The Best Mobile App Ideas to Develop for Businesses In 2024
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It is no secret that most businesses today are driven by technology. A major reason for this is that more and more consumers today prefer searching for and buying the services and products they need on their mobile phones.
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According to Statista, Revenue from retail e-commerce in the United States was estimated at roughly 905 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. The Statista Digital Market Outlook forecasts that by 2027, online shopping revenue in the U.S. will exceed 1.7 trillion dollars. Following is an infographic illustrating this development:
From the above infographic, we find that in the year 2021, the USA generated a total of 860 billion in revenue through e-commerce. We also find that the count is about to cross 1.4 trillion in the year 2025. Other encouraging statistics for aspiring mobile application developers is that 270 million Americans owned a smartphone in 2018, while the count crossed 307 million in the year 2022.
When it comes to user base most of the users either prefer an iOS device or an Android device. Both of these are mobile devices on which mobile applications can be downloaded. However, some apps may only be available for download only from the Google Play store for Android phones and Apple’s App Store for iPhones and not on tablets. Nevertheless, aspiring mobile app developers in the US should be buoyed by the fact that there are hundreds of millions of mobile users in the country today.
The State of Internet and Mobile Usage in the US and Worldwide
Mobile app developers in the US are not the only ones who should look forward to a bright future for their business/career. Freelance app developers and app development companies in other parts of the world have a lot to look forward to. This is because more than 50% of the world’s population already has access to the internet, and this is only going to grow in the future. In fact, it is Asia rather than North America or Europe that has the greatest number of internet users. Following is an illustration of this:
From the above graph, East Asia accounted for approximately 1.2 billion of the world’s internet users, followed by Southern Asia with a little over one billion. While America ranks 3rd with around 800 million internet users. The regions with the least percentage of global internet users are Central Africa and Northern Europe. Central America coming in the last place is more of a surprise than North America ranking fifth on the list.
In addition to the pie chart showing the distribution of the world’s internet users, Internet World Stats provides information on these users based on their sheer number. Following is a graph illustrating this:
From the above graph, we find that, as of January 2022, India and china combined had 1.02 billion internet users, while the United States had 307 million. Indonesia ranked fourth with 204 million users while Bangladesh and Italy reported the least number of internet users with 52 and 50 million respectively.
Another statistic that should serve as an encouraging sign for aspiring mobile app developers is that there were 5.04 billion unique mobile users in the world at the start of 2023, an increase of 98 million from the previous year. Following is an infographic illustrating this:
From the above infographic, we find that 68% of the total population uses mobile phones. The number of unique mobile users in the world increased crossed 5 billion in the year 2023. For those of you who don’t know what this represents, a unique mobile user represents a mobile user who installs an app on an iOS or Android device. If you install the same application on two devices, then this counts as two unique mobile users.
According to Statista, global unique mobile subscribers will grow to 5.86 billion by 2025. By the end of 2020, the number crossed 6 billion. Following is an illustration of this:
From the above graph, we find that the Asia-Pacific region is expected to have the greatest share of global unique mobile subscribers in both 2020 and 2025. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) comes in second place; Europe is third, Latin America is fourth, and the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region ranks fifth. The list is completed by North America and Sub-Saharan Africa, which come in sixth and seventh places, respectively.
Looking at the global unique mobile subscriber stats and the distribution of internet users in the world according to region, we find that North America, which includes the United States, lags far behind other regions, such as Asia and Africa, which comprises rival economies such as China, Japan, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.
Why Businesses in the US Need a Mobile App
It is needless to say that the US needs to have a bigger share of both global unique mobile subscribers and global internet users in the future, considering the country’s stature in the world and the sheer size of its economy.
However, the impact of the US’s share of global unique mobile subscribers and global internet users is minimal on the mobile app development companies operating within the country. This is because almost 70% of Americans prefer online shopping, and half of them use a mobile device for shopping. EMarketer provides proof of this by revealing that M-commerce sales in 2022 crossed $415.93 billion - which represents 6.0% of total retail sales for the year. Following is an illustration of this:
From the above infographic, we find that smartphones now account for 87.2% of m-commerce sales. We also find that their number is about to hit $534.18 billion, or 40.4% of e-commerce sales, in 2024.
Another statistic that should motivate the top app development companies in the US to create great apps for their clients is nearly the total number of digital banking users. The total number of digital banking users in the USA was around 197 million users in March 2021. And the number in the country is forecasted to reach almost 217 million by 2025. Most of these mobile banking activities are conducted via apps. Clearly, the use of mobile devices and applications for shopping and other reasons is on the rise in the US.
The use of mobile devices has been increasing globally and is expected to reach great heights in 2024. This is an opportunity that both app development companies and businesses that want to create an app must capitalize on.
One of the best ways to do that is by creating innovative apps that immediately catch the attention of the target audience. To help you with this, we will discuss in this guide the best mobile app ideas to develop for businesses in 2024.
However, before we do that, you need to understand why investing in mobile app development is critical to accelerating your business growth. In the next section, we look at the eleven reasons businesses should invest in mobile app development.
11 Reasons Businesses Worldwide Should Invest in Mobile App Development
The number of mobile application downloads crossed 255 billion in the year 2022. Additionally, the stats also states that mobile app downloads worldwide have been increasing constantly since 2016 which crossed 200 billion in the year 2019. With this in mind, it can only be a good thing for businesses in the US and worldwide to invest in mobile app development.
There are several benefits for both online and brick-and-mortar businesses that invest in mobile app development and hire a mobile app development company. Some of these benefits are listed below.
1. Ensure Increased Visibility of the Business
The number one reason for investing in mobile app development for your business is to ensure that you are always visible to your customers. For various reasons, people spend a good amount of time each day using their mobile phones. In fact, it has been found that adults in the US spend more than 3.5 hours a day on their mobile phones. The average time spent on mobile phones per day is on the rise in other parts of the world as well.
This provides businesses everywhere with a great opportunity to remind customers about them. When customers are reminded about your business each day, they are likely to consider you when shopping for a product or service that you offer. This increases your chances of making a sale, which ultimately benefits your bottom line.
A website optimized for mobile usage is not enough to remind customers about your business. Instead, you need to have a mobile application for your business that customers can easily download to their phones. Once your app is installed on the mobile phones of your customers, your job of reminding them about your business will become incredibly easy.
Through the app, you can share any updates about your business with customers. You can also share any product announcements, promotions, and special offers from your business. This will not only help make your business more visible to customers, but it will also help to increase customer engagement, which will ultimately benefit your bottom line.
2. Create a Direct Marketing Channel
Regardless of your industry or where your business is based, a mobile application can serve as a great marketing tool for your business. In fact, some marketing experts see it as one of the best marketing channels for businesses.
Mobile applications offer tons of capabilities that can help you better market and sell your offerings to customers. These capabilities include (but are limited to) reminders, booking forms, messengers, price updates, news feeds, search features, and promotions.
With these features, you can make the purchase process easier for your customers. In fact, your mobile app can be the perfect one-stop shop for your customers. Additionally, you can easily connect to and interact with customers using push notifications. Moreover, you can use the app to automatically send reminders to customers about your payments, products, and services in a preferred/desired way.
3. Take Advantage of the Growth in Mobile Commerce
Mobile commerce has grown exponentially in the last ten years or so, and more of the same is expected over the next decade. Some important statistics related to mobile commerce are covered above. However, the most interesting finding related to mobile commerce is that five hundred companies that adopted mobile commerce to sell their products/services experienced an 80% increase in sales after the adoption.
This has been possible due to the plethora of great features offered by mobile applications such as proximity marketing, in-app purchases, and digital wallets like Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. By now, it should be clear to you that you need a mobile application for your business to get the most out of the current growth in mobile commerce.
4. Fast and Secure Mobile Payments
To take advantage of the growth in mobile commerce, you must allow customers to make payments to you using their mobile devices. A mobile application with in-built payment options can help you do this. Today, mobile applications developed by the top app development companies come with many mobile payment options, including wallets, CC &DC payments, PayPal, and in-app purchases.
These mobile payment options are not only fast and secure, but they also keep buyers’ sensitive information secure. In short, mobile applications with in-built payment options make it easy for your customers to pay for your products/services on their mobile devices without compromising their identity or other sensitive information. This allows your business to win the confidence and trust of your customers, which leads to loyal customers that make repeat purchases from you.
5. Increase Conversions
With mobile commerce applications, businesses can increase their conversion rate by integrating social sharing and digital content. Additionally, businesses can make it easier for customers to decide between two different product offerings by providing product recommendations and testimonials through their app. While this can also be done on a business website, mobile applications are readily accessible and thus a better option.
6. Build Brand Recognition
If you want to get quicker results from your brand-building activities, then you must invest in mobile app development. With a well-curated, well-designed mobile application, you can promote your brand effectively to prospects and customers without having to incur the heavy costs associated with outdoor advertising such as signages and billboards.
In short, a mobile application can help you to gain recognition for your brand quickly. The sooner you build brand recognition, the sooner you will be able to sell your products and services.
7. Increase Customer Engagement
To increase the sales of your products or services, you need to increase your customer engagement first. To do this, you need to make sure that you have a direct communication channel with customers and that customers can easily reach out to you with their inquiries, demos, or queries. One way to make this happen is by developing a mobile app with features such as geo-targeted ads, a help desk, and real-time chat. You will surely improve your customer engagement with this type of communication with your customers.
8. Capture Data in Real-Time
Whether it is related to the company’s finances, suppliers, customers, or sales, data plays a critical role in any organization. Mobile applications make it easy to get valuable insights, such as the period the most sales happen during a year, which customers use your app the most for, the most promising geographies for your business, which product or service customers search for the most, and more.
Using these insights, you can make the right decisions for your business. Additionally, you will be able to offer the right content to your customers at the right time and at the right place.
9. Increase Customer Loyalty
The dream customer for any business is a loyal customer who consistently buys from the business to add to its profitability. However, a lot of hard work is needed to win the loyalty of your customers; you need to show them that you care about them and understand their needs. The best way to do this is by building a connection with your customers through a mobile app.
With a mobile app for your business, you can not only engage more frequently with your customers but also offer rewards and loyalty programs to them like gift coupons, free vouchers, and free membership upgrades. This will increase customer satisfaction, build customer loyalty, and ultimately boost your sales.
10. Improve Customer Care
With a mobile application, your customer care will be online 24/7 year-round. A mobile application developed by one of the top app development companies will be sufficient for you to provide customer care services. You can provide these services through reviews, helpdesk support, product guides, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) integrated into the mobile app. You can even go a step further by offering live chat support in your app through chatbots. This will eliminate the need for dedicated customer service representatives while speeding up the delivery of customer care services, saving money, and increasing productivity in the process.
11. Take Advantage of Several Built-In Smartphone Features
The smartphone comes with several useful built-in features. You can leverage these features to your advantage by building a mobile application. For example, a mobile application will make it possible for your customers to share pictures that they took with your products as part of a promotion. Ultimately, this will increase the promotion’s reach and the recognition of your brand.
On the other hand, if you’re business is in the transportation industry, then you can leverage the smartphone's GPS feature to allow drivers and passengers to plan their trips, calculate expected time of arrival (ETA), and get directions through your mobile application.
Retail businesses can also use the in-built features of smartphones to their advantage by offering in-store proximity marketing to their customers via their app using a Bluetooth-enabled (BLE) device. In short, the built-in smartphone features should be reason enough for businesses everywhere to invest in mobile application development.
The above list is not exhaustive, and there are many other reasons for businesses to invest in mobile application development. However, if your ultimate objective is to increase sales and profitability for your business, then the reasons given above should encourage you to hire dedicated developers for mobile app development.
Whether you are interested in iPhone app development or Android app development, there are several mobile application ideas for businesses that can help you gain a competitive edge in 2024, depending on your industry. Some of these mobile app ideas for businesses are discussed in the next section.
Top 6 Mobile App Ideas for Businesses in 2024
Over the past few years, there has been an exponential increase in mobile application development for businesses. This is due to the rapid increase in the number of smartphone users and mobile application downloads. Statista reveals that the number of smartphone users worldwide surpassed 7 billion in the year 2021 and is about to cross 7.49 billion by the year 2025. Below is a bar chart that illustrates this:
From the above graph, we find that the number of smartphone users worldwide has increased at a constant rate since 2016. This trend is expected to continue in 2020 and 2021, with the number of smartphone users increasing to 6.95 billion in 2020 and 7.1 billion in 2021, respectively.
Another interesting finding of Statista and perhaps the biggest reason for businesses around the world to consider mobile application development is that there was a significant increase in the number of mobile application downloads in 2022 compared to 2021. The number of app downloads crossed 255 billion in 2022 and is expected to continue to increase over the next few years. Below is a bar chart illustrating this:
From the above graph, we find that the number of downloads worldwide increased from 230 billion in 2021 to 255 billion in 2022, an increase of 15 billion within one year. While such a drastic increase in the number of app downloads is expected in the next few years, we will experience an increase in app downloads worldwide between 2016 to 2022, which is illustrated above.
With an increase in both the number of smartphone users and the number of app downloads expected worldwide, 2024 would be a great time for businesses to invest in the development of innovative mobile applications. If you’re not sure about what type of mobile application to develop for your business in 2024, then you may want to consider the following mobile application ideas for businesses that are trending today.
1. IoT Applications
Statista predicts that the number to become almost triple from 9.7 billion in 2020 to more than 29 billion IoT devices in 2030.
From the above graph, we find that the IoT connected devices installed base worldwide has increased steadily over the past five years, and this trend is expected to continue over the next half-decade. This is a real opportunity for businesses to capitalize on.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is considered by many as the future of technology. This is because it enables you to control your car, the gadgets, and appliances in your home, and more from a single operating point remotely. With so many connected devices, there has never been a better time to invest in the development of IoT mobile applications for your business.
If you’re not thinking about developing an IoT application for your business, then you’re missing out on a great opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. This is because IoT mobile apps are a futuristic technology that can change how apps are developed in the future.
With an IoT mobile application, you can increase convenience for your customers while automating many of your processes. Another advantage of an IoT mobile app is that this type of app is highly interactive and can keep your users/customers engaged with innovative, user-friendly features. In short, an IoT mobile application developed by one of the top app development companies can help you meet many of your complex business needs while ensuring a competitive advantage for your business. Depending on your industry, you may want to choose one of the following IoT mobile app ideas for your business:
- Home automation
- Smart parking system
- Smart office systems
- IoT-enabled ECG devices
2. VR-Enabled Apps
Another innovative mobile application idea is virtual reality or VR-enabled apps. A trendy technology, virtual reality is making the unthinkable possible. If you want to get ahead of the competition, then you must take full advantage of this capability.
In the past, VR’s use and popularity were limited to the gaming world. However, this is no longer the case. As of 2022, there were around 64 million VR users worldwide spread across a range of industrial domains. Today, VR is being integrated with other disruptive technologies such as IoT to enable its greater use in industrial and business settings.
With VR mobile applications, you can provide your customers with an immersive and life-like experience of your business and products/services at a time and place of their choice. While the development and use of VR mobile apps are seen most in the retail sector, businesses/organizations in other sectors are also developing and using these apps. An example of this is the healthcare sector, where VR mobile apps are used for medical education, diagnostics, pain management, physical fitness and therapy, and human stimulation techniques.
3. On-Demand Applications
On-demand applications are already a hit with many businesses today. This is because they are fast becoming an integral part of the consumer’s life. According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), over 22 million consumers are attracted by the On-Demand economy each year, with spending exceeding $57 billion. Perhaps, the most interesting finding of HBR is that $35.6 billion of this revenue comes from the online marketplace. Following is an illustration of this:
From the above infographic, we find that area in the on-demand economy with the highest average spending per year (in billions) is the online marketplace. Transportation comes in second, but there is a gap of almost $30 billion between the two areas/sectors of the on-demand economy.
This shows that, if businesses want to take advantage of a booming on-demand economy, then they need to focus on and invest in the online marketplace. The best way to do this is by developing an on-demand mobile application for your customers. By doing this, you will provide your customers with quick access to the products/services they desire at their fingertips. Ultimately, this will bring benefits to your bottom line.
4. Social Media Applications
Social media applications will stay useful for several years to come. This applies to both consumers and businesses. For businesses, the greatest benefit of developing a social media application lies in the fact that there were over 4.76 billion social media users worldwide in 2022.
In addition to getting exposure to at least some of this social media user base, there are several other advantages of developing a social media app for your business that should encourage you to go ahead with the app development.
These benefits include (but are not limited to) brand promotion and user loyalty, faster demonstration of products and services to a wide customer base, valuable insights about your prospects and competitors, enhanced user experience that boosts your brand reputation, specific and targeted advertising, and increase in search rankings, website traffic, and conversion rates.
With the advantages of developing a social media app for your business established, you may want to know the approach to social media apps that will encourage consumers to buy from you. Sproutsocial provides some answers with findings that are illustrated below:
From the above chart, we learn that the behavior consumers want to see most from brands on social media platforms is honesty. The next most wanted behavior is friendliness. Consumers also want brands to be helpful and funny on social platforms. The behaviors least desired from brands are being snarky and politically correct. So, once you have a social media app for your business, make sure that you are not too vocal about government policies and social issues there. Most of your consumers won’t appreciate it.
In addition to the above, Sproutsocial suggests the following actions on social media apps to get consumers to buy from you:
From the above infographic, we find that the brand action on social apps/platforms that prompts consumers to make a purchase the most is being responsive. The next most important action is offering promotions, followed by the provision of educational content, sharing of interesting visuals, being funny, and offering exclusive content.
Actions on social that seemed to negatively impact the will of consumers to buy from a brand included providing behind the scenes content and trash-talking competing brands. Therefore, if you want to increase sales with your social media app, then make sure not to talk negatively about your competitors there. Instead, focus on increasing customer engagement by being responsive, offering promotions, providing educational content, and sharing interesting visuals. This will help you to get the most out of your investment in a social media-based mobile application.
5. Blockchain Applications
Blockchain applications are the fifth and final mobile app idea on our list that businesses can develop in 2024. According to Statista, the global blockchain market will grow to $39 billion by 2025. This means that businesses will have plenty of opportunities in the coming years in blockchain to capitalize on.
Contrary to popular belief, blockchain is not just about cryptocurrency and the provision of financial services. Instead, it can be used to secure data in a range of industries. In fact, blockchain is already proving its worth in many sectors other than the financial services industry.
A 2021 survey by Deloitte finds that blockchain is now a critical priority for many organizations. Following is an illustration of this:
From the above graph, we find that over 81% of the surveyed organizations consider blockchain to be one of their top five strategic priorities in 2021.
Another interesting finding of the Deloitte study is regarding the sentiments of organizations about the blockchain technology.
From the above bar chart, we find that there has been an increase in the number of organizations that believe blockchain technology provides great scalability and will soon enter the mainstream. There has also been an increase in the number of organizations with an executive team that believes that a convincing business case exists for blockchain.
Unfortunately, there has also been an increase in the number of organizations that see blockchain as overhyped. However, this does not undermine the benefits of developing a blockchain application for your business.
First and foremost, a blockchain mobile application can help you to enable a secure business ecosystem. Additionally, it ensures transparency with a complete ledger system. Another reason to hire a mobile app development company to build a mobile blockchain application for your business is that blockchain applications are simple to use and highly reliable. What more do you want?
6. Metaverse Application
You might have been wondering does Metaverse is a trend. Well, the simple answer is yes. Various fashion brands such as Nike, LV, Addidas, Prada, and many more have started investing in the metaverse to bring the future into the present. Along with this, a survey conducted by PWC reported 5,000 US consumers and 1,000 US business leaders, 50% of consumers call the metaverse exciting, and 66% of executives report that their companies are actively engaged. Along with this, Two third of company leaders claim they have moved beyond metaverse experimentation and 38% of them expect to see the outcomes of their investment as soon as next year.
As the metaverse demands knowledge about various complex technologies such as Blockchain, AR, VR, and many more; it is advisable to hire metaverse developers with an extensive knowledge base for your requirements rather than trying out the things on your own. Top metaverse development companies can guarantee the results that you won’t get by trying everything on your own. According to the reports, companies are also advancing on related organizational changes. Thirty-two percent plan to hire or appoint a “metaverse leader,” and 51% already have designated roles that focus (even if not always exclusively) on metaverse activity. It is your time to shine bright in your respective industry with Metaverse development.
Conclusion
From the information above, we find that the downloading and use of mobile applications are on the way up. Therefore, it makes great sense for businesses worldwide to invest in mobile application development in 2024. There are several advantages to this, and some of them have been discussed above.
Also discussed in this guide are the best mobile app ideas to develop for businesses in 2024. These mobile application ideas for businesses include IoT applications, VR-enabled apps, on-demand applications, social media applications, blockchain applications, and Metaverse applications. You can extract the maximum benefit from the development of these applications by hiring dedicated developers to build them.
Our Review Process
Our writers spent more than 30 hours researching the most trending mobile app development ideas today in various industries and niches. They considered 15 different mobile app development ideas and read through the research of top sites before shortlisting the mobile app ideas for businesses mentioned in this guide. This research process makes the provided information trustworthy.
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