rather mixed.
So if you like this article, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or share your views with us on how you think the outbreak of COVID-19 will impact the mobile app industry going forward.
This article has been published in accordance with Socialnomics’ disclosure policy.
