Mobile Apps Keep Moving — But Have A Long Way To Go
Nick Jones over at Gartner wrote a great piece about the current state of mobile apps. It’s a must-read for mobile app developers and marketers.
His post is written about the iPhone, but it applies equally to Android, Blackberry or Symbian apps. It also helps to explain why mobile apps have been the fastest growing segment of the uTest biz (phenomenal growth + still evolving market = a lot of testing to do).
Here are a few realizations from his recent trip to his local Apple store that seemed especially relevant for our readers (bullet points are his and the running commentary is mine) :
- Customer expectations are rising fast: Agreed, we’re seeing this in the uTest universe too. In fact, user expectations seems to be climbing even faster than the pace at which standards are emerging or apps are improving. Buggy or unreliable mobile apps now draw the same ire that defective web or desktops apps do.
- Mistakes are very visible: Agreed again. Whether it’s functional problems or GUI issues, there’s nowhere for bugs to hide in a mobile app. And as Jones says, “Old unaddressed comments are very public statement that the retailer doesn’t care; if you’re not committed to a mobile app, don’t deliver one.“
- People always want more: The notion of having a fairly static mobile app will quickly become an antiquated notion. Users demand new and better features and a steady stream of new versions will be required to keep up with the competition.
- You have to do better than the web: If an app can’t top the experience of visiting the company’s site via the mobile browser, then don’t bother.
For those who are looking for an overview of mobile testing alternatives, check out our free mobile app testing eBook. Have any other tips for the growing number of companies who are developing and marketing mobile apps?
@Matt Johnson,
Absolutely right. When I bought my new phone Sony Ericsson W910i I came to know that it has been awarded as Phone of the Year. But crash used to happen always where I missed important calls because the phone used to restart occasionally and as I had PIN set in my phone my calls or messages were blocked to me.
Customer expectations are really becoming high. They do not want to see obvious problems at least or crash problems. Besides, they do not want to see bugs in the phone dancing in front of them when they have paid a large amount for the mobile phone *smiles*.
Thanks,
Santhosh Shivanand Tuppad