Talking about the role of AI in business, it has a wide range of applications in the commercial world. AI is affecting every business activity in various industries, from the commonplace to the spectacular. AI technologies are gradually becoming important for firms that are searching for ways to preserve a competitive advantage as they are widely available.

Below are some AI stats that are changing our business procedures.

• As per Fortune Business Insights, the global AI market for 2021 is $47.47 billion, which is expected to grow to $360.36 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 33.6% during the forecast period.
• According to Gartner, the increase in usage of AI across businesses will create $2.9 trillion of business value and 6.2 billion hours of work productivity in 2021.
  
• Another Gartner forecast related to AI business value highlights decision support/augmentation as the largest type of AI by business value-add with the fewest early barriers to adoption. The forecast predicts that the decision support/augmentation will transcend other types of AI initiatives by 2030 to account for 44% of the global AI-derived business value.

• According to Forbes, 83% of businesses believe AI is a strategic priority for their business today.
  
• Despite the growing role of AI in business, many firms have development and implementation challenges, and these AI issues need to be solved. In this blog, you will get to know the six-step methodology for integrating AI technology and the benefits of AI in business that can help firms achieve their goals.

Now let’s dive into implementing technologies to achieve company goals.

AI Technology Implementation

1. Get familiar with technology

Companies must first identify which technologies execute specific types of activities, as well as their strengths and limits, before engaging with an AI program. For instance, some examples of artificial intelligence in business are, Robotic process automation and rule-based expert systems, which are both clear in how they work, but neither is capable of learning and evolving.

Deep learning, on the other hand, excels at extracting knowledge from enormous amounts of labeled data, but it’s nearly impossible to comprehend how it does it. This can be troublesome in highly regulated areas like financial services, where regulators demand to know why such choices are taken.

Several companies waste time and money by pursuing incorrect technology for the job. Companies, on the other hand, are better positioned to assess which technologies would best meet specific needs, which vendors to deal with, and how quickly a system can be implemented if they have a thorough understanding of the various technologies. Continuous research and education, usually inside IT or an innovation group, are required to gain this understanding.

2.  Understand your business requirements

Review your business and decide which strategic pain points can be addressed using AI-based solutions. The first step is to figure out which parts of the company could gain the most from cognitive applications. AI in business can deliver predictive insights. It can assist you in automating processes. You can find out the goals of your company by examining them. They are usually portions of the firm where knowledge (insight gained from data analysis or a collection of texts) is in high demand but unavailable for some reason.

The next step to integrate AI is to establish an AI program is to conduct a thorough assessment of needs and capabilities, followed by the development of a prioritized project portfolio. Companies using AI should undertake assessments in three areas:

• Identifying the possibilities
• Assessing the use cases
• Choosing the appropriate technology

How hard is it to both technically and organizationally, implement the proposed AI solution? Would the advantages of launching the AI application in business be worth the time and effort?

Gartner conducted an online study through “AI and ML Development Strategies” survey. As per the survey, the average estimated number of AI projects in an organization was four in 2019, but respondents expected to include 15 projects within the next three years. This indicates that by 2022, the surveyed organizations expect to have an average of 35 AI or ML projects in place.  

3. Prioritize the main drivers of value

You’ll need to determine the possible business and financial benefits of AI in business projects once you’ve established your company needs. Consider different implementations of AI and try to link each one to real results by focusing on short-term objectives and demonstrating the financial or business value as best you can.

As you consider your goals, keep in mind that value drivers (such as enhanced customer value or increased employee efficiency) are just as important as better company results. Consider whether machines, rather than people, could perform certain time-consuming tasks more efficiently.

The driving value examines whether the AI tools under consideration for each use case are genuinely capable. Some businesses may be frustrated by chatbots and intelligent agents, for example, because most of them can’t currently match human problem solving beyond simple programmed scenarios (though they are improving rapidly). Other technologies, such as robotic process automation, which might speed up simple procedures like invoicing, may slow down more complicated manufacturing systems.

4. Launching pilots

Firms should start with trial projects before rolling out cognitive applications across the organization as the difference between present and anticipated AI capabilities aren’t always evident.

Proof-of-concept pilots are especially designed for projects with high business value. They also allow the organization to test more than one technology at once. Take extra precautions to avoid project “injections” by senior executives who have been swayed by technology suppliers.

Consider establishing a cognitive center of excellence or equivalent structure to handle many pilots if your company plans to do so. This method aids with the development of necessary technical skills and competencies within the business, as well as the transition of small pilots into larger applications with higher effect.

In a survey commissioned by MemSQL on the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the workplace,  65% of respondents working, and preparing to use, ML/AI cited that the major point for adopting ML and AI was to enable more informed business decision making and underscoring the importance of these technologies for analytics.

5. Scale up

Many firms have successfully launched cognitive pilots, but they have not been as effective in the implementation of AI across the organization. Companies using AI need precise plans for scaling up to meet their objectives, which necessitates coordination between technology specialists and owners of the automated business process.

Scale-up is almost usually necessitated by integrating AI with existing systems and processes because cognitive technologies typically assist individual tasks rather than entire processes.

Companies should consider if the required integration is even practicable before beginning the scaling-up process. One of the examples of artificial intelligence in business is scalability which will be limited if the AI application in business relies on proprietary technology that is difficult to obtain. Make sure your business owners and IT team talk about scalability issues before or during the pilot phase. Even with relatively basic technology like RPA, an end-run around IT is difficult to succeed.

As per McKinsey’s survey about 33 AI use cases across eight business functions, the results suggest that AI is delivering meaningful value to companies. With over 44% of respondents it has been reported that cost savings from AI adoption in the business units where it’s deployed, AI adoption has decreased business units’ costs by at least 10%, on average. Respondents are likely to report revenue growth from AI use cases in marketing and sales, product and service development, and supply-chain management sectors.

6. Start small

When you’re initially starting, though, be judicious in how you apply AI in business, i.e. don’t throw all of your data at your first project and hope for the best.

Begin with a minor sample dataset and apply AI to demonstrate the value contained therein. Then, after a few victories, strategically roll out the solution with complete stakeholder support. You can then move on to seeing how well your AI works against a new dataset before putting it to work on data you’ve never seen before.

After confirming whether your initial plan was fit to scale (or if you needed to change your approach before moving forward), you can move from low-cost, low-risk projects to more ambitious initiatives: these early learnings could be vital for avoiding costly future blunders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How to build an AI?

A. Creating an AI system differs from standard computer programming in that software does not improve itself automatically. There are six major steps to keep in mind while building an AI.

• Identify the problem
• Prepare data
• Choose algorithms
• Train the algorithms
• Choose a programming language
• Run on a selected platform

Q2. How to use artificial intelligence?

A.  In recent years, AI discoveries have been made thanks to advances in processing power, the availability of massive amounts of data, and innovative algorithms.

Artificial intelligence is seen as a critical component of society’s digital revolution, and future uses are projected to bring significant changes. Below are few industries where AI is bringing change.

• Voice recognition
• Healthcare technology
• Streaming services
• Chatbots
• AI in agricultural industry
• Manufacturing
• Transport
• Cybersecurity

Q3. How AI helps businesses?

A. Below are a few of the ways through which AI helps businesses to grow and monitor their progress:

• Sentiment analysis is an automated process that is used to monitor and analyze people’s emotions and opinions in different types of text.
• With Powerful Competitive Intelligence one can track everything your competitors do – from products to people to promotions and make the most informed decisions.
• Sales forecasts in AI allow you to see potential problems while you still have time to avoid them.
• With predictive analytics, AI converts information into knowledge and provides insight into the future.

Conclusion Note

Integrating AI into any firm is a major undertaking.

It needs in-depth knowledge, a lot of time, and a commitment to precision. Furthermore, instead of focusing on how AI can bring value to your specific business and determining where it’s most needed, focus on how AI can add value to your specific business and decide where it’s most needed to implement it successfully.

Then, with the help and knowledge of an artificial intelligence development company, you can put your AI business ideas to work and produce long-term value using AI’s challenging area.

The post Integrate AI Technologies To Help Companies Achieve Their Goals appeared first on Appinventiv.

One of the most glaring digital media and entertainment trends is that an increasing number of players are retracting from video content aggregators in order to stream their content direct-to-the consumer. 

The move signals an attempt to maximize the cost of operations by canceling out cable and satellite royalties. This and a whole lot more makes up for the digital innovation trends, poised to reverberate through the fabric of this sector. Knowing what these trends are can give you a leg up in the crowded entertainment sector. 

As per the Deloitte Insights, only 40% of consumers said that they are willing to provide personal information to receive advertising targeted to their interests. 60% of the more digitally savvy Millennials would make the trade-off. This may be due to a lack of trust or a lack of knowledge of how their personal information is ultimately leveraged.

In the media and entertainment industry statistics, the global entertainment and media market is forecasted to reach approximately USD 6,709.4 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 10.40% during the forecast period.

Trends on the Demand Side of the M&E 

The demand side are the users, you and us, who create the demand for a product. While postulating upcoming industrial changes it’s better to draw the line between trends that are being forced onto M&E studios by the consumer, and vice versa. In this section, we’ll mention the most palpable consumer-end i.e. the demand-side media and entertainment industry trends.  

These trends are attributable to the audience side of the picture as without their behavioural patterns, whether online or offline, we may not have had much development in this direction. The latter sections will touch base with the role of technology trends in media and entertainment industries.

D2C Video Streaming

Video streaming got its dose of steroids with the initial faces of lockdowns imposed through varying geographies of the world. With the expected use of internet services ticking up, so did the demand for diverse, meaningful, and quality video content.

There was such a force behind this push that Pay-TV subscription, for US customers, took a backseat. The diversity of choices and cross-platform compatibility offered by players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime threatens the limited bounds of TV-channels that demand users be on their couch. 

But at the same time, these very rivaling clans are giving each other a run for their money in the streaming wars – – strengthening the foothold of apps redefining the entertainment sector.

In the Digital media industry trends, Disney was the first to retract its content from Netflix and offer it in a D2C channel through its pet project Disney+. 

The move defined the now reformulated new entertainment technology industry standards that have seen the largest media houses following suit in receding content and hitting third party applications right where it hurts the most. 

It pays to ask the question, how forthcoming are the viewers in subscribing to digital media entertainment and paying for so many streaming apps?

One survey revealed that the average user subscribed to 3 video streaming apps with this limit staying constant for the last 2 years. It can be surmised that overtime the economy of such an experience will be questioned by all. 

One way to buck these emerging trends in entertainment and media industry would be to reorganize the content and offer multiple formats such as music, movies, TV shows, etc., aggregated on a single platform.

The prime example (pun intended) of this trajectory is none other than Amazon Prime and Roku. In addition to video, these vendors can create customized, pay-as-you-go packages for availing the music and games libraries. 

Ad-Driven Viewing Experience 

One of the reasons mobile streaming caught on to people is that it cut-down on ads. The volume of consumable content increased and made retaining users easier.

But with the top studios of the global media industry turning to video streaming, ad-supported content is expected to seep in soon.

This is partly due to the pitfall of keeping subscription fees competitive, that in and of themselves, won’t suffice for expanding the content-offering to games and music. 

Ad-supported videos are already a thing in Asian locations such as India and China. But for them to assume a profitable outlook for media and entertainment technology in the US, platform owners must curate enough user data for targeted advertising.

Else such a promotional expenditure would appear unjustified and disoriented. Chiming in tune with the adage of our century, data is the new oil, platform owners will look to get their act together with structured data to deliver suitable (not annoying) ad interruptions in between video streaming. Youtube already does that to a good measure, the result of which is: 

OTT Content Advertisements

Short breaks or ads have always been the buzzkill of our entertainment. One of the fundamental reasons behind customers shifting towards streaming on digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime is because they can watch their preferred shows without being hindered by advertisement breaks at regular intervals.

Digital platforms have become a premium experience for crowds and the ad free experience is viewed as the best features of these platforms.

Earlier according to some research, it was suggested that viewers sit patiently and wait for YouTube adverts to complete while TV watchers are bound to leave the room or change the channel to try avoid watching them.

But this scenario has totally changed now. Even in YouTube, now viewers don’t prefer ads and wait for the ‘skip ads’ button towards the bottom right of videos. With so many YouTube ads hindering the watch, YouTube has come up with its ad-free version ‘YouTube Premium’.

This is a digital streaming trend for 2021 and we can hope that as time passes this too will advance in its own way.

Data Privacy and Security 

A study conducted by Futurum Research in partnership with SAS Software revealed that the media industry was one of the most distrusted by customers when it came to guarding user data. The same report concluded that as much as 61% of the participants felt they had zero to no control over how their data was used by the vendor. 

Media houses are expected to toe the line for transparent data collection applications with which to assure the customer of data security. For instance, the European Union’s GDPR reforms allow customers the right to be forgotten after they have discontinued with a particular business, having submitted personal information initially.

Much of this will play out in the near future as well, if only with added refinement but let’s not forget had there been no demonstrable outrage over data misuse, the media organizations wouldn’t care to rise from their slumber. 

Content Personalization 

There are deeper levels to customer relationship management than sending emoji-fied emails every now and then. Millennials and Gen-Z want, and would happily pay for services that are personalized to their tastes. This includes content recommendations the kind that will gel well with their unique preferences. 

This paves way for even more sophisticated Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms to do what they do best, predict user behavior. It is primordial for both the content creators and content hosts to know the demographics of the audience they excite and attract.

Therefore, don’t be surprised when you see a media software development company dive deep into AI and sharpen the edges around streaming service applications. We are in the age where everything has to be smart and content is no different thanks to the hard-to-capture, unique choices of the users.

Trends on the Supply-Side of the M&E 

The emerging trends in the entertainment and media industry mentioned above have been directly derived from user behavior i.e. if the users hadn’t reacted to digital media apps the way they did, we probably wouldn’t be seeing much commotion in that zone.

Having said so, the link between media showmens and consumers could not be possible without technology. And whereas some technological advances are urged by the users there are others that percolate their way down to the masses no matter what.

In this section, we’ll look at the emerging technologies that are most affecting the manner in which media enterprises go about their business. 

Augmented & Virtual Reality

The global media and entertainment industry trends will be a driver of emerging technologies the frontier of which will be led by Augmented and Virtual Reality. The past few years have seen much hype but less adoption of AR/VR. But that was a consequence of the price-barrier of standalone AR/VR devices, which is also beginning to get pocket-friendly. 

Smartphones have crossed the inflection point in AR adoption with the majority of models supporting AR content. The media entertainment industry will make use of the AR VR technologies and trends in the following ways:

• Act as a substitute for high-priced joysticks and keyboards at the same time delivering a quality experience to gamers.  

• Be the de-facto technological genre for media app development company especially in the field of digital education.

• Help in enterprise-level media software development for learning management solutions. 

• Possibly make way into theatres and cinemas to reinforce the power of digital effects through immersion. 

• Create wearables for visitors headed to museums, art galleries etc., and represent artifacts with added features/info. 

eSports Broadcasting

The trends in the broadcasting industry point towards the hot spring areas of the sector that are gaining mainstream traction among audiences. The first and foremost of this is the one touted to be the future of sports – eSports segment. 

The entertainment app development sphere is galvanizing its priorities towards this segment as the worldwide eSports revenues are expected to hit $1 billion in 2020.

The lion’s share of this money, however, will be from sponsorships ($614.9 million) and media rights ($176.2 million). Nevertheless, gaming events will be the center of attention for displaying the latest in AR/VR. 

And lest we forget, there is Legalized Sports Betting that will also profiteer off the incoming 5G technology. Betting is one arena that swirls the mind in unpredictable ways, forcing users to place bets over telecommunication networks.

Come to think of it, 5G is a technology that is born to manage high volume communications. This is one of the reasons the US has 5G towers popping up at sports stadiums and related venues that’ll be a hotbed for placing bets.

Entertainment software development can be easily turned in this direction to foster app creation the kind legalized sports betting would need. 

Artificial Intelligence 

There is not a single sub-set of M&E that has not been impacted by AI. Its predictive powers are influencing television, animation, VFX, Out-of-Home advertising (OOH), radio, and much more. A case in point is the following applications of AI in enhancing customer experience. 

• M&E companies hold a huge repository of user data at their data centers. In many cases, the data is largely unstructured i.e. like a mound of haystack waiting to be made sense out of. AI has added a cognitive, human-like dimension to mining and saturating this unstructured data. 

• Engineers are using and integrating AI, ML, and Natural Language Processing to apply relational parameters to the big data. The technology helps in categorizing the data as per mutual characteristics and further consolidates a company’s predictive capacity to forecast user engagement with the content. This Targeted efficiency leads to better monetization opportunities.

• AI is being applied readily to video content to speedily calculate and absorb emotional changes at the user side. The summary of such studies is then used for highly customized content recommendations. The same principle is at play in music streaming apps that know precisely which songs to pitch you that eventually make it to your favorite’s list.

• The Cost of content creation will be vastly reduced following the advent of AI that can automate editorials consequently mitigating human intervention.

Blockchain 

The distributed ledger technology with its chief qualities of immutability and transparency are breaking technological stereotypes in the media and entertainment industry trends. People have been spectators to an exchange of charges between artists relating to content plagiarism and piracy time and again. Blockchain Technology can and will settle such debates once and for all.

• Intellectual Property rights can be safeguarded with Blockchains nullifying the scope of disputes around ownership management. With immutable record management, ownership rights can be traced to the original producer of the content.                Likewise, the system architecture of blockchains, in its current iteration, is powerful enough to track transactions for royalty payments across multi-layered platforms. 
• There are solutions in the market that offer a springboard for budding artists to curate funding directly from their fanbases. Such a step would allow the fans to own a share of the record, the rights of which, otherwise, ebb naturally into the hands of the producing labels. Transactional history along with public ownership will be recorded on the blockchain. Living examples of such latest trends in media and entertainment industry are being shaped by companies like Vezt, Sony, and BMG.
• Another issue faced by media stakeholders is revenue distribution. The industry being this giant labyrinth of middlemen that it is, intermediating parties charge their share of the profits for managing the revenue cycle for a film/commercial, etc. But Blockchain is a proven disruptor of this very model. With an online ledger, transactional streams can be optimized without spending a fortune on intermediary channels. FilmChain, an Ethereum based Blockchain, is a prime example of this upcoming and latest trends in media and entertainment industry.
  
• There is a huge black market for ticketing sales that needs serious quenching. While managing a megaevent such as a concert or a music festival, artists are left to bite the dust as the intervening middlemen play the sleight of hand in ticket distribution. Blockchain for business communication acting as a powered ledger can remediate the situation by ensuring the profits generated follow an equitable distribution amongst all participants of the value chain.
  
• For example: YelloHeart is a company trying to achieve exactly this. 

Enterprise Resource Planning 

• We are in the age of automation and optimization, with the streaming apps being a transformational by-product of the digital revolution. Building AI-powered smart apps for better user management is not a standalone procedure but an interconnected block in a chain of events that would deem workflow optimization necessary. Consequently, a media and entertainment app development company will not have its service level agreements limited to just fine tuning the application itself but also the overall enterprise software for maximization. 

• Enterprise Resource Planning would ensure that cost overheads are mitigated immediately. Investment in the right tools and technologies will not stop and shall continue beyond to stay in the good books of investors. 

Final Thoughts 

Whether it is Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, or Enterprise Resource Planning, Appinventiv has the track record to back our claims of expedited, professional project delivery. Having collaborated with some of the world’s biggest brands such as IKEA, and Domino’s (to name a couple) we know the scale of demands of big businesses and are ever-ready to go the distance. 

Our ties with technology in entertainment and media industries go a long way. We developed mobile apps such as Gully Beat, with the latter garnering critical acclaim along with 25 million+ downloads on the Play Store. 

Long story short, when it comes to delivering at the international stage, brands turn to Appinventiv as their technological arm. But talk is cheap. Take a minute and connect with us and we’ll showcase how you can slingshot your idea to glory.

The post Digital Trends Underpinning Media & Entertainment appeared first on Appinventiv.

Today, technology in the food industry is the most sought-after ingredient in our diet charts! Food industry has opened its doorway to new technologies and mobile application based services which led to an immense transformation in how the food industry operates. The recipe of food and technology has given birth to food technology.

A validation of it can be found in the growth of the investment that the food tech industry is witnessing.

“Technology is not its own industry anymore; it’s a part of every other industry, so it’s natural for tech investors to find that intersection.”

 ~ Greg Golkin, Managing Partner, Kitchen Fund

If you are wondering, what is food tech, then here is the answer. As per Wikipedia, food technology is a branch of food science that deals with the production, preservation, quality control, and research and development of food products.

Changing Food Trends Statistics

• As per Statista, due to advancing technologies within the food industry, as well as a demand for healthier, cheaper, and safer food products, the market is forecast to exceed 342 billion U.S. dollars by 2027.
  
  
• According to AgFunder’s Farm Tech Investment Report, Farm Tech investing soared to $7.9 billion in 2020, topping 2019 investments by $2.3 trillion.
  
  
• According to the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Industry Report, 2021 sales are projected to climb 10.2%, after a steep low during the pandemic.
  
  
• As per CB Insights, while a record-setting global food tech investment of $13.5 billion was seen in the first quarter of 2021, dollar investments fell to $8.9 billion in the second quarter and the deal count has increased by over 10% (from 369 to 409) in Q2’21.

Elements Driving Food Tech Investments

According to Ernst and Young, the spending trends of consumers show that they are ready and willing to pay for food tech innovations that can meet their increasing needs of convenience, health, and low environmental impact. This opportunity in food technology companies is a good time for food innovators to capitalize on these market demands and grow rapidly.

The rising investments have led to innovation in food industry. In the midst of new consumer demographics that encompasses the young, urban dwelling, working professionals; the focus has shifted on sustainability, health, and freshness of the products. However, the future food tech companies and industries are evolving accordingly. 

The sector is aiming to familiarize itself with the changing times and provide healthier, more suitable food habits and avoid fraud in food products.

Technologies Propelling the Food Tech Industry

1.  Blockchain

Blockchain based mobile application can strengthen food management by tracing and recording transactions to maintain the safety and quality of the food industry. Blockchain technology also helps in providing brand transparency and managing big data.

Let’s discuss a few examples to help you understand how blockchain technology and food are shaping the new ecosystem

• IBM partnered with Raw SeaFoods to track sea foods via blockchain. They are working towards the goal of offering an opportunity for tracking food – from farm to stores. It has not just prevented food-related frauds but also guarantees higher security in the F&B domain.
• Mobile applications are using blockchain technology to deal with fake milk products. A China-based startup is working on the development of its radio-frequency identification (RFID) based anti-counterfeit label. Powered by blockchain, the label would make sure that the customers have all the necessary information to know the validity of the product’s authenticity and trustworthiness.
  

2.   Augmented reality and virtual reality

With the introduction of AR and VR in the food industry, creative food images have become less important. Transparency in food is now the most important thing that there is. The calorie intake of a consumer is now attached to what cuisine they are ordering with the help of AR and VR. Technology is also helping the consumers by filling in the gap between different cultures. 

For example: If you want to try different cuisines, AR and VR will help smooth the process and make you understand how to embrace new dishes. The technologies help you get acquainted with the ingredients that went into the dish, how they are grown, supplied. In fact, they can go up to be as immersive as giving people a peek into how the dishes are consumed. This will result in consumers who are more inclined towards giving new things a shot!

3.  AI-based chatbots

Food mobile applications are using AI based chatbots to connect with their consumers. They send food recommendations based on their eating behavior and mannerisms. Not only this, but the support via chatbots are available 24*7. The future food tech is directed towards becoming more intelligent and personalized at the back of predictive analytics and machine learning technologies.

That being said, divisions like personal chefs, on-demand meals, grocery and food delivery are becoming more popular day by day resulting in a huge number of startups and investors joining the race for market share.

 “Food has always been a technology; it’s just that it wasn’t branded like a technology.”

~David Lee, Impossible Foods COO and CFO

4. Robo Chefs

As exciting as this sounds, the robo chef technology in food industry will not be cheap with estimates of every robot chef expert costing $15,000 at first – however, in case you are a benefactor at a Michelin Star Restaurant, this may seem like a deal.

For example, Moley, a UK-based robotics organization, has released the world’s first robotic kitchen. The organization asserts the roof-mounted gadget, known as the Moley Robotics Kitchen, will actually be able to cook more than 5,000 plans and surprisingly tidy up after it’s done with its set.

It comprises of a couple of completely automated robot arms that can, for all expectation and reason, repeat the movement of human arms and hands. The organization believes that their robotic chef has the same degree of skill as that of any human – particularly with regards to speed and affectability.

This technology-driven food industry is going beyond personal consumption.

Did you know the most recent years have been the most significant for food tech innovation? The funding in agrifood tech skyrocketed to $19.8 Billion in 2019.

The future of food tech companies is really bright because they are going to be the answers to these mind-boggling questions like:

• How to feed a population that is set to hit 9 billion by 2025?
• How to create more efficient agricultural practices?
• How can technology reduce $1.2 trillion in food waste each year?

Let’s have a look at the numbers where global agrifood tech startups raised $19.8 billion in 2019.

Future of Food Tech

Let’s discuss the key areas which are driven by food tech innovations and investments that have completely delivered a new narrative along the value chain.

1.  Consumer food tech

It is a division within food technology investment that revolves around the development of new and existing technologies that are mainly promoted towards the consumers. Consumer food tech is concentrated on nutrition based technology which aims to fulfill the consumer demands.

For example: Going organic became a food trend. People started focusing on plant based, meatless, animal-free products. Keeping all the food trends in mind, food tech companies like McDonald’s via Beyond Meat came up with meatless burgers and started serving them on their menus.

2.  Industrial food tech

Industrial food technology is a subdivision of food tech that takes care of the business model. Just focusing on food would not be enough, some companies will have to focus on how to process, package, and deliver healthy and innovative food.

For example: Companies like Hazel Technologies are into the genre of food preservation technology. They are focusing on how to increase shelf life and reduce waste by improving produce quality during packaging and transportation.

3.  Consumer awareness and tracking

It is very important to increase food traceability because of the rapidly growing awareness about food fraud. This will lead to innovation in the food supply and procurement subdivision of food technology companies. A fully aware consumer will prefer quality and gourmet food products which has made restaurants reinvent their delivery models.

4. 3D Food Printing

With the massed multiplication of 3D printing throughout the last recent couple of years, this advancement was presumably a certainty.

This technology will fill in as you expect – by building the end product layer by minute layer. This arrangement will offer unlimited opportunities for the shape, surface, composition, and at last, taste of food products later on in the future.

The future of food creation looks quite intriguing. Additionally, 3D printing will enormously decrease the waste produced from regular cooking and could be utilized to promote healthy innovative food and totally rethink how we produce ‘recipes’.

Can Food Tech Be a Good Business Model for Serial Entrepreneurs?

If you want to invest in a food delivery app development company in US or any other state/ country, or establish a food tech startup, then now is the time! 

According to a Statista report revenue in the online food delivery segment is projected to reach US$136,431m in 2020. Also, about online food delivery, restaurant-to-consumer is by far the leading global category but platform-to-consumer delivery is growing faster.  

Here are some steps to keep in mind while developing a food app development company:

• Research the market
• Know your audience and competitors
• Figure out features of your restaurant app development company
• Research and figure out how much it will cost you to create an on-demand food delivery app like UberEats, GrubHub, and Zomato
• Hire the right people as you food delivery app developers who design, develop, test and manage the application
• App maintenance

During the food delivery app development process, you need to know which market niche you want to target and be prepared for the challenges you might face. Make sure that the restaurant app development services that you provide are user friendly and work efficiently for restaurant owners.

Appinventiv is a leading mobile app development company with vast experience in restaurant mobile app development for clients all over the globe. Do feel free to reach out to us, we can bring your ideas to life!

Since the numbers have already said it all, we just want you to know that technology will play a crucial role in how the food we eat is produced, packed, and delivered. From delivering food using droids to serving using robots to packaging through machines, food ordering app development company are doing their best to serve the client and customers with the best of food technology and innovation. Not only this, but the future food tech will also focus on its nutrition value, quality, taste, freshness, and sustainability. As they say, we are what we eat!

The post Food Tech: How is the Trend Accelerating Food Transformation? appeared first on Appinventiv.

“United States’s coronavirus deaths surpass 127,000.”

“India’s coronavirus lockdown leaves dozens people stranded and hungry.”

In the past few months, such headlines have become the first thing we interact with. We have been separated from our friends and workplaces and caged at our own apartments across 199 countries and territories; hopelessly waiting for the day to walk on the streets or enter public spaces.

But, what’s worse is that Coronavirus is not only instilling fear of the ‘End of the World’ in our minds, it is also bringing a major impact on different industries and crashing the global economy. A clarity of which you will get by the time you reach the end of this article.

Here, in this article, we will look into what challenges business leaders are facing in the current scenario, what is the probable future, and what are the implications for different industries and sectors in the short and long term.

In a hurry? Jump directly to –

1. Industries facing potential destructive Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact
2. What investors say about the impact of coronavirus on different industries?
3. Is technology adoption the road to recovery?

Industries facing potential destructive Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact

1.  Manufacturing & Logistics

The foremost industry that is withering away because of coronavirus (COVID-19) is Manufacturing and logistics. Even though mobile solutions have played a huge role in empowering the manufacturing industries, the virus outbreak has slowed down the industry performance.

As per the market experts, 1 out of 5 top manufacturing companies rely on the China market for supply of goods and materials required for production. With China factories still not operating and traveling facilities banned across the globe, the manufacturing industry is facing the situation parallel to that of the 2008 recession. And since this pandemic has hit almost all the countries, finding alternative routes has also become nearly an impossible task. Something that is highlighting that the coronavirus effect on the manufacturing  industry is dreadful.

It has also been taken into account that people, because of social distancing and sickness, are finding it hard to load and unload materials in real-time. This is again adding to the impact of Coronavirus on the manufacturing sector. 

Apart from this, it has been noted that consumers are becoming more cautious about purchasing non-essential items due to the fear of virus exposure. 

In fact, it has been reported that if Boeing fails to survive because of poor supply chain facilities, Bombardier and all the suppliers will also go down. That implies, it’s not solely one company, but the complete ecosystem and regulated parts will get distressed as an impact of COVID-19.

Also, as per the latest survey by CNBC Global CFO Council, around 40% of the companies that are already suffering from or expecting supply chain management issues will take around 3-6 months to get their business back on track.

2.  Travel & Tourism

Travel and tourism, the one responsible for 10% of the world’s GDP and jobs, is yet another sector seeing the worst of coronavirus effects on industries (and is on the brink of collapse).

The industry is facing around 6 times the losses counted during the 9/11 attack because of numerous reasons, such as:-

• Boundaries have been closed.
• Both national and international flights have been grounded. A dire situation that the aviation industry is trying to recover from with AI.
• Insurance companies have been suspending travel cover for new customers.
• Cruises such as Ruby Princess, Celebrity Solstice, Costa Magica, and MS Braemar have been moored off.
• Tourism destinations are avoided by people to prevent contagion’s spread.
• Around 100,000 visitors have canceled flights because of the drop of 12 high-profile tech conferences and large-scale events such as the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the Geneva Motor Show, the ITB Berlin, and Facebook’s F8 conference.
• Business trips have been canceled or postponed to prevent exposing people to unknown risks.

The downturn in the demand for travel will compel millions of workers to lose their jobs or cut their working hours. Especially those doing lower paid service jobs like housekeeping and that of waiter/waitress. 

In fact, as per the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), three months of global travel losses in 2020 will result in job reduction between 12% and 14%. 

3.  Entertainment & Media

Entertainment is one of the industries that has been/not affected by Coronavirus spread across nations.

If focusing on the negative side, Stakeholders such as vendors, entertainers, venue operators, sponsors, broadcasters, and consumers have been regulating various legal issues such as contracts, insurance, sales, health and safety, and operations. 

Various Bollywood and Hollywood movies have already witnessed a stagnation at the box office since cinema halls were shutted down. Many high-profile movies like ‘No Time to Die’ and ‘Peter Rabbit 2’ have been canceled or rescheduled to newer releasing dates between April to November. Whereas, many theater shows, live performances, and local media publications have been halted because of this zombie apocalypse.

Likewise, hundreds of shows like Apple’s ‘The Morning Show and Little America’ have delayed or suspended production. Disneyland Park and Disneyland California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California have also ceased its operation. And, many entertainment festivals and award shows like ‘2020 GLAAD Media Awards’ have faced cancellations or postponements.

Whereas, when looking at the flip side of the coin, Coronavirus is uplifting the Online streaming market. People are spending more time binge watching on On-demand streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Hulu to enjoy their quarantine time. They are expanding their choice horizon and watching different content types; improving the app acquisition and retention rates.

In fact, it has been recorded that 95% of users are spending more time on in-home media consumption, aka, these online streaming service providing apps.

4.  Healthcare

Pharmaceutical and healthcare is also one of the sectors that has been feeling the effects of Coronavirus on industries.

When talking about the impact of coronavirus on the healthcare industry,the organizations are struggling to provide the right treatment and assistance to all the patients. Especially when they have only one-third of the number of beds required at the hospitals. They are facing the shortage of protective gear and supplies because of supply chain issues.

The surgeons and medical practitioners are doing odd shifts, reusing their masks and other safety gear and cancelling masses of surgeries and procedures that can be performed later to bring the situation under control. However, this is again causing long prolonged issues for those having cancer, diabetes or need dialysis.

The individuals, irrespective of what job role they had in the hospital earlier, are trying to contribute to prioritizing and handling COVID-19 cases. In addition to this, the outbreak is widening the gap between rich and poor people. While rich people are easily getting access to healthcare facilities, those relying upon daily wages are struggling to stock up food and medicines too.

However, if looking at the positive side of the coronavirus impact on the healthcare industry, the outbreak has encouraged individuals to embrace mobile health app development solutions like telemedicine, telehealth and virtual doctor consultation apps. An evidence of which is that Amwell, a telemedicine provider, noted a 257% hike in its usage across the USA region and 700% in Washington State during this pandemic period.

5.  Commerce

The inexorable coronavirus impact on the industry of commerce has landed with a remarkable blow.

With the proposed idea of quarantine during the coronavirus period, 80% of people are avoiding shopping from brick-and-mortar stores and malls. They are controlling their appetite for non-essential items, while focusing on purchasing essential things abnormally. Another 65% of shoppers are showing concern about the product origins. Also, it has been found that people are working in odd shifts to prevent formation of larger groups in the stores and avoiding the need to ‘meet up’ with a salesperson personally.

This altogether has resulted in decline in the early March total retail traffic by 9.1% – with 3.9% and 14.7% of decrease in apparel and luxury retail traffic, respectively. 

On the contrary, a steep rise in the usage of e-commerce portals and smartphone retail apps for online shopping across countries. 

However, this is a hidden challenge. 

With the changing situation, customer expectations have also taken a dramatic shift. Consumers have become more selective and demanding about quick, effective and personalized experiences.

6.  Government

The impact of novel coronavirus on the government sector is found to be quite astonishing.

This virus outbreak has resulted in the suspension of tours and in-person meetings in the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other legislatures worldwide.

To protect the health of my staff and to prevent the spread of the Wuhan virus, my Washington, D.C. office is temporarily closed. My full statement here: https://t.co/mIF7i4volb

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 12, 2020

It has made it difficult for governments to aware millions of users about the risk associated with this contagious virus, prevent intake of misinformation and prepare themselves during outbreak at the earliest. And that too while addressing various existing issues like lack of proper medical facilities, financial instability among daily-wage laborers, absence of required infrastructure, etc. 

While on the flip side, it has laid down the foundation for a stronger and civic federalism where parties at national, state, and local levels come together to address issues and deliver better services as one entity. The coronavirus disease 2019 has brought forth required policies and regulations such as declines in tax revenues for students. Something that has been reviving trust in these institutions.

7.   Finance

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak is also having sweeping effects on the Finance industry.

When focusing entirely on the negative impacts of coronavirus on fintech, both private and public sector banks have reduced their opening hours and are serving only a limited number of customers at a time because of social distancing rules. They are encouraging customers to opt for alternative channels like telephonic consultation, online banking, and social media.

We’ve now made it quick and easy to contact us online about getting a payment holiday if you have a mortgage with us. Click below to get started.

We appreciate you’ve had extremely long waits to speak to us. Thank you for your patience as our team have worked to help everyone.

— NatWest (@NatWest_Help) March 20, 2020

At the same time, consumers are getting panicked and contacting banks with queries, concerns, and requests related to special measures so that their finances does not get highly affected by the fallout from COVID-19. And this rate is escalating with an increase in unemployment and bank balances turning to zero.

SME and commercial banks are experiencing a reduction in demand and delays in tax payments from consumers, making them fearful about bankruptcy. Stock market is dropping day by day primarily because of the absence of cross-border transactions.

Part of mortgage booking is impacted. A reduction in spend on cards, personal, and auto loans has also come into limelight with customers looking ahead to save some finances for the future. This is making various associated branches turning to be a useless investment. 

Whereas, when concentrating on the positive impact of coronavirus on industry of fintech, this global pandemic period is giving a significant boost to the fintech domain. People are embracing the idea of contactless payments, digital banking facilities, and discussing investment online. A group of fintech organizations are coming together to lend a helping hand to SMEs during this economic crisis period. 

A clear evidence of which is that the digital mortgage software provider Blend, the one with 230 bank clients, saw a 85% to 95% increase in its usage since March 4. The platform is currently processing a loan of worth $8 billion and handling 15,000 to 20,000 applications on a daily basis.

8.  Real Estate

Another industry that has been clobbered by Coronavirus disease 2019 is Real Estate. The increasing quarantines, curfews, and employee layoffs has been interrupting the supplies and affecting the consumer spending level across different segments. 

For example, builders are observing tremendously lower traffic through their sales centers, a few of which could be solely due to short-term social distancing. They are also noticing a reduction in demand of home property because of buyer feelings of economic insecurity. Besides, they are fearing of issues associated with non-conforming mortage loans.

The reputed title companies are locking their doors. While users are still visiting them for required signings, realtors or lenders are staying connected by calls and other mediums only. 

Besides, home buyers are acting as per the stock market scenario, changing the idea of seeing/purchasing open houses, and preventing down payments if available in cash. 

Another thing that has been noticed in terms of the effects of coronavirus on industry of real estate management is the growing delay of escrows/listings, loans, and appraisals due to the increasing number of sick people. 

This, as a whole, is expected to push the economy towards recession, even though new-gen technologies are doing their best to keep the real estate sector afloat.

However, not every segment of the real estate market is forecasted to face the stage of cease. Home repairing tasks like plumbing, electrical services, and roofing will stay essentially important, and agents offering these services will continue to get better job opportunities even during this pandemic period.

9.  Telecommunication & Technology

More than 50% of the global technology companies export materials from China. Because of partial or full shutdowns of plants due to coronavirus, the tech economy is also getting slower down.. In fact, around 12% and 16% of decline in the production of smartphones and laptops have been observed since the coronavirus outbreak. Various financial issues have also been signified because of cancellation of tech conferences like MWC.

Besides, it has been feared that the impact of coronavirus on the software industry will be horrible, especially for startups.

However, this is just one side of the coin.

The growing period of COVID-19 has made companies prepared for working remotely. This has brought the extensive potential and use cases of top technologies like 5G, AR, VR, and AI into the limelight. A ripple effect of which is that around 49% of business respondents are looking ahead to explore and invest in VR app development to mirror real-world training conditions.

10.  On-demand

On-demand is one such domain that is proving to be aiding in Coronavirus fight. The business sector, with an opportunity to get things delivered to your doors without stepping out of your bed in minimum time, effort, and cost, is experiencing some ups and downs. 

On one side, people are resisting on-demand food delivery services knowing that the fact that this virus has evolved from food. They are preferring cooking food at home-cooked meals from different restaurants and hotels; bringing an adverse impact on their economic situation. They are being in two minds to on-demand water delivery services fearing the higher risk of contamination. Something that is being kept into consideration by businesses as they prepare on-demand businesses for post-COVID world.

Consumers are scared of riding through a bike, auto or a cab with the fear of getting infected from the drivers; bringing a sudden decline in the On-demand ride sharing services. And drivers are not accepting to-and-fro rides to crowded areas like airports, bus stations, malls, and railway stations.

Additionally, the on-demand courier and parcel services market is also seeing a major Coronavirus impact with people not ready to send/receive parcels to prevent the risk of virus transmission from courier staff, if infected.

While on the other side, consumers are ordering everyday items from On-demand grocery apps like Instacart at an accelerating rate. In fact, it has been reported that a 218% rise is experienced in Instacart app downloads compared to that last month.

They are purchasing more sanitizers and over the counter medicines from on-demand pharmacy service providers like NowRx. Also, they are using instant messaging, web and teleconferencing tools at a great extent to ensure better remote interactions and relish other benefits while doing their work remotely. In fact, it has been noted that the video-conferencing provider Zoom has had a 78% rise in revenue over the past year and its share rate has uplifted by 67.27% in the first three months of this year.

11.  Education

Last but not least, the Education sector is also one of the Coronavirus affected industries.

As per UNESCO, various schools have been shut down in 22 countries and across 3 continents, and about 421 Mn students have been disrupted worldwide. A higher fraction of them, who have been relying on mid-day meals, are now struggling to feed themselves. Whilst, many medical students have been promoted earlier to provide them a source of income to survive this period.

It has also been noted that many educational organizations have been investing their efforts in building and using online learning and broadcasting platforms for studying remotely. In fact, 120 Mn of Chinese students got access to learning materials via live television broadcasts while a large number of students in Hong Kong have started learning at home via interactive apps.

With this, we have taken an overview of what business leaders and consumers think about the increasing impact of coronavirus on various industries. However, we conclude anything about the future of these business verticals, it is important to get acquainted with the outlook of the third pillar of the economy too.

So, let’s look at what investors think about the effect of coronavirus on industries.

What investors say about the coronavirus impact on different industries?

Coronavirus (COVID-19), with no such similarity with epidemics and emergencies the world has witnessed earlier, has made it tough for one to predict when this disease and its impact would end. This uncertainty has made investors look for both short-term and long-term goals/profits.

Investors, now, are paying attention to diversification and rebalancing, stress upon quality growth at economical prices, and incline towards defensive large-cap stocks. Implying, the consequence of the economic slowdown depends on the type of investors business leaders come across to bring their businesses back on track.

In such a scenario, the profitable strategy for entrepreneurs is to come up with unique ideas like using OYO rooms for self-isolation or embrace wider adoption of technology such as that related to home services, entertainment, video conferencing, and meditation.

This has further brought a query in the heads of many – ‘Is embracing technology the right recovery method?’

Something that we will unfold in this article before wrapping up.

Is technology adoption the road to recovery?

While the idea of pursuing strategies like lean manufacturing and outsourcing are helping business leaders cut down the cost associated with supply chain and other processes, technology adoption is being considered as the right companion.

The wide array of technologies have come forward with effective solutions to the challenges of operating traditional business models while preventing people suffering from the effects of coronavirus on industries. A few of which are:-

1.  Artificial intelligence

The foremost technology that is enjoying a wider adoption among different businesses is Artificial intelligence.

The technology is not solely automating a majority of mundane and repetitive tasks, but is helping with gathering and analyzing heaps of data in real-time, building effective market strategies, delivering effective communication experience, and more.

2.  Mobile Payments

Currently, most of the cities are locked down and people are avoiding cash payments because of fear of coronavirus spread. Digital payment solutions, in this scenario, are letting users pay payments using the power of QR scanning,  NFC technologies, and so on instead of cash.

And the best part is that one can send payments across cities and nations via these mobility solutions.

3.  AR/VR

Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) is also aiding in scaling up businesses. On one side, it is letting entertainment companies organize live events and award shows in the form of virtual experience. While on the other side, the technology is letting students, medical practitioners, employees and others collaborate in their business space for better data sharing and training, ultimately resulting in higher efficiency and productivity.

4.  Blockchain

Another technology that is proving to help companies overcome the existing challenges is Blockchain.

The technology, as a distributed ledger database, is removing middlemen and making the hiring process easier and faster. It is enabling easier, faster, and secure cross-border payments. 

Also, blockchain is adding transparency, accountability and security into supply chain management in hospital and other sectors with its smart contract implementation. Besides, blockchain is easing the salary payments process via cryptocurrency.

Additionally, the technology is simplifying the process of fund tracking; making everyone know when and how their donation/investment is being used.

5.  Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is another technology that is helping businesses survive the coronavirus effect on industries.

The Cloud-based solutions are empowering people to work from home and maintain the social distancing regulation. They are letting them access data and information from anywhere around the world and offering online collaboration tools to streamline processes. 

Also, they are helping with using ample resources and software without putting a strain on their local devices; giving them an escape from the stress of limited resources at home.

6.  Geofencing

While the aforementioned technologies are easing the complexities of processes for people, geofencing is helping with keeping a real-time track of individuals during remote business.

The technology during the coronavirus pandemic period is making it easier for organizations to have a timely track of the exact location of the employees, the resources allocated to them for any particular job, the time they spent on any particular location/task, resources unused during the process, and more.

Conclusion

As, as seen in this article, the impact of coronavirus on different industries is adverse; making businesses face unique and significant challenges. And one of the finest ways they have come up with to overcome the coronavirus impact on industries and sectors is using trending technologies.

So, if you too want to withstand this situation and build a prosperous future, consult with the tech experts immediately!

The post An Analysis of Coronavirus impact on Industries (& Survival Measures) appeared first on Appinventiv.

However, this was just the beginning.

In the past years the technology has brought a transformative effect on the business world. The AR VR technology trends in the coming years will make sure that every businessperson to consult the experts and enter this domain to get a bigger slice of the forecasted market size of USD $1,274.4 billion in 2030.

The projected AR and VR technology trends, which I will reveal in this article, are expected to totally change the way we connect with each other and take us a step closer to the ‘digitally augmented’ space.

But before we jump to that part, let’s take a look at how far AR/VR has traveled till date, ever since Google VR Tilt Brush was launched. Simply put, get familiar with the present state of Augmented and Virtual technology.

An Outlook of The Current AR/VR Market Ccenario

Virtual reality, which was correlated with hardware in the beginning, has slowly and gradually entered the software industry. It has become the largest player in the gaming and entertainment sector, as well as captured the attention of companies with different industrial applications.

Whereas, when talking about Augmented reality, the technology has made everyone interested in exploring its benefits for business and building a better future ahead.

As per IDC predictions, the AR/VR market was enjoying about 60% of the total world spending in 2018. But, it is expected to hit 85% of the total world spending by the end of 2021, with retail, transportation, manufacturing and public sectors on the top of the chart.

According to Markets and Markets, The VR market is projected to grow from USD 6.1 billion in 2020 to USD 20.9 billion by 2025; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27.9% from 2020 to 2025.

On a geographical basis, North America is found to be the region which invested heavily in the AR/VR market in the past 12 months and is forecasted to witness fastest growth in the next 5 years.

However, they are expected to have a bigger market share by the year 2025, with a better focus on using the technologies for scaling their processes efficiently. Likewise, SMEs are expected to grow their involvement in the AR/VR market with a CAGR of 66.40% during the period 2018-2025.

Now, as you’ve a glimpse of the current state of the AR and VR market size and a hint of the future, let’s plunge into the trends and technologies that will boost expansion of this market.

What are the Future Trends in AR and VR

1. Introduction of AI in AR/VR space

Artificial intelligence, Augmented reality, and Virtual reality have entered the business world long back and proved their potential individually. 

But, in the future, VR AR developers and AR VR development company leaders will look forward to discussing the potential of their collaboration. They will look into getting a clear idea of how advanced machine learning algorithms and other AI methodologies can aid computers and other devices in visualizing things and understanding them effectively.

This will further lead to the emergence of highly interactive workspaces and improved image recognition facilities.

2. Rise in the number of AR avatars

In the past few years, a significant rise has been experienced in the popularity of virtual celebrities like Activ8’s Kizuna AI and Brud’s Lil Miquela. These fictional characters have appealed to consumers and have become their virtual influencer. A result of which is that their market potential is expected to increase in the coming years.

Business leaders and marketers are expected to incorporate these avatars into their business processes not solely for attracting users, but helping them in navigation inside/outside the physical store, and adding a tint of beauty to their overall experience, and more.

3. Gearing up vehicles with the power of AR

Autonomous vehicles are becoming more and more popular in the world. People are curiously waiting to get into these self-driving cars. But, what’s amazing the automobile manufacturers is the integration of Augmented reality into these vehicles in the near future.

In the coming time, various automotive industry leaders will embrace the idea of using these two top technology trends to redefine the way people move and travel in the form of voice assistants, in-car AR, and more.

4. 5G will speed up AR/VR evolution

As already mentioned in our blog on the impact of 5G on mobile apps, the technology will bring an impactful difference in the way we embrace AR/VR. 

5G, by offering a super-fast mobile network, will increase the pace of data transfer to the cloud, its processing, and formation of a virtual image that will later deliver an enhanced virtual experience to the consumers. 

What’s more, the technology will boost the experience level even in low-bandwidth, low-powered environments, making it possible to enjoy better augmented experience with cheaper headsets and devices too.

5. Advent of WebAR

Till yesterday, the AR experience was limited to mobile devices. One is supposed to download and install the mobile application to get into the augmented world. But now, the WebAR has come into existence.

As depicted from the name, this will facilitate users to interact with augmented reality in the web space. It will enable them to get exposure to AR on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or other such browsers regardless of which device they run upon, resulting in lower barriers to its usage and higher overall experience.

6. Advancement in AR/VR displays

Another AR and VR market trend that will rise and grow is advancements in displays.

This year, the display of the AR/VR headsets will be magnified to ensure that the immense of high-power content displays on the screen without getting blurred or putting strain on your eyes.

7. Remote assistance via virtual and augmented reality

AR VR trends will put forth better opportunities of remote assistance and collaboration.

The technologies will enable technicians to see on site situations in real-time via their mobile phones or laptop. They will be able to assess everything and send the files (images, videos, or PDFs) with proper comments/notes to remote locations which will remain locked on the shared scene. 

To get a clear idea of the use of AR/VR apps for remote assistance, check out the video below:

8. Use of XR in healthcare as a medical device

AR, MR, and VR are revamping the healthcare industry by fulfilling different purposes independently.

With the merge of these three technologies, healthcare and medical practitioners are able to ‘swipe’ between these three technologies within the same application. This facilitates professionals with higher efficiency, productivity, as well as enables them to relish the perks of different use cases at the same time.

To make use of this technology, the healthcare organizations will have to establish XR platforms as a medical device. And this won’t be as easy as it seems. 

Thus, to overcome various strategies and challenges that hinder the path towards a medical extended reality, it is important to have a support of a medical software development services to achieve fruitful outcomes.

9. Emergence of AR-based indoor navigation

One of the emerging trends and the future scope of AR and VR is use of technology for indoor navigation.

Just like GPS-built in software and maps direct us towards a shop, hospital, or other place from outside, the augmented reality powered navigation systems will assist people indoors. They will instruct them the path towards any particular product, software, or location in an engaging and effortless way; giving them an optimal experience without relying on others.

10. Establishment of Augmented and virtual reality in education domain

While virtual and augmented reality will continue to blend into different industries and business processes like gaming, shopping, and entertainment, the one arena that will experience remarkable growth in the coming years is Education.

The immersive nature of virtual reality technology will help teachers in engaging students with learning material in various new and exciting ways. It will improve the chances of teaching distance learners in VR classrooms; preventing them from missing out the benefits of learning in a collaborative environment.

Whereas, augmented reality will add flexibility to the on-the-job learning experience. It will offer them an opportunity to get access to the information required in real-time; enabling them to polish their skills and do their job simultaneously.

Now, as you know what the popular virtual reality and augmented reality trends are for upcoming years, Let’s now head on the most expected question, i.e. how will AR and VR transform the future? What is the future of AR and VR?

What is the Future of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality?

The AR/VR gadgets of the future will give customized, accessible, and well-designed experiences. As these components grab hold, a platform shift is undeniable. With this constant pace, in three years we will see new AR glasses with LTE abilities that will turn into an option to the smartphone.

With improved immersive innovation and AR capacities, the structure factor of our number one consumer electronics will change and we’ll never look back. In the following years, we might be utilizing AR technology to check our messages and mart glasses to look through Instagram.

The future for AR VR is that businesses are gearing up for the change and are looking for top AR VR companies in USA to grow their business.

So, taking the same into consideration, let’s wrap up this article determining how to gain fruitful results from these AR and virtual reality trends.

How to Prepare For The AR/VR Influenced Future?

As we have discussed in this article, virtual and augmented reality are predicted to bring a momentous change in the business world. In such a scenario, having awareness of the AR/VR trends and top virtual reality companies perspective towards this is not enough. To prepare for the near future in a professional and profitable manner, it is recommended that you contact the AR VR app development company about the possibilities of introducing their raw power into your business.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Q. Is augmented reality and artificial intelligence the same thing?

No, they are different. While Augmented reality (AR) refers to the technology that embeds virtual 3D elements into the real world, Artificial intelligence (AI) is the technology that enables machines to think, react, and respond like humans without their interventions.

Q. How AI-powered augmented reality transforms digital experience?

AI, when combined with augmented reality, will make it easier to deliver immersive experience quickly and efficiently than ever before. The collaborative technology will not solely sense the position of the customer, but also his expressions and other features which will define the results of emotional intelligence and later, help companies deliver the experience that pleases customers.

Q. How Extended reality (XR) technology will accelerate healthcare training?

Extended reality (XR) will enable practitioners to swipe between AR, VR, and MR elements at any given time. This will let them get access to the required information and practice their skills in real environments without harming any real species. For example, with the help of XR technology, the medical students will be allowed to practice delivering a baby in the back of a cab with limited medical equipment.

Q. Is the future of Virtual Reality and AR relying on 5G?

Yes. 5G technology will uplift the potential and use cases of AR/VR in the marketplace; resulting in a brighter future for the two.

The post AR/VR Trends and Predictions For The Upcoming Years appeared first on Appinventiv.

Each and everyone tells themself almost everyday. But do you know exactly how many people really follow that???

Okay, let me take you through with some stats which can blow your mind. 

Do you know that more than 3 million people are using meditation apps globally?

Also with the rising popularity of meditation, the number of meditation apps are globally increasing, making the wellness market future cross the mark of 2500.

In this article I will provide you with all the interesting and mind blowing facts and stats related to meditation and meditation apps.

With the rising use of apps in the healthcare and wellness industry, people are also noticing its use for practicing meditation and enjoying peace. They are embracing the idea of using health apps to attain positivity and a healthy lifestyle. Same ways meditation apps are used to obtain the ultimate level of relaxation and experience happiness; thus resulting in a thriving meditation app market. 

A clear evidence of which is the following set of meditation app statistics.

28 Meditation App Market Statistics Worth Knowing

1. The number of searches for yoga and meditation apps have increased by 65% y-o-y.

People have begun to realize that they need not sell their Ferrari, become a monk, and live on the Himalayas to live a de-stressed life. They can experience the calmness and peace within while spending a few minutes on a meditation application.

This has not only increased the number of talks in the academic and media world, but has also shown a difference in the number of online searches related to yoga and meditation apps. 

As per the recent Google data, the number of searches around yoga and meditation apps, like ‘yoga for beginners app’ and ‘mindfulness apps’ have increased by 65% YoY.

2.  52 million users downloaded Top 10 meditation apps in the year 2019.

From curbing anxiety to lowering stress, improving concentration power and enhancing energy, users are using the meditation mobile applications for numerous reasons. A result of which, according to mental health apps statistics is that 52 millions of meditation mobile app downloads were recorded last year.

3. Revenue in the meditation apps segment is projected to reach US $5,008.93m in 2021.

With the rise of meditation apps, revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 18.61%, resulting in a projected market volume of US $9,914.80m by 2025. The average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to reach US $41.94.

4. More than 2,500 meditation mobile applications have been launched since 2015.

With users soaring the mental health app usage to pursue tranquility, it is also leaving an impact on the number of apps entering the market. It has been discovered that around 2,500 apps are present in this market between 2015 and till date.

5. The top 10 meditation mobile applications generated a revenue of $195 million.

As per Sensor Tower’s latest report, the top meditation apps received $195 million of revenue. This value was observed to be a 52% increase to the one noted in the year 2018.

6. The mindfulness meditation application market is anticipated to be valued at USD 4,377.95 millions by the year 2027.

With the rise of popularity of mental health apps, the mindfulness facts and statistics for market revenue is noted to accelerate from USD 189.64 million in the year 2018 to USD 4,377.95 million by the year 2027, with a CAGR of 41.3%.

This has not only indicated that users are loving the idea of using smartphones for lowering down their anxiety, but is also encouraging Entrepreneurs to connect with a trustworthy wellness app development company to enter the space and get a bigger slice of the share.

7. According to mindfulness facts and statistics, North America is the leading market for its meditation apps.

With a majority of Americans practising meditation on a regular basis to relax and unwind, North America is continuing to be the prime center for the meditation app market. 

So, considering the citizens of North America while creating user personas for your meditation application will be a profitable deal.

8. The number of USA meditating users has risen by 3 times since 2012.

One of the intriguing meditation app statistics to consider in 2021 is that the number of users who have meditated at least once has increased by 3x between 2012-present.

9. The US meditation market is anticipated to be valued $2.08 billion by the year 2022.

While spending more time is one thing, American users are found to be spending heavily on these applications, which earn money by subscription and other such monetization strategies. In fact, it has been found that the US self-care market will be worth $2.08 billion by 2022.

10. The meditation industry is valued at $1.2 billion in the U.S.

According to meditation industry statistics, the valued industry comprises meditation studios, websites, books, DVDs, online courses, apps, and supplies.

This is a clear indication that if you wish to earn a heavy market revenue share, targeting this region would be a profitable deal. 

11. iOS is preferred over Android in the self-care meditation app market.

The battle of Android vs iOS has remained prevalent in the world of meditation mindfulness too. It has been found that though the number of apps designed on both platforms are increasing, iOS is leading the game.

12. Android is forecasted to drive a revenue of USD 74 million in the meditation app market.

Though iOS is preferred over Android to enter into the meditation app space, the latter is driving more downloads and revenue. It has been found that USD 74 million will be generated by the Android meditation applications, more likely because of advertisement and other such monetization strategies. 

13. 53% of US senior citizens meditate at least once a week.

One of the meditation app facts and statistics worth considering in the US region is that though everyone is practising meditation weekly, people of 65 years and above are devoting more time.

14. No. of children meditating has surged by 800% in the past 8 years.

It’s true that the senior generation is meditating every once a week, but it should be  taken into account that the number of children getting into this direction is also increasing. The ratio has improved by 800 times since 2012. Something that is basically due to an unclarity and instability of their future, and round-the-clock stressful schedule.

15. Women are meditating regularly, in comparison to men.

Another stat to consider while focusing on the demographics of meditation app users is that 16% of females perform meditation. Whereas, only 12% of males are doing so. 

16. Users are showering love on apps with features like audio and video playback, ability to track progress, and personalized content.

Apart from the functionality to experience calm and relaxed in the midst of chaos, users are focusing on various other features while deciding which meditation app to choose. This includes an option to keep a track of their progress, experiment with different practices, enjoy audio and video playback, and more.

So, considering these features while planning to build or taking an estimate of the cost of developing a Headspace-like app is also imperative to relish higher benefits of the meditation app market.

17. VR-based meditation mindfulness market is forecasted to be of USD 3.9 billion worth by 2023. 

Various technologies are proving to be a catalyst towards revolutionizing the future of mindfulness apps. One such technology is Virtual Reality. 

The technology is enabling users to visit different destinations and environments virtually and improve their mental health. An outcome of mental health apps statistics is that the VR-powered meditation market is anticipated to expand to USD 3.9 billion by the year 2023.

18. Headspace and Calm are the rulers of the meditation mindfulness app market.

As per Sensor Tower’s report on the top meditation apps globally based on the downloads and revenue generation, Calm and Headspace are the unrivalled platforms. 

This has further brought into notice that developing an app like Calm or Headspace is ideal to make your presence in the mindfulness meditation application market.

19. The Headspace application is used in around 190 countries.

To consider meditation health app benefits statistics, Headspace, the meditation app that has recently raised a funding of $93M, is recorded to be embraced by smartphone users in nearly 190 countries.

20. US users invest 63% of their total time spent on meditation apps on InsightTimer.

Another meditation app statistics 2021 one should know is that though various apps like Headspace are a part of users’ daily activities, they’re found to spend a majority of their meditating time on InsightTimer.

A probable reason behind this is that InsightTimer is quite cheaper and brings users closer to an active community of people like them.

21. Smartphone users are preferring varied monthly subscription plans depending on timings.

Unlike offline meditation courses and classes, apps let users pick the time duration as per their convenience. This has not just led to the rise in meditation apps market popularity, but has also brought a difference in the data recorded in terms of the price they are ready to pay per the time. 

22. People are showing willingness to spend money on subscriptions for Calm and Headspace apps for different purposes.

For Headspace and calm app statistics, from $5.04 to $18.39, users are ready to pay different amounts as monthly subscription rate for relishing different benefits, such as building relationships, de-stressing themselves, and enhancing athletic performance. 

23. Users are eager to pay different subscription charges of Headspace and Calm app as per meditation frequency.

A variation is observed in data in terms of the frequency in which users meditate using these applications. It has been found that users are more likely to go with the application that lets them practice meditation for more than one time daily under the same subscription plan.

24. Calm’s annual market potential in California from private senior homes will be $23.4 M.

Since senior users (especially those retired) are spending more time on meditation mobile applications, Calm is found to introduce new services as per their needs and expectations. A result of which is that Calm’s annual markets in California and USA solely from private senior homes are expected to be around $23.4 million and $158.8 million, respectively.

25. The national center for complementary and integrative health states numerous benefits of meditation on health.

The NCCIH states that, people who suffer from cancer symptoms and treatment side effects, mind-body therapies such as meditation, helps to relieve anxiety, stress, fatigue, and general mood and sleep disturbances of patients and improves their quality of life.

26. Meditation reduces the risk of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87%.

Meditation studies say that those individuals who meditate are less likely to suffer from heart disease. Meditation is a relaxation technique that relieves stress and diseases related to stress.

27. Meditation relieves insomnia symptoms 75% of the time.

According to some reports for meditation facts and statistics, 100% of insomnia patients reported improved sleep in their routine and 91% either eliminated or reduced sleeping medication use.

28. Meditation app market size is expected to gain market growth by 2027

Meditation market is expected to gain growth by 2027. Data Bridge Market Research analyses the market to account for USD 9.0 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 10.40% in the above-mentioned forecast period.

Seeing these meditation app statistics, it is quite evident that the mindfulness app market is exploding like never before. Various new brands are investing in this domain, wherein many meditation mindfulness industry trends and technologies are taken into account for driving higher competitive advantages. This is making both business enthusiasts and users excited to know what will unfold in the future.

Now, while we will uncover current meditation app trends for 2021 and beyond in the future, let’s wrap up this article by taking a glance at all the statistics at once.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How many users does calm have?

Calm has over 4+ million users and over 100 + downloads.

Q. How many meditation apps are there?

There are more than 2,500 meditation apps.

Q. What is a good Mindfulness App?

According to the most loved and used apps, here are some good apps.

Headspace

Insight Timer

Aura

Smiling Mind

MyLife

The post Unhooking the Drama: Meditation App Statistics to Know in 2021 appeared first on Appinventiv.

With ease of access almost everywhere, we can’t really ignore the world that predominantly exists in our phones. With a myriad of apps at our disposal, the way we go about our day to day lives is mostly with a tap or swipe.

And in today’s day and age, the influence of social media can’t possibly be ignored. There are a multitude of social media platforms. But some garner so much hype, they grow so massively and go viral that sometimes we can’t really comprehend, why? 

Yes, we are talking about TikTok. For GenZ, TikTok is an entirely new subculture. If you are someone from GenZ, you either love TikTok to the point that you are going ‘cray-cray’ or you feel it’s a whole new world of cringe. There’s absolutely no in-between. 

Regardless of whether you find TikTok funny or cringey, this social media app already has half a billion active users and it is really addictive. Going down a rabbit hole of endless lip-sync videos and viral challenges is so easy. Yes, we all have been there!.

But, if you are somehow unaware of TikTok’s skyrocketing popularity, you should definitely take notes about this upstart social network. This social video sharing app has easy-to-consume content that millions of people watch everyday, and is every marketer’s dream. 

What is TikTok?

TikTok is one of the world’s fastest growing social media platforms. The app allows users to create lip-sync videos, re-enact their favorite scenes from movies with filters, music and an array of features. 

TikTok hit the market in September 2017.  

Initially launched as Douyin in China in September 2016, the app is owned by Beijing based tech-company Byte Dance. TikTok uses the same software as Douyin and was released a year later. 

While TikTok has a multitude of videos, the most common ones on the platform are lip-syncing videos. If you are wondering if TikTok is the first lip-syncing app, it is not. 

Much before TikTok, came Musical.ly. Musical.ly was launched by Chinese entrepreneurs Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang in 2014. 

In late 2017, TikTok’s parent company Byte Dance acquired Musical.ly for around $1 billion. TikTok is essentially the second iteration of Musical.ly. In August 2018, all accounts on Musical.ly were migrated to TikTok, which marked the beginning of TikTok’s success story.  

TikTok and Doyuin use the same software but they maintain separate networks in order to comply with the Chinese censorship restrictions. TikTok is available on the App Store and Google Play store and has racked up millions of downloads globally. 

Here, we have carefully curated some TikTok statistics for 2020 that you simply shouldn’t ignore. 

Top 12 TikTok statistics for 2020

1. Over 500 million active users worldwide

Launched in September 2016, TikTok has garnered a huge audience globally in a really short span. The multi-faceted, immersive app that is available on both Android and iOS has ruled out its dominance among millions of users worldwide. 

As per the latest TikTok statistics, in recent months, a number of videos have gone viral beyond the app, racking up millions of views on Twitter and Instagram. It’s safe to say that TikTok has skyrocketed in popularity. 

TikTok has over 500 million active users worldwide. Infact as per a leaked October 2019 advertising pitch, TikTok reports having 800 million active monthly users worldwide.(Source) 

TikTok has been welcomed enthusiastically, especially by Asian countries such as Cambodia, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

Today, TikTok is even more popular than Twitter (330 million monthly active users),  Snapchat (294 million monthly active users) and Reddit (330 million monthly active users). 

When you compare the journeys, it took Instagram almost six years to gain the same amount of monthly active users that TikTok garnered in just three years. Whereas, for Facebook to gain the same amount of monthly active users,  it took over four years.

A majority of the growth of Tiktok can be contributed to the merger between ByteDance and Musical.ly. This move by the parent company gave TikTok easy access to US teenage user demographic that Musical.ly had previously captured. 

It is interesting to note that in China alone there are 150 million active daily users, which use the Chinese version of the app Doyuin. 

2. TikTok has been downloaded a whopping 1.5 billion times 

The download statistics for TikTok are highly impressive. TikTok is by far one of the most downloaded apps in the world in recent years. The total number of downloads of the TikTok app reached both 1 billion and 1.5 billion on the App Store and Google Play in 2019. (Source)

466 million of these downloads come from India, 173 million are from China whereas 123 million downloads are from the U.S.

The app hit its first billion in Feb 2019 and took only under eight months to hit half a billion more downloads which is astounding. 

TikTok’s latest statistics show that the app was downloaded 614 million times in 2019 from January to November making it the third most popular non-gaming mobile app, ahead of social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram.

Given its relatively recent release in 2016, TikTok made its way into the list of the ten most-downloaded apps for the past decade, ranking seventh, much ahead of even YouTube and Twitter. 

3.  Monthly active users in the United States

If you take into account the TikTok monthly active users in the U.S., it hit the 26.5 million mark. Due to the staggering growth that followed, it is estimated that the current number of monthly active TikTok users in the U.S. is about 60 million.

Over the past few years, the number of U.S. adults using TikTok has been on the rise fairly consistently.

TikTok user statistics show that at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2017, there were 2.6 million US adult TikTok users. Just twelve months later, that’s almost tripled to 7.2 million. TikTok use among US adults increased exponentially since September 2018 –doubling and hitting 14.3 million in just a span of six months. 

The number of US adult TikTok users has grown 5.5 times over in less than 18 months.60% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are aged between 16-24.

4.  TikTok is the most downloaded app on the App Store

TikTok was the world’s most downloaded non-game application in the Apple app store, reaching 45.8 million downloads in the first quarter of 2018. 

As of Q1 2019, with 33 million downloads in a single quarter, TikTok is the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store. (Source) The app leaves behind YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, rounding out the top five.

TikTok global downloads also surpassed the one billion mark on the App Store and Google Play, as further evidence of the recent growing popularity of the application. (Source) 

Recently, Jimmy Fallon promoted a number of TikTok challenges on his late-night Talk show which encouraged viewers and resulted in a huge spike in downloads. 

This is the fifth consecutive quarter of TikTok as the most commonly downloaded app on the Apple Store, which implies that TikTok is not only maintaining its strong current user base, but it is also constantly evolving to attract new users.

5.  41% of TikTok users are 16-24 year olds 

If you foray into TikTok,  you are likely to fall down a rabbit hole of popular 50-60 second videos. TikTok is an extremely fast-paced app. Once you log in, you will instantly find a video at the top of your feed that is curated algorithmically around your interests. If you don’t love what you see, you can proceed to swipe in an upward direction to see more videos instantly.

TikTok has created a lot of hype among the teens of the world. If we see the TikTok  age demographics, the majority of active users are aged 16 to 24. It is so easy to get lost in the endless stream of videos- you can passively browse TikTok – scroll and watch other users’ content without even contributing.

The creators of TikTok targeted the younger generation since the very start. By knowing full well the habits and preferences of their target audience, they created an app that gives their audience exactly what they are looking for.  

TikTok provides a platform to teens of the world to express themselves creatively. 66 percent of worldwide users are under the age of 30. In the U.S., 60 percent of TikTok’s monthly active users are 16 to 24-year-olds, and 52 percent of them are iPhone users. 

6. India is the fastest- growing TikTok market with 467 million downloads

The creators of TikTok are fully aware of it’s growing popularity especially in the South Asian countries. The user base of TikTok is exponentially growing in the Asian market and India. 

Even with a temporary ban in India in early 2019, the Indian market has continued to surpass China,TikTok’s country of origin. To date, a quarter of TikTok’s downloads and over 40 percent of new users are from India. 

Out of the total number of TikTok downloads so far, India accounts for 466.8 million (or 31 percent),  which is more than double China’s 173.2 million downloads. (Source)

 In 2019 alone, TikTok stats report that India was responsible for 277.6 million downloads, which account for nearly half ,(45 percent) of all-year download numbers. In 2019, six of every ten downloads of the TikTok application happened in India. 

India and China together account for more than 40 percent of the total number of TikTok app downloads. 

The app currently supports 15 Indian languages and is promoting itself in the country through the recent launch of its education programme.

7.  Average time spent on TikTok daily 

TikTok users love the application. It is evident from the fact that they spend an average of 52 minutes daily on the platform. (Source) Nearly 30% of the users open the app every day, often multiple times a day.

While almost 70% of the users spend their time watching videos, over 50% use the platform to upload their own videos. 

TikTok ranks very high among other social media platforms, at an average of 52 minutes spent on the application per day.  People spend almost the same amount of time on Instagram (53 minutes), while on Snapchat they spend somewhere around 49.5 minutes. Facebook takes the lead with users spending an average of 58.5 minutes each day on the app. 

All of this can be a big deal for advertisers. That’s because the more time people spend on apps, the greater their chance of seeing advertisements. Infact, the majority of TikTok’s income comes from advertising. 

Advertising on TikTok can send users to your website, an app page in the App store, or promote your ‘hashtag challenge’ on the application. 

ByteDance also stated that the U.S. users open the app eight times a day and TikTok average engagement rate stands at 4.9 seconds which is the longest. TikTok engagement vs other social apps are comparatively low – Instagram (3.1 minutes), Facebook (4.7 minutes), and Snapchat (1.6 minutes) 

8.  TikTok is available in 155 countries

TikTok is available for use in over 155 countries and in 75 different languages. About 150 million of these users use the Douyin app which is the Chinese version, but the users in Asian market and in India are growing exponentially. 

TikTok stats demonstrate that for marketers there is a ton of potential. The graph depicts the number of downloads made by TikTok users by country. The app offers a great opportunity to target markets in 155 different countries. 

TikTok is essentially a platform for creating content. While the plethora of videos available, may be stupid or funny, they are all based on content creation in one way or another. TikTok usage statistics by country directly hints that if you can come up with enthralling challenges, you can easily attract millions of new users overnight. 

As a social media app development company, we feel that the TikTok statistics 2020 directly hint at the numerous business and marketing opportunities.

9.  90% of TikTok users use the app multiple times daily 

It doesn’t come as a surprise that TikTok users love the app. Users are extremely active on TikTok. 90 percent of all TikTok users access the app multiple times a day on a daily basis. (Source)

With a plethora of videos available, users can passively browse, scroll and watch other users’ content on the app without even contributing. 

Watching and posting preferences on TikTok tend to vary, with the former a clear preference among the users. Users open the app 8 times a day  and TikTok claims that the average session is nearly 5 minutes. 

10.  TiKTok has e-commerce capabilities 

The in-app shopping feature of TikTok is called “Hashtag Challenge Plus” and it allows users to browse products associated with a sponsored hashtag without leaving the platform. (Source) 

While this feature is basically a smaller-mobile optimized version of an e-com website, it helps to spread awareness of the product, simultaneously reminding Gen Z’s of the online presence of the brand. The feature is rolled out to enhance the in-app experience for users. 

With TikTok’s  recently launched e-commerce capabilities, you can garner a lot more exposure and hype around your brand tagline and products. 

11.  More than 1 million videos viewed everyday in 2019

TikTok already hit the milestone of 1 million views per day within a year of its launch. TikTok has exploded in popularity and has wide users by country. It has truly brought a revolution in the entertainment world. 

As for the average number of videos viewed on TikTok, more than 1 million videos were viewed every day in a year.

12.  TikTok’s revenue skyrocketed over 300%

Back in 2018, TikTok made $3.5 million on in-app purchases from users. This year TikTok saw its in-app purchase revenue rise 310% on a year-over-year basis. (Source). TikTok revenue and usage statistics  are nothing short of impressive. 

While the majority of TikTok’s revenue comes from ads, according to the latest TikTok stats, the contribution of user in-app purchases to revenue is impressive. As per the TikTok revenue statistics of October 2019 Google Play and App Store users spent $18.2 million on the application. 

Users buy filters and effects to make their content more interesting. Despite not being the largest market in terms of the number of users, U.S. accounts for the majority of purchases related to in-app and advertisements. 

If you have been wondering how does much it cost to make an app like Tiktok or simply the cost of video creation and sharing app, irrespective of TikTok features, we have got you covered.. Our mobile app developers have broken down all the necessary features, and provided an in-depth guide on what it takes to build the next big thing. 

Conclusion

Part of the reason why TikTok managed to create such a hype is because it’s more of an entertainment platform than just being another social media application. The creators of the app were extremely clear about their target audience from the very start. They built an attractive platform that provides each user the chance to be a content creator. The simplicity of using the app and its wider reach makes it appealing to a number of content creators around the world. 

Rounding off  TikTok statistics 2020, we conclude that the application not only presents a great business opportunity,  but it also ideal platform for marketers to target markets in 155 different countries.

[Also Read: How Much Does Video Creation & Sharing App Development Cost]

The post 12 Truly Fascinating TikTok Statistics 2020 appeared first on Appinventiv.

However, this is just the beginning of a revolution.

In the 8 months lying ahead of us, many fintech trends are expected to come into the limelight. Numerous standardization and regulations are anticipated to immerse the fintech industry with new enjoyment and excitement, and make the market worth $309.98 Bn by the end of 2022. 

Wondering what are these top fintech trends for 2020? 

How will these trends revolutionize the future of fintech?

Let’s catch up here quickly.

20+ Fintech trends you must act on in 2020

1. Focus on unserved and underserved

According to a report by the World Bank, around 1.7 Bn people are not a part of any formal financial system. They do not have any bank account of their own, a few reasons behind which are:-

• 60% of people do not have enough money,
• 30% of people never felt the need of a bank, and
• 26% of people find accounts as an expensive affair.

This is the foremost area where the fintech leaders are focusing this year. Rather than entering the established market, the fintech startups are trying to enter new phases and win financial backing from investors this year. They are seeking innovative ways to communicate with people from different walks of life, understand their financial challenges, and come up with better funding opportunities to ultimately drive customer loyalty and profits.

A clear evidence of which is Uber. 

On discovering that around 60% of their drivers lay constraints on their banking accounts 6 times a month, and send 25% of their earnings to their native countries while suffering from high fees, the company launched its fintech division – Uber Money. This enables the targeted audience, i.e, drivers and other freelancers to get real-time income, save a big share of each trip, and get better functionalities of bank account, debit card, and mobile banking application.

2. Automation and RPA

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is also one of the trends that will revamp the fintech ecosystem in 2020. 

These bots will not solely continue to automate human repetitive processes, but also lower down common errors and inefficiencies, which will ultimately enhance productivity and ROI.

3. Reduced use of physical money

Another trend that will indicate higher use of finance technological services is decline in the use of physical money.

In 2016, only 1% of the transactions made in Sweden were using cash – a prime reason of which is that many businesses denied accepting cash payments. Likewise, the United Kingdom recorded the highest volume of cashless payments, i.e, of €10.67 Bn in 2017. And now, in the year 2020, this value will accelerate with the usage of more convenient solutions like contactless payments via NFC.

4. Continual development of Open Banking

One of the top banking and  fintech trends for 2020 and beyond has to be Open banking. It leverages APIs that allow third-party developers to develop apps and services around the financial institution, in order to help users enjoy the online banking service via multiple platforms.

According to a Deloitte study, around 22% of banks have already deployed their own API platforms, while 39% are working on it. And many more are anticipated to enter this sector.

5. Implementation of Voice-Search

The fact that by 2020, almost 50% of all searches will be voice-based on the Internet, is enough to give you a hint of the future of fintech and the role it is playing in transforming the banking and finance sector. Voice-based search in banking software will assist customers in easily accessing banking services, provide ways of encryption while supporting communication with NLP-powered voice assistants.

[While we are on this topic, we suggest you also have a look at our article “How Can Google Voice Assistant App Make Your Business Efficient?”]

More and more industries and banking institutions are adopting voice search- one of the latest technologies used in fintech, and why wouldn’t they when it can save up to $3 billion.

6. Decentralized Finance

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is also one of the emerging trends in the finance industry.

In 2020, companies will rely upon different set of technologies such as distributed ledger technology (record-keeping decentralization), Internet of Things (IoT), Big data, online P2P systems (risk-taking and decision-making decentralization), and Edge computing to offer monetary interactions in a more decentralized manner.

This fintech trend has already been transforming the payment and settlements. And, in the coming years, it will also change the way capital markets, lending, and trade finance operates while ensuring advantages like enhanced speed, lower cost, and higher transparency.

7. Upsurge in mobile apps usage

Not as surprising as others, mobile apps are also gaining popularity in the fintech industry and have proved potent for becoming a trend. With the incessantly growing popularity of mobile apps, many fintech companies have started to tie up with the best banking & finance app development company in order to create impeccable digital solutions. There are all kinds of innovations waiting around the corner which we will see throughout this year.

8. Next-gen digital-only banks

A rapid increase has been witnessed in partnerships among Fintech companies and banking institutions, promoting the emergence of new financial intermediaries. Now, Digital-only banks are gaining unprecedented popularity, something that was not anticipated in this decade at least.

With an additional time economy option, these Digital-only banks offer an even more diverse array of services to their customers. No wonder, Digital-only banking is going to be one of the top fintech trends for the year, because of its connection with disrupting technology like Blockchain and cryptocurrency.

9. Improvement in Conversational banking

According to a study by Accenture around CUI (conversational user interfaces), it has been found that –

• 64% of people prefer interacting via messages or emails over calling,
• 64% users are more likely to buy or hire a service if they have chatted with the brand earlier too.

Because of this, banks and fintech organizations will emphasize more on conversational banking. They will come up with AI-based chatbots and other software that interacts with users on different messaging platforms like Facebook messenger and WhatsApp.

10. Higher downloads of Digital wallets

Digital Wallets are effectively on a way to eradicate fiat money from the wallets. In fact, in a report by Grand View Research, it was revealed that the digital wallet market size was valued to be USD 16.65 Bn in 2013 and is predicted to reach USD 7,581.91 Bn by 2024.

 Alone in 2018, the number of digital-wallet users was 440 Mn and has surely increased in 2019 and will continue to do so in 2020. To support this statement, look at the graph below depicting the rise in wallet users.

11. Application of AI and ML-powered chatbots and automated customer services

A generally accepted statement – AI is our past, present, and future clearly shows how humongous this technology is going to be, changing the face of every industry, including Finance and banking. 

As per AI technology trends, the market size of AI in the Fintech market is predicted to increase from $959.3 Mn in 2016 to $7305.6 Mn by 2022, at a CAGR of 40.4%.

The technology, this year, is going to provide better services to everyone in the form of – 

• Chatbots

These are increasingly becoming a choice of financial institutions for customer support services. You ask why? Well, these chatbots in fintech domain are available to the customer 24X7 without incurring additional monthly expenses. They leverage the advancements of ML algorithms and NLP (natural language processing) to serve customers in all possible ways. 

Another thing is that chatbots are incredible for enhancing customer engagement. Some of the chatbots used by popular banks worldwide are Ceba (Commonwealth Bank Australia), Erica (Bank of America), and Eva (HDFC Bank).

• Customer Intelligence

AI-based customer intelligence is something financial bodies are gaining more and more interest in. It is because customer intelligence helps these institutions to have a deeper understanding of users through their banking relationships and transactions by analyzing data gathered via technology. Some organizations have already started implementing it in their analysis process while many will follow suit in 2020, making it a notable Fintech trend for 2020.

• Regulators using AI to predict potential issues

In the year 2020, we may encounter changes in the way regulators perform certain actions. Since AI is prominent as of now, they are bound to turn to AI’s algorithm, data gathering, and analytics tools to compare scenarios and predict probable issues and risks.

12. Introduction of Blockchain in banking and fintech solutions

This year, the role of Blockchain in the fintech sector will reach to the next level. The technology will bring disruptive changes to the fintech industry, making the market valued $6,700.63 Mn by the year 2023.

Many terminologies like the ones described below will go mainstream this year:-

• Smart contracts

Without a doubt, a boon for the finance industry, Smart contracts (a decentralized financial technology) are quickly gaining popularity. They are an evolution of pen and paper contracts – more effective, more secure, and of course, immutable. 

Wonder how they work? 

Let’s take an example-

In smart contracts, parties sign smart contact by using cryptographic keys (digital signature as you will). Now, instead of using pen and paper, the contracts are encoded in computer language. And these codes are virtually tamper-proof, hence immutable contracts.

• Crypto-To-Cash Conversions

Cryptocurrencies are becoming more prominent every day and institutional investors are expected to show their interest in cryptocurrency adoption. And this all is a result of new initiatives that have emerged to increase their real-world implications. New advancements may surface in 2020 targeting crypto-to-cash difficulty and may give us what we are looking for.

In fact, many digital-only banks or the banks collaborating with Fintech are already actively considering the possibility of cryptocurrency implementation in order to perform money operations.

13. Incorporation of Big Data in fintech processes

The impact of big data technology on financial services is yet another thing that will be taken into consideration this year.

Big Data is one of the effective tools that fintech market players employ to circumvent the incumbents and revolutionize the industry. On a broader scale, the technology is helping fintech companies grow in numerous ways, including:- 

• Customer segmentation

With core focus on users’ convenience, fintech startups divide their target user base on the basis of different factors such as age, gender, location, online behavioral patterns, and economic health to determine their spending habit and build highly-customized and personalized offers and financial products.

• Risk management

Predictive analytics is a robust tool that offers risk management and enables companies to avoid poor debt expense or make better decisions related to crediting. Fintech startups mine data to create risk profiles of consumers applying for financing to detect bad payers or poor investments.

• Fraud detection

With the help of big data engines, fintech companies will be able to gain a better understanding of the consumers’ buying habits and online patterns which can further help with detecting and forbidding suspicious behavior more accurately and quickly.

14. Advent of Co-browsing

The screen-sharing is generally the function where one party gives access to another party for sharing the device’s screen. With the help of co-browsing, users will be able to prevent others from gaining complete access to the device. Instead, it lets users share a particular web page with another party for mutual access. Something that is a boon for the finance and banking sector, as it is very useful in banking software.

With co-browsing intuition, representatives can easily assist customers with issues pertaining to the completion of bank formalities and documentation, to name a few. This is what makes it one of the banking tech trends for 2020.

15. Disruption of Payroll process

Around 59% of consumers struggle from paycheck to paycheck in the USA alone. This situation has created serious money concerns for many individuals who rely on payday loans or predatory lenders asking upto 400% rates for a two-week credit; making one of the financial technology trends of 2020 and beyond. 

With the help of fintech companies, other organizations are improving the traditional ways of payroll. Companies such as Gusto, which has been valued at $3.8 Bn, have introduced a flexible Pay feature that allows employees to pick a date to receive their payroll. Another example at hand is the Earnin app allowing users to get access to their earnings before their scheduled payday.

16. Growth of Asian market

The Asian market is rapidly becoming the biggest adopter of Fintech. As new Fintech companies start to emerge, we can expect great advances in the Asian market.

On analyzing the events of 2019, it was noted that China has emerged to be the global leader in the Fintech industry. With the world’s biggest population, the country has 800 Mn internet users – a combined percentage of countries like Mexico, Japan, Russia, and the US.

17. Enhanced ‘A’ rated life insurance carriers

Another financial service technology for 2020 related to insurance is the ‘A’ rated life insurance carriers. Now, the institutions will employ technology in a way as to eliminate the medical exam while simplifying the writing and underwriting of a new life insurance policy. 

Some of the fintech startups are implementing up to $1 million of term coverage without any medical exam and only refer to the data collected on customers regarding the prescription history based on their medical questionnaire for passing approval.

18. Public cloud to be the new infrastructure model

Even now, many financial institutions seek help from cloud-computing for an array of work and processes. They use cloud-based SaaS apps for things that may be deemed non-core like HR, CRM, and accounting. The core service infrastructures in areas including consumer payments, credit scoring, and statements are going to become utilities by 2020.

19. Cybersecurity as a pillar of fintech domain

Since everything is online now, there is a rapidly increasing threat of cybercrimes, something which all financial institutions, among others, want to avoid at any cost. In this case, there have been many advancements in this segment developing robust security systems to creating next-gen tools for data protection. 

Cyber risk analytics has also merged to be an interesting implementation of AI in Fintech to detect probable threats. With what we have witnessed so far in 2019, it is without a doubt that improving cybersecurity is going to be one of the top Fintech trends in 2020.

20. Rise of Financial regulations and Regtech companies

With consumers having concerns over data sharing with unknown third-party firms, the rise of RegTech firms and financial regulations will also be one of the fintech trends for 2020.

Currently, around 15% of the workforce of the entire financial sector is engaged in tasks around ‘compliances’. But, in the coming years, more regTech solutions will come into the limelight; offering finest services like compliance verifications, transaction monitoring, risk management, ‘Know-Your-Customer’ (KYC) or ‘Anti-Money Laundering’ (AML) practices, and more. And eventually, make the market size grow from $10.6 Bn in 2017 to $53 Bn by the end of 2020.

21. Partnership and collaborations will be on the rise

Partnerships and mergers among fintech companies are going to be one of the top fintech trends for 2020, according to Kathleen Craig, founder, and CEO of HT Mobile Apps (a fintech company). Startups and small organizations are coming to the realization that partnerships are more profitable. 

More so, till now direct-to-customer fintech companies have been stuck on a particular piece of the market, but with these mergers, we can see a whole new spectrum of services they together may offer.

22. Sharing economy will become integral

What started with cars, taxis, hotel rooms, etc.will now expand its horizons to include financial services. The sharing economy is expected to become a huge Fintech trend for 2020. 

Here, the sharing economy pertains to decentralized asset ownership and the use of IT to obtain suitable matches between providers and users of capital, instead of turning to a bank as an intermediary element.

23. Establishment of On-demand insurance economy

The on-demand model has become one of the most in-trend concepts of this decade and will continue to do so in the coming one. In fact, on-demand mobile app economy statistics are legit proof of its popularity.

Just like you can get a taxi on-demand via apps like Careem and Uber, you can also avail insurance in a matter of minutes. Financial institutions have started to offer insurance facilities via mobile apps. Customers can easily apply insurance for real estate, car, and other belongings, simplifying and making the whole process more efficient.

While these are the trends that are forecasted to change the landscape of the fintech industry between 2020-2025, many more are expected to join the league. In such a scenario, it is advisable to visit this blog again in the future and get familiar with more disrupting fintech trends for 2020 and beyond.

The post 23 Top Fintech Trends to Look out for in 2020 [& Beyond] appeared first on Appinventiv.

The investment/funding rounds most often than not come in waves. 

2017 was the year of Blockchain. Investors were swooping in to grab a piece of the decentralized pie. 

2018 was all about mobile app startup funding of urbanized business models. Businesses like eScooters and P2P travel accommodation booking came to the forefront during this time. 

2019, surprisingly was all about Fintech. Investors from all across the world and different interest groups were funding projects making Fintech sector reach the developing and underdeveloped nations. They also showed a special interest in projects that would combine the domain with disruptive technologies like Blockchain and healthcare and AI, etc. This, in turn, helped set up the grounds for app investment trends 2022.

In 2021, AR & VR came up with features like motion tracking, people occlusion, etc. Many AR-based mobile app ideas for investors are said to turn into fully functional mobile apps. Industries such as healthcare, tourism, education, e-commerce, etc. have also taken benefit of the mobile apps fund in 2021.

Let’s have a look at the edutech predictions and market uprising, that will help the future apps fund:

• As per Grand View Research, the global education technology market size was valued at USD 89.49 billion in 2020 and is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.9% from 2021 to 2028.
  
  
• According to Statista’s Projections, the e-learning market worldwide is forecast to surpass 243 billion U.S. dollars by 2022.
  
  
• According to some reports, global investments in education technology are on the rise, with a total of $10 billion in 2020. They are expected to reach $87 billion in the next decade.
  
  
• Holon IQ’s reports state that EdTech is growing at 16.3% and will grow 2.5 times from 2019 to 2025, reaching $404B in total global expenditure.
  
  
• A response to the EdWeek Research Center survey by 87% of teachers said that their ability to use educational technologies had improved during the school building closures as a result of pandemic.

We have shared the first part of the knowledge in this article –  steps to raise money for your mobile app startup. In there, we had touched base upon a number of things: How much mobile apps fund do you actually need, the types of investor for mobile app startup, Things investors look for in an app, and how to get investors for apps.

In our other article on the ‘Alternate Funding Models’ we have also looked into the different models or how to get investors for your app that businesses can look into if the traditional routes don’t work. 

In this article, we will get you acquainted with what mobile app fund investors will be looking for in 2022.

*Disclaimer: This article has been the result of our observations. The ultimate probability of businesses getting funding for app startup will depend on what individual investors are looking for in an app to invest in startups and how well businesses are able to promote their value offering, and type of investors.

App Types That Investors Will Focus in 2022

A. On-Demand or Educational Cannabis Apps

Cannabis is getting legalized across the world like wildfire. Entrepreneurs are looking ahead to different tips to make their cannabis business successful. And with this, the inclusion of technology in the sector for making it worldwide. A massive tech-driven demand for the industry is coming in from the mobile domain. In fact, to invest in startups app, the cannabis sector has become a prominent part of the on demand investment apps 2022.

According to a report, 42% of total annual U.S. cannabis demand is projected to be met by legal purchases in regulated marketplaces by 2025, up from 24% in 2020. This growth will be fueled by both a continued rise in legal market spending as well as the conversion of existing illicit market consumer spending to legal regulated sources.

Businesses, from all across the globe, are finding ways to make cannabis accessible to users from their smartphones, whether it’s through cannabis delivery applications or apps educating people of how and to what extent should they use cannabis. 

Zak Garcia, the chief marketing officer at CBD Capital Group says “with hemp-derived CBD products legal in all 50 states, the market is growing at 132%”. According to the Brightfield Group report as well, the total cannabis market is projected to reach $22 billion by 2022.

B. Real Estate Apps Blended with AR/VR or Blockchain

To invest in startups app, with the interest rates across the globe being on a historic low, it is very difficult for mobile app investors to not like real estate sector. 

Being an industry that affects the majority and is ripe for technological advancements, real estate is poised to get a lot of investor attention in the coming time. The attention defining the real estate app investment trends 2022 will majorly be seen around products that make real estate accessible to the world and bring transparency in the domain. 

This, in turn, translates into how important it is for entrepreneurs who already have a solution to get in touch with their real estate mobile app development company and get their mobile app features updated, maybe even get it incorporated with new technologies like Blockchain. In fact, if you do end up taking the decentralization route, you’ll be able to avail the benefits of blockchain app investment trends as well. 

C. Innovative Fintech Solutions Merged with AI 

Louise Samet, Partner at Blossom Capital, Stockholm, Sweden says, “I’m excited about the global opportunity in B2B fintech. For quite a while now, there’s been a lot of focus on consumer fintech products, while there’s still a huge opportunity in B2B payments, banking and insurance. Companies like Pleo and Tink are growing extremely fast and others are following.”

Like Real estate, Fintech is another mobile app investors market that holds the potential to disrupt masses. An application that uses a combination of different technologies like Blockchain’s decentralization and Artificial Intelligence with the domain, is poised to be an instant hit with the mobile apps for investors in 2022. 

The app investment trends 2022 will not just see a greater rise in P2P payment app development but also ones that help millennials to get more financially sound and secure, such as stock market apps like Robinhood app or AI-powered budgeting app like Cleo. 

D. ERP Solutions Backed by Big Data

Investors have a special place for infrastructure solutions that help startups and enterprises grow. An example of this can be seen in Slack, Intercom, or Skype for businesses. This year as well, they will be focusing on products that help businesses deliver better solutions or simply better streamline their processes. 

In this vein, we can see different type of investors and investments happening in business automation systems, helping brands across industries – Finance, Manufacturing, Healthcare, etc. 

Sarah Smith, the Investing Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, says “I believe the way leaders, managers, teams, and all employees interact and work is changing quite rapidly, but it is not yet clear if one super-app will stitch together everything a remote team needs or if we’ll deploy even more apps than before. More importantly, I’m keen to find tools that create the trust, empathy, and companionship that inherently comes with in-person interactions which are mostly lost in a fully remote working world.”

E. mHealth Apps Incorporated with Machine Learning or Blockchain 

The fact that the healthcare domain is still mainly practiced with humans, even after going through the stages of healthcare evolution, being the sole innovation agents, offers a massive opportunity for the incorporation of custom healthcare software development driven by technologies. The combination of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Healthcare and Blockchain hold the potential to evolve the entire health and care ecosystem. 

The mhealth mobile app startup fundings are bound to see investors inclining towards app solutions that makes healthcare cost-efficient and real-time accessible to the masses. On this front, they will also be showing interest in insurance applications which would help people in need in real-time through the scope of micro-lending. 

F. Networking Platforms

Connections and warm introductions are crucial in the world of venture capital. LinkedIn is the de-facto medium for venture capitalists when it comes to researching and reaching out to other potential investors, portfolio firms, and other critical relationships.

LinkedIn and Twitter, for example, are traditional networking tools with flaws. They’re based on vanity metrics like the number of contacts made or the percentage of InMails sent. With connections, there is little understanding of the genuine strength of relationships. Relationship intelligence solutions like Affinity take it a step further by assisting you in determining your overall relationship strength with each person in your network.

G. EduTech Industries

EduTech is one of the areas in India that has received a lot of funding from IT investors. VC investments tripled from $310 million to $998 million between January and July 2020. Investors for apps have also turned their attention to less regulated areas like test preparation and tutoring. The pandemic lockdown has resulted in an increase in mobile app development services across the educational sector. Well-known startups like Vedantu, Unacademy, and Byjus control a substantial portion of the funding in this area, and many are still rising.

Geographical Markets That Will Statistically Get Investors’ Attention

The global mobile app investment landscape will be fundamentally altered by the impact of changing trade regimen and digital disruption. In order to remain competitive in the market, businesses will have to work in close alliance with policy makers to adapt and then respond to the changing economic globalization. 

One such shift can be seen in the United Kingdom because of the Brexit. The country is seeing its top position getting challenged by several other countries and projects to Germany. 

The app investments trends 2022 can be seen betting on the growth potential of India, with the country’s economy coming on track to overtake China as the most populous country by 2027, according to the United Nations.

Also, Vietnam, which is one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, is becoming a profitable haven for U.S. multinationals looking to safeguard themselves in the US-China tariff issues. 

“There’s huge growth potential in Asia,” says Rich Sega, the global chief investment strategist at asset manager Conning. “The geopolitical stress in Hong Kong has opened up opportunities for other areas in the region for Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.”

Ultimately, apps for investors will lead to mobile app solutions that make technology mainstream, taking it to domains and nations which have been operating sans them. Moreover, they will be expanding their focus from leading nations like Australia and the USA to emerging markets, which show a potential of immense economic growth.

Parting Thoughts

Now that you have got a starting point for 2022, it is time to take the journey with mobile app development services and come in the conscious mind of investors looking for investing in an app startup.

At Appinventiv, we are known to help our clients get funding for app startup on their project idea and finished applications. It’s an event that results from our knowledge of the steps of how to get an investment for an app and knowing what types of investors invest in. 

The post What Type of Mobile Apps Will Tech Investors Fund in 2022? appeared first on Appinventiv.

With its market size poised to be 1.6 trillion by the time we reach 2025, entrepreneurs and businesses from all corners are finding opportunities to enter the segment. 

In this article, we are going to look into the trends and advantages of internet of things like ensuring cybersecurity and focusing on cloud and edge computing, which would act as a torchbearer for businesses looking for an area to expand into.

And since we are well past the stage where we address what is IoT and how IoT works, and what are the advantages of IoT, let us jump straight to IoT app development trends in the world. 

But before that, here’s a quick synopsis of the IoT market to set the tone of the article.

18 Striking IoT Trends 2021 and Beyond

1. Rise in number & types of IoT devices 

2017 ended with 8.4 billion IoT connected devices, 2018 saw the number increase to 9.2 billion. The 2021 number is all set to be 20.8 billion by the time the year ends.

It is not just the number of connected devices which is on a rise but also the types. Here are the different IoT device types that are expected to go mainstream this year:

• Voice Assistants
• GPS Trackers
• Smart Bands or Fitness Bands.
• Smart Locks
• Smart Smoke Alarms
• Amazon Dash button
• Smoke Detectors
• Child Monitor
• Doorbell Cameras
• Home mesh Wifi Systems
• Fitness Devices
• Wearables
• IoT based Security Systems
• Security Cameras

2. Consumer IoT (CIoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT)

CIoT is an IoT ecosystem that assists organizations with improving user experience by utilizing “insight” on users’ Internet-connected gadgets.

The customer IoT market is active for the last five years and is giving indications of slowing down. The Industrial Internet of Things on the other hand will start getting more attention as more and more companies start building modern industrial systems that want the adoption of IoT. Utilizing industrial IoT can decrease the probability of unexpected episodes in data transmission, information processing, or centralized administration.

3. Smart homes will become a norm

Even people who discarded smart homes as devices for pretentious youngsters are now finding it difficult to ignore the capabilities the technology comes with. While it started with a steady growth, the demand for connected home devices will see a sharp rise in the years to come. 

This demand, in turn, will increase the need for the manufacturing of connected electronic devices.

4. Cloud & edge computing 

For a long time, the IoT devices have been relying on the cloud for storing their data. But the IoT application development industry has now started wondering about the implications of utilizing storing, calculation, and analyzing data to limit. 

They are demanding that instead of sending the data from IoT devices to cloud, the data should first be transferred to local devices which are closer to the edge of the network. This local storage helps in sorting, filtering, and calculating the data and sending a part or the whole data to the cloud, thus reducing the traffic to network.

Edge computing offers a series of benefits to an iot application development company and developers, which makes it one of the key emerging trends in IoT technology –

• Better management of large amount of data which every device sends
• Lowered dependency on cloud helping apps perform faster with reduced latency
• IoT based mobile apps consumes less bandwidth. 

5. A greater focus on IoT security 

With the adoption being on a rise, more and more devices are getting connected to the Internet of Things. And as the network is expanding, the volume of data is also expanding and there is more information which is at risk.  In fact, the security vulnerability has also become a prominent answer of what are the challenges in IoT domain.

Source: Statista

This greater use of IoT tools and technologies must be accompanied with a greater boost to IoT security awareness and training. The year to come will see machine to machine authentication overlapping, biometric logins becoming a norm, and technology combinations like IoT and big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence being used to eliminate data infractions. 

6. Greater personalization

There would hardly be any industry left which has incorporated IoT in its offerings and is not taking advantage of personalization. With the help of beacon and sensors, the retail domain will be able to deliver next-level service offerings, through the use of IoT technology. Likewise, sectors like Healthcare and Edutech will also be able to deliver customized value offerings to their end customers. 

This time can also be seen as a golden period for marketers looking to make a unique impact on their customers. 

7. Incorporation of artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning 

There was once a time when the goal of IoT was to collect data coming in from multiple sources. But today, the intent has become to not just collect data but also extract useful information from it. 

Incorporation of next gen technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning will define the trends and implications of IoT in the coming time. 

Using the data analytics tools in the connected devices, businesses will be able to decisions around both predictive and preventive measures. And soon it will become a part of the latest IoT trends, both of the present time and the future. 

Source: iView Systems

8. Blockchain for IoT security and BaaS will become mainstream

Although an extension on the security section, the integration of IoT and Blockchain deserves special attention of Blockchain development companies.

There are some pestering issues that IoT faces which have been adversely affecting the overall IoT growth trends and its mass adoption – Scalability, High Cost, Security, etc. being a few of them. A majority of these issues can be traced back to the centralized network. 

Being centralized, there is minimal to zero guarantee in terms of security, especially since the data is held by a specific party. 

Blockchain, being decentralized eliminates the issues of lack of security and control being with one party. The plethora of benefits that the combination of IoT and Blockchain offers makes it one of the important trend in IoT technology.

9. Smart cities will start flourishing

Source: idc.com

What has been lying in the background for some years now, Smart Cities will become a thing of reality in the time to come. 2021 and the years to come will see the inception of several internet of things applications, which would be directed at improving environmental, social, and financial elements of urban living. The tech spending directed towards smart cities and the efforts to build IoT architecture, which is anticipated to reach $80 billion by 2050 will become a prime ingredient in the goal to improve the quality of living and sustainability.

10. SaaS will emerge as a norm

It is impossible to talk about the technology without mentioning the benefits of cloud computing in IoT. By making data accessible in real-time, SaaS will find itself getting explored by a number of businesses as part of IoT trends 2021. 

The time to come will see more cloud vendors coming in the picture for becoming an active part of the dependency that mass IoT adoption will bring alongside. 

11. Unified IoT framework 

The absence of a unified IoT framework is something that has been a major challenge for the IoT industry for a long time. The fact that not many companies work around a shared central platform, affects the adoption process to a huge extent. 

Solving the issue through Blockchain will be one of the major IoT trends 2021. Blockchain driven ecosystem will bring all the data in one place with a decentralized operation model where the information will not be in control of any one entity.  

12. Increased consumer adoption

Source: Statista

One of the prime IoT market trends and the time to come will see IoT being used for not just personal or consumer based use but also industrial use. A validation of this can be seen in the numbers that the IoT connecting devices were set to grow to over 3.7 billion by 2019 and to over 50 billion by the time next year ends. 

While the consumer based adoption of IoT is well talked about, we will look into the industrial internet of things in much detail in the next section.  

As of now, the future of IoT lies in worldwide adoption. 

13. Location tracking and wireless sensing will become a lot more relevant 

One of the major IoT Mobile App Development Trends will be seen in efficient tracking of location and wireless sensing. 

With 5G prepared to come on the forefront, apps will get new capabilities on these fronts. According to Gartner, wireless sensing will be used for the creation of drone and virtual assistants, in addition to being helpful in object recognition, and medical diagnostics. 

14. Greater efficiency and personalization in customer service 

There are several use cases of how is IoT shaping up the future of better customer service. Operative majorly at the back of IoT and Big Data convergence, customer experience is poised to become a lot more personalized in the coming time. The combination of both is what would help in achieving true omni-channel customer experience, which is a need of every modern day business, irrespective of what industry they belong to. 

15. Voice will become the new mode of communication

Voice search, while already extremely hyped in the market, will see new demand flourishing this year. This time, it will be around IoT devices – for summoning them, connecting them with other devices. 

This operation has majorly been done by algorithms, but from this year, you will see the operation becoming voice centric.  

16. Predictive maintenance will witness a rise

The next-gen manufacturing tools will make use of built-in sensors and advanced programming for performing predictive analytics and forecasting the potential issues much before they actually happen. 

This will not just lower the downtime but the data based predictive analytics will also eliminate guessing games from the preventative maintenance strategies. It will enable engineers to schedule and then initiate maintenance when the machines are dormant.

17. Automotive revolutionizing interaction between cars and people

The employment of IoT in the automotive sector has brought in a vast development in the field of fleet management, connected cars, maintenance systems, and in-vehicle infotainment and telematics.

An idea of auto cars is basically based on the establishment of the IoT, autonomous vehicles are about connectivity. This implies that the vehicle is remotely controlled by IoT and automated vehicles are a forthcoming entity.

IoT car support system assists an individual to take essential steps to prevent the parts of the vehicle/car from abrupt breakdown. Like dashboard indicators of a vehicle, this framework alarms the driver about the possible breakdowns. In any case, the alarms are sent to the driver’s phone, before the issue even happens. This assists the driver with making cost effective and efficient strides to evade component failure while driving.

18. Better workforce management

The use of headlights in recording the hours is expected to turn into an ordinary practice. Headlights are normally used to send messages to customers through smart phones. Decreasing the expense will expand the use of beacons in dealing with the work force. Beacons can be utilized to monitor personal and schedule tasks. All the information from these frameworks can promptly be used to populate the solutions of performance management.

Beacons can be generally used to screen the safety of the employee. This applies to circumstances where fitting safety equipment should be utilized. The health sector can utilize signals to screen the activities of doctors, medical professionals and nurses. This incorporates admittance to medical records and the use of medical equipment. IoT is quite possibly the most important subversive methods on the market.

These 18 IoT technology trends for 2021 that you just read are only the tip of the iceberg. The adoption of the technology would go above and beyond when it comes to changing the lives of millions, through connection. 

On the note of changing lives, let us look at all the prospective industries IoT would touch in the coming year and how they would become new trends in IoT. 

Industries That Will Get Affected by IoT in 2021

Although there are a plethora of industries which will witness IoT redefining their processes, there are a few which will play on in a front foot mode when the emerging trends in IoT are being defined. 

A. Consumer electronics 

The functionality of the IoT ecosystem depends entirely on the devices it interacts with. While there are already a number of IoT driven consumer devices operative in the market, there will be more to come in the coming time. 

Here are some of the device types that will go mainstream in the coming time – 

• Next-gen locks to secure vehicles, home, and other personal belongings 
• Smart appliances which regulate power consumption 
• AI driven thermostats that adjust room temperature according to the weather outside. 

B. Healthcare

Source: Grand View Research

The IoT trends in healthcare will touch every single aspect of the sector. IoT implementation in healthcare will affect not just the software but also the hardware systems of the industry. 

Several new personal healthcare devices like wearables will enter the market, enabling consumers to monitor their own health. Another Internet of Things trends in the healthcare sector will be seen in several hardware coming into existence allowing medical officials to track staff and patients, while monitoring the medical equipment. 

C. Manufacturing 

Source: Verizon 

The industry is one of the major sectors to become a part of industrial IoT trends 2021. Manufacturers from across the globe have already started investing in embedded devices for monitoring assets and equipment.

Commonly called smart manufacturing, Use of IoT in manufacturing improved the productivity and efficiency of operations.

D. Automotive

Majority of the IoT next six year’s growth will be seen coming from the automotive and industrial sectors, according to an IDC report. The two domains alone would highlight a yearly growth rate of 60% in the IoT sector, solely at the back of the growing number of complexities of sensors which capture data from machines, automobiles, and other industry based assets. 

E. Financial service

With users opening up to the idea of conducting their financial services on different devices, the IoT trends in the financial domain will become too prevalent to ignore by financial software development companies. 

The time to come will see introduction to smart cash points having connected vending machines that would allow consumers to take loan, accept deposits, transfer money, and undertake a plethora of other financial transactions straight from a device. 

Apart from new financial models, the IoT trends in insurance industry will come in the forefront with the industry expanding their offerings to accommodate the risks and needs of connected devices and ecosystem.  

F. Retail

The IoT trends in retail will see the industry seeing physical and eCommerce getting combined. Instead of visiting the stores, consumers will soon be able to try on outfits at home through the power of Virtual Reality. The grocery industry will also witness an overhaul with IoT changing food consumption, farming, and the overall supply chain. 

The time to come will witness an Omni-Channel retail, powered by IoT app trends.

G. Energy 

The incorporation of IoT in the energy sector will lead to the industry becoming a lot more efficient and streamlined in terms of energy management. The impact of IoT in the energy sector will majorly be seen in the following areas through the mode of smart cities and smart homes – 

• Cost Saving 
• Better energy consumption and management 
• New data source offering transparency in the system. 

H. Education and training 

The last but very impactful trends in IoT applications will be seen in the training and education domain. In the time to come, IoT will become a very important skill that a modern-day engineer or marketer should understand. Noting the heightened rise, we are going to see more courses lineup aiming at IoT specific studies. 

We will also see businesses invest in boot-camp courses within offices to give their employees an exposure of the technology in action. 

Challenges Of IoT

At present, there are four fundamental drivers of the IoT market: the ever-growing Internet connectivity, smartphone devices, and sensor devices with lower costs, great investments are filling the IoT. Also, there are four challenges for the growth of the IoT market: worries about cybersecurity, privacy, application process issues. Innovation is yet scattering.

The Internet Of Things is facing problems in many areas such as IT, Healthcare, Data Analytics and so on. Let’s discuss some of the challenges.

Scalability

Billions of internet-enables devices get associated in an enormous network where large volumes of information need to be processed. The system that stores, examines the information from IoT gadgets should be scalable. In the present period of IoT evolution everyday objects are associated with one another through the Internet. The raw information acquired from these gadgets need enormous information investigation and cloud storage for understanding helpful information.

Interoperability

Technological principles in many regions are still divided. These technologies should be joined to help us in building up a typical structure and the standard for the IoT gadgets. As the standardization cycle is still lacking interoperability of IoT. This absence of interoperability is preventing us to move towards the vision of associated everyday interoperable smart items.

Connectivity issues

In its present form, the IoT uses a centralized, server-client model to give availability to the different servers, workstations and systems. This is very productive, since the IoT is yet in its earliest stages, however what happens when billions of devices are all using the network simultaneously.

According to updated reports from Gartner, more than 20 billion individual units will connect to the IoT by 2021. It’s just a matter of time before users start to experience significant bottlenecks in IoT connectivity, efficiency and overall performance.

Conclusion

While these above mentioned emerging IoT technologies trends will be a good starting point, you will still need someone to help you with getting started with a full-fledged business in the IoT sector. And so, the next thing to follow after being accustomed with what is the future of IoT is getting in touch with an IoT app development company who would hand hold you towards future and next-gen offering.

You can also opt for companies in your area like IoT app development company USA, if you live in the US or any other area where you reside. But you have to be careful while choosing a company or developer to get quality results. Check the expertise and knowledge of the blockchain development company before finalizing any prospect.

FAQs About IoT Trends 2021 and Beyond 

Q. How big is the IoT market?

The global IoT market is estimated to grow to over 212 billion U.S.D by 2019 end. The number if further expected to grow to somewhere around 1.6 trillion by the time we hit 2025.

Q. What is the IoT system?

IoT is an ecosystem of several interrelated digital and mechanical machines, computing devices, animals or people, or objects,  that are given unique identifiers (UIDs) and the capability to transfer data over the network minus the need of any form of human-to-computer or human-to-human interaction.

Q. What are the characteristics of the Internet of Things?

There are primarily six elements that come together to define the characteristics of the Internet of Things:

• Connectivity
• Intelligence
• Sensing
• Heterogeneity
• Data
• Dynamic Nature
• Communication
• Energy
• Ecosystem
• Security

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