An interesting phenomenon that happens with mobile app and technology, when they mature, is that when people look back, old versions of apps and technology turn out to be more than what they now feature these days.
For instance, there is Facebook. It was once either a hot or not web app (as the movie The Social Network described it). Now it is a place where users can make a simple profile and post status updates, to the tech giant it is today. Over the course of time, simple apps were outclassed by comprehensive solutions.
Professionals from a mobile app development company based in Hamilton reveal that apps today are more than just features (though they do carry out simple tasks, the way the Facebook app did). They are easy to replicate, for both startups, mid-level tech firms and for technological giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, and the like.
Along with the aforementioned factors, there are more factors that make these apps less viable in today’s marketplace in most instances. As always, there is always a fine print to all these things hence let us now have a look at some apps and other examples of why apps should be more than just a bunch of features.
The good, the bad and the ugly of mobile apps that exist as mere features
There are chances that anyone may have read the title of this post and felt some disagreements. The statement might have touched the beliefs of most professionals and they are probably looking for ways to explain or nullify the notion of the post.
But let us have a good look, shall we.
There are numerous apps on the market that are thriving, but they only have one main objective to perform. A good example is Discord, a chat app. It was designed for gamers and the gaming community.
The app is a privacy-minded communication platform (sort of like Reddit but used for real-time conversations). It has social aspects for messaging as well as voice messaging and voice calls. The latter allows users to connect one-on-one with another user or with multiple users in rooms known as servers.
eBay, a customer to customer (C2C) website working as a service for purchasing and selling all sorts of goods either via auction-style listings or as a more streamlined direct sale mechanism, is one of the longest-standing websites on the planet. It also has an app that has just features but in essence, it is quite handy as an instant marketplace.
Another example worth discussing in this regard is Craigslist. It serves as a well-working stripped-down platform for classifieds. It consists of just plain text, links and pictures of used cars, bikes and other things. A lot of users capitalize on Craigslist’s functions to take advantage of pricing spikes.
While each of the aforementioned examples is a robust solution made of several different pieces of code and software (except Craigslist, which is quite like a skeleton), they serve only one main purpose.
But each of them work because of very specific conditions that are not possible to copy, even though any firm can easily reproduce the software and present it with a different name. Yet, this wouldn’t be the brightest of all app ideas possible.
What is the catch here for mobile app?
The catch here is that, any app development firm is more likely to be affected by efforts in replication from other firms who will put their own spin on the idea when it is simple and witty. Regardless of the firm’s size, other firms will replicate their rivals and competitors, and can possibly offer more value by making the features much better and scaling the new features logically and carefully.
As harsh as it seems, it is just business and you cannot just hate the player because the game is itself cruel. Does anyone remember how popular MySpace used to be and how it was minding its own business until Facebook popped up in the cyberverse and captured the social media throne? Well, these things happen.
As it is said: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”