Now that 2018 is officially over, we are jumping into the new year with many fascinating mobile trends lying in wait ahead of us. What does the future bring? Faster internet, ever-evolving mobile app developments, the popularity of chatbots, increasing advancements in IoT technology, accelerated mobile pages and cloud storage applications are among some of the top trends to look out for this year.
1. The Emergence of 5G Internet
With an increasing number of devices coming online, slower services and more dropped connections can occur. This is where 5G comes into play providing more bandwidth for everyone. The arrival of 5G in 2019-2020 will revolutionize and transform how we use the internet. This is the fifth generation of cellular networking coming after our current 4G LTE standard. It will provide users with much faster and innovative mobile services with the ability to handle 1,000 times more traffic than today’s existing networks and it will be up to 10 times faster than 4G LTE.
According to CNBC, 4G responds to our commands in 45 milliseconds whereas 5G will take around 1 millisecond. We are entering a whole new generation of the internet as 5G smartphone users will enjoy a more streamlined experience. It will operate mainly in the cloud and will enable instant downloading of video content and high definition movies, offer enhanced mobile broadband and reliable low-latency communications, allow for fixed wireless access and it will be the foundation of technology like virtual reality, autonomous driving and the Internet of Things (IoT). This fifth generation of the internet will have faster response times and a capacity that is 100 times better than 4G.
2. Android Instant Apps
Over the past couple of years Android instant apps have been created and used, however, they will gain more traction as we move into 2019. This technology allows people to use an app on-the-go directly from the app store without downloading and it taking up storage space on a device. This is the next step in the evolution of mobile apps with the ability to be run instantly without the need for installation.
These types of apps can even be compared to streaming music and videos online. Mobile app companies can allow their users to demo a full version of the app. The goal is to enhance the user experience and make it easier to increase user acquisition rates. This instant access to apps helps consumers to better understand the features before fully committing to downloading the application.
3. Chatbots in Mobile Apps
With 40% of large businesses implementing intelligent assistants or chatbots by 2019 and 80% of businesses wanting chatbots by 2020, it is clear that this technology will continue to be a trend throughout this new year. In fact, chatbots are expected to cut business costs by $8 billion by 2022 and 63% of people would consider messaging an online bot to communicate with a business or brand.
This special technology has the ability to deal with predictable inquiries, routine tasks, frequently asked questions and personalizing messages and engagements with customers. Online retailers are even using them for checking order statuses, making purchases and deliveries.
Chatbots are maturing more as an integral part of online customer service and marketing, offering enhanced conversational user experiences, immediate responses and the simplest and quickest ways to a solve a problem so customers can reach their goals in the shortest amount of time possible. Thanks to machine learning and artificial intelligence, its interaction with users are becoming more human-like with natural language capabilities.
4. Even More Internet of Things
There are endless possibilities when it comes to connected objects. The Internet of Things has the magic ability to handle tasks like controlling the thermostat, tracking energy usage and turning off high energy appliances, locking doors, turning on lights and appliances like a microwave or popcorn maker, the technology can even monitor the food in your fridge and notify you when something spoils or when you need to restock on a certain product. With a prediction that connected thing will reach 20.8 billion by 2020, it is evident that the world will continue to adopt IoT technology in 2019.
Connecting physical objects to the digital world gives devices the power to tell people what is happening in an environment without physically being there. Smart doorbells can send an alert to an app on your smartphone when someone is at your door when you are absent. IoT sensors in your home can detect the heat of a fire and set off the sprinklers and immediately contact and notify the fire department.
The IoT is a giant network of connected things that will continue to expand not only from smart homes and office spaces but toward creating smart cities as urbanization and overpopulation take over. Smart cities are a network of connected objects and machines like low-power sensors, wireless networks, web and mobile applications, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. We will soon see in the new year and for many years to come how smart cities using IoT technology will improve the quality of life with better energy, water and waste management as well as environmental sustainability.
5. Accelerated Mobile Pages
You may have noticed in the past that some mobile web pages and browsers feel heavy and loaded with ads, resulting in poor page responsiveness and a difficulty to scroll up and down because of all the clutter. This is where accelerated mobile pages, or AMPs, come into play offering high-performing and faster page loading in mobile browsers.
The best way to tell that you are using AMPs is in Google. After searching for your topic or subject, there will be lightning bolts next to the links using an AMP version of that website. This is a trend that will continue to prosper in the new year making progress towards faster and smoother websites with lightweight pages, reduced bounce rates, improved page rankings, better add visibility and high click-through-rates (CTR). AMPs have restrictions in place to make sure ads only take up a certain amount of space on the screen so it doesn’t block the content on the page. They also have limitations on animations to prevent page lagging to ensure the web applications will run faster and the content will show up much easier and cleaner on the mobile screen.
6. Cloud Storage Apps
As smartphone users continue to store more and more data on their devices, other alternatives are needed to contain large amounts of data. Mobile cloud storage solutions allow users to easily use data which does not involve any internal memory on their smartphones. Some popular examples which already exist include DropBox, Google Drive and iCloud.
There are a lot of benefits to cloud technology. Offering expandable storage space, uninterrupted performance and high productivity, security, speed and reliability are among many of its advantages. It has been predicted that in 2019, cloud applications will provide 90% of mobile traffic in the world.
We are excited to see how these trends will evolve throughout 2019 and what new advances they will have to offer the tech world. So keep your eyes and ears open!
