App Trends to Watch for in 2022

As the year comes to a close and we embrace a well-deserved wind down before we jump into 2022, it’s always valuable to take an assessment of the year and look to see what’s on the horizon for the coming year. 

To serve our San Diego community, we dedicate immense resources and time investment to thrive in these new cutting-edge technologies. With the help of Dogtown Media, you no longer need to rely on internal resources to get the job done. Partnering with us means you have a trusted advisor in your corner who is an expert in all things development.

On a world scale, mobile app use and consumption grew substantially. Per Sensor Tower:

“Overall consumer spending on in-app purchases, premium apps, and subscriptions grew 15.1 percent Y/Y to $33.6 billion from $29.2 billion, trailing the growth experienced in the first half of 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020. The growth was driven mainly by Google Play, which saw consumer spending grow 18.6 percent Y/Y to $12.1 billion from $10.2 billion.” 

This sizable increase in app consumption on a global scale show’s that app development is on a tear, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Our analysis suggests that mobile app development will grow in 2022 as the world embraces mobile apps to provide entertainment, eCommerce, telehealth, and other app-based services. 

In this piece, we’ll take a look at some emerging trends in the app space that look to have a significate impact on mobile app development and the mobile app consumer market. 

5G Technology 

5G is an incredibly hot topic. Expected to blow 4G out of the water, 5G is positioned to be 100x faster than 4G, with a top theoretical speed of around 20 Gbps. 

As telecommunications providers embrace 5G for its enhanced streaming capabilities, app developers and businesses bringing apps to the mobile app market, are strategizing now how to capitalize on this new technology and the influx of mobile users who want to benefit from these increased speeds and efficiencies. 

With the providers moving from 4G to 5G, there are quite possibly an endless amount of opportunities in the mobile app development industry. New technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, augmented reality, virtual reality all become much more feasible as communication speeds increase, opening new doors for businesses looking to provide a new unique solution to their customers.

Beacon Technology

Another technology that has gained a lot of popularity in 2021 and is set to disrupt 2022 is beacon tech. Beacon tech has been around a long time, however, with a 5G backbone and microprocessors becoming increasingly technologically advanced and inexpensive, more and more businesses are finding use cases for beacon technology. 

Take for example the Apple AirTag, the tile tracker, or the spytec gps – these beacon devices sync with a mobile application to keep track of critical items via a small tracking device that can be kept on the item one wishes to track. 

In 2022, it’s likely that we see a major increase in adoption not only by consumers but also businesses such as tracking products, optimizing supply chain processes and gaining more sophisticated insights on consumer behavior.

Mobile Commerce

As businesses deliver mobile applications to make online shopping easier on their platform, we’ve seen mobile commerce increase dramatically. Consider a custom art print shop – by offering a mobile platform where customers can design seamlessly and interact with their services on the go, the likelihood of purchasing from that business increases dramatically. 

The volume of m-commerce is growing at a healthy steady rate. In fact, by 2022, the mobile commerce space is projected to hit around $22 billion in valuation. So, for businesses on the fence, considering jumping into that m-commerce offering, now’s the time to mitigate the risk of a competitor gaining market share.

mHealth/Telehealth

Last but not least is mHealth and Telehealth. Both telehealth, which is an umbrella term that is defined as the broad categorization of technologies and methodologies that enable remote care and mhealth which is categorized as a way to leverage mobile technology in a health-related application are posited to skyrocket in 2022.

Following the COVID pandemic, many individuals shifted their view to embrace remote health services to limit the spread of covid and decrease their exposure to potentially sick individuals. 

And based on the current market research, these mobile health services are here to stay. 

Moving Forward

As we end this year and anticipate all of the exciting mobile applications developments in 2022, we urge you to prepare early for upcoming projects in the new year. Consider reaching out to our dedicated team here at Dogtown Media to explore releasing that mobile app that’s positioned for 2022. We’d love to sit down with you and discuss how our tenured team of mobile app developers can help bring that dream to a reality.