The advent of innovative technology is revolutionizing the way we interact with our mobile device. Presumably, the eSIM, the new mobile technology, is poised to outsmart long-lived traditional SIM card technology which has worked as a physical solution to enable network availability of a respective telecom service provider.

Illustrious especially for introducing glaring trends in the domain of digital innovations, Apple has emerged to make history all over again. They have already made bold decisions like removing headphone jacks from new-gen devices, and now Apple’s visionary eyes have conjured the big picture of eSIM cards by launching iPhone XS, XR and XS Max.

These latest next generation devices have incorporated eSIM, the embedded SIM technology replacing the use of physical nano SIM cards that need to be inserted by users in its dedicated slots.

eSim-vs-Normal-SIM

Here we will shed light on what eSIM is, its application and long-term benefits and more.

What is eSIM?

eSIM is an electronic embedded SIM, an intangible technologically evolved system built into the device. Unlike a conventional physical SIM card used to authenticate user identity with a carrier, eSIM is directly embedded into phone’s circuit system and has the size smaller than Nano SIM, remaining physically inaccessible to users.

Embedded into your cellular device (smart phone, smartwatch and iPads), the re writable eSIM technology will allow mobile users to switch network operators without compelling them to visit a store for the porting or SIM swapping process. You never have to open a slot or take off the case to place in the SIM. Hence, the possibility of accidentally damaging the SIM is eliminated to your relief.

Read also : 3D Sensing in Mobile Phones

All you need is to download a software form of SIM from the network operator. In near future, we are going to experience phones and networks supporting the embedded SIM cards without a SIM slot.

How eSIM Works ?

The size logic

It is a challenge to wonder how smaller still the smartphone SIM can get. The eSIM is a real dwarf contributing to the problem of space owing to removable SIM tray. The space thus obtained by means of eSIM could be better used to improve other device elements such as better camera processing results for enhanced high-quality photo and video experience or elongate battery life.

Like this, there is a lot that can be done by creative software engineers and manufacturers with the space freed by eSIM technology.

eSIM pros

The distance between receiving a new phone and pairing it with a suitable mobile network that supports eSIM facility is quite comfortably small. All you are asked to do is to download the eSIM software and follow the process steps that are as simple as connecting to WiFi. The simplicity and ease of use is the primary merit offered by eSIM cards technology.

Read also : 13 Best Apps For iPhone X

Due to reduced size of eSIM, which is almost negligible, the design of eSIM-supported devices might grow more compact or lighter. As eSIM cards are embedded into the device circuit, there will be no need for additional SIM card or the tray, which means network providers can forgo the burden of manufacturing bulk of removable SIM cards.

Since there are no dynamic parts to touch, there is no fear of losing or compromising the SIM card. eSIM cards thus relieve you from the hassle of SIM swap toil. The added advantage is that the thief who has stolen your device can’t temper in anyway with your SIM card.

When you are roaming while enjoying international trips, it is easy to connect to a local operator with eSIM and avail their affordable available data plans.

What is more, as eSIM progresses in popularity, users could leverage the potential to subscribe to multiple networks with a single SIM card. This way, you will keep up with inconsistent signal strengths of different careers at home, office or during transition. If all goes as expected, users could even be able to switch from one provider to another, which may add to competition and boost visibility of smaller network providers with no retail presence.

Read also : Everything You Need To Know About Apple’s Latest Devices

Activation process

In case of eSIM activation, the need to personally visit nearest network operator center or wait for a couple of days before the new card arrives is completely eliminated. You will not be asked to fill long forms like in existing physical SIM card process. eSIM saves the entire rigmarole and simply asks you to scan a QR code delivered by the service provider. That is all that goes in setting up eSIM card on your device. Alternatively, if you can’t get QR code, enter the activation code manually for activation.

What devices would support eSIM?

According to what Apple has announced this year, iPhone XS and XS Max will have eSIM technology with dual SIM support though in China they will still have two physical SIM slots. After launching the new devices, iOS 12.1 will now support eSIM.

Users will also experience seamless connectivity in new iPad Pro, Apple Watch series 3 and series 4. In Australian market, 4G enables Apple Watch series 3 and series 4 are the only devices with eSIM embraced by Australian carriers. Telcos eSIM solutions solely focus on wearable technology, allowing single number to work among multiple devices. Since Telcos has been circumspect about dual SIM inclusion, Apple has still not listed any Australian carriers as eSIM supporting carriers.

Read also : 24 Best Apps for iPhone 7 Plus (2018)

Though Google Pixel and Pixel 2XL feature embedded eSIM, the potential is limited as the technology only works with Google’s Project Fi network in the US at the moment.

If you have iPhone XS models with eSIM enabled careers while travelling to another country, you can simply add a new plan to your iPhone by scanning a QR code. You could avail one eSIM plan even with multiple eSIMs in iPhone.

Concluding remarks

By 2020, many mobile manufacturers are expected to adopt eSIM innovation like Apple recently did. Although physical SIM cards have run its regime quite satisfactorily so far, the space consumed still is a crucial factor in smartphone architecture where every millimeter is precious.

Since eliminating the need to have tangible SIM cards and replacing them with embedded SIM will create new space in a phone, manufacturers will be inspired to further reduce the device thickness and launch slimmer phone models in the market. As eSIM technology is exponentially embraced, soon will we see old SIM cards become extinct.

A Minimum Viable Product is an excellent way for companies (especially start-ups) to understand and learn about their target audiences before developing the final, fully-functional product. It tries to prove the concept for a single-sided product, which focuses on nailing down the viability of the platform.

MVP, a business model with the minimum amount of custom coding and complex features, lets you test your assumptions and learn from the outcomes.

Today, in this post, we have compiled the top 11 famous services that were born from MVP which you tend to use every day:

1. Uber

Before launching the final version of the app, through UberCab, Uber first tried and tested to just connect their riders with drivers and accept payments. Uber’s MVP was accepted across the globe by both customers and drivers as they exactly found a relevant and prevalent headache, which has booking cabs.

As a simple concept, Uber Cab had let them enter the market in a short time, receive real user feedback, and expand to the brand they are today.

Essential Features:

  • Live-tracking of drivers
  • Fare estimations
  • Fare splitting
  • Instant credit and debit card payments

2. Dropbox

The famous Dropbox, instead of releasing a product as their Minimum Viable Product, they launched a short video that demoed their product’s first ever development, explained their core values and showed how simple it is for everyone to share all sorts of files across their devices. After they released this 3-minute video, the beta sign-up increased from just 5,000 to 75,000 instantly.

Essential Features:

  • Integration with MS Office
  • Dropbox for businesses
  • Collaboration
  • Upload images and videos from tablets, smartphones, etc.

3. Instagram

The very first version of the very famous and preferred social media platform, Instagram, lets photo sharing with just a few filters. They had entered the market which was soaked with other photo editing apps and tools that were common and gave tough competition to Instagram. However, the company offered a Unique Selling point (USP) that was a combination of both image sharing and editing.

Essential Features

  • Direct messaging
  • Boomerang videos and videos
  • Added new filters

4. Airbnb

Without having to involve the middlemen, to be able to provide short-term renting is the primary mission of the Airbnb. In order to test their idea of renting a loft for short-term trips, the founders of Airbnb offered accommodation for people who came to town for tentative periods. Soon, they launched a simple website that explained, how tourists can take advantage of Airbnb.

Essential Features

  • Selection of high-quality and well-equipped homes
  • Service hospitality included
  • Hosts provide daily essentials

5. Facebook

Facebook’s minimum viable product was pretty much similar to what LinkedIn had introduced. No applications, no news feed, no sort of status updates, and a lot of things were absent. Back when it started, all Facebook did was let students at Harvard university access to utilize within the university. The application was also made available to a tiny group of people to test and gather user feedback.

mvp

Essential Features

  • News feed
  • Photo and video sharing
  • Live video streaming
  • Sending messages

6. LinkedIn

The very first version of LinkedIn had got out with not too many features. For example, back then, users couldn’t endorse their connections for skills, write a recommendation, or even get a list of recommended connections. Everything on LinkedIn today is  created after the initial assumption was thoroughly tried and tested.

Essential Features

  • Incorporating keywords to enhance the profile
  • Recommendations and endorsements
  • Adding work examples, images, videos, etc.
  • Advanced people finder

7. Foursquare

When it was first launched, Foursquare had only had famous check-ins and badges for finishing particular activities. With their initial findings of the MVP which had only one main feature, Foursquare incredibly increased the market of apps with their location-based services.

Essential Features:

  • Check in at business places or attractions
  • Write reviews
  • Finding attractions

8. Pinterest

Just like the above ones, even Pinterest had a Minimal Viable Product. The platform offered enough utility for users who wanted to visually bookmark their interests. They made the pin one aspect of the Minimum Viable Product as it enabled the functionality. The early users of this product validated it as the product-market fit and made one of the best platforms for bookmarking recipes and fashion.

Essential Features

  • Collect photos as visual bookmarks
  • Share lists with anyone
  • Follow pins and lists from your connections

9. Zynga

Games and social media easily go hand-in-hand now. Back then, there were two extreme ends. When it originally introduced, Zynga was a poker game which let users go live on Facebook. This made a lot of difference and helped them to venture capital to fund titles such as Farmville.

Essential Features

  • Competitive tournaments
  • Casual Texas Holdem poker
  • Play across devices

10. Zappos

When Zappos was first established, they literally went into shoe retailing without keeping any sort of inventory. They started providing the photos of a variety of shoes they wanted to sell and if any customer placed the order then they would the particular shoes. This greatly helped them to study their target market.

Essential Features

  • Free shipping
  • 365-day return policy
  • Personalized product recommendations

11. Spotify

Spotify is another fantastic example of an MVP. As they wanted to develop a music streaming service, they specifically targeted music streaming for their MVP. Spotify built an application for desktop and run a closed beta for testing purposes on their target audiences. When they figured that their MVP was exactly what users wanted, they started signing with more number of artists.

Essential Features

  • Syncs smartphones with desktop
    Intuitive search by genre
    Undelete playlists erased by mistake

Wrapping up

While there are numerous ways to accomplish goals in businesses, Minimum Viable Product is the go-to solution especially for start-ups because of the scarcity of the funds in their backpacks.

Small and medium-sized companies are also becoming the frontier of innovation as they would have fewer limitations when compared to the enterprises and corporations. That is why it is important to test your ideas before you make them big.

With a world full of Android apps and iOS apps, it would be pivotal to make your app stand out from your competitors. And for that to happen, it is important to choose the right strategy for developing an app and not to spend your entire funds just on a single aspect. Well, there’s a way and that is MVP — Minimum Viable Product.

Of course, now you might be thinking that you all are familiar with Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and how it is helpful for start-ups and SMBs in reducing the unwanted costs and gives a chance to market test your product-related risks. But nobody knows how much it costs for mobile app development in India.

Let’s dig a little into the details.

But do we need an MVP at all?

Well, the app stores are heavily loaded with numerous apps and typically, 8 out of 10 apps fail to impress their users. Whenever you are planning to implement your concept or idea into an app, you need to be a more little careful than usual when it comes to mobile app design, the whole development process, costs, customers, etc. as these elements consume a lot of time.

mvp

This is where an MVP comes into the picture. A MVP mobile app helps your business to take a look at the future reflection of your concept and to learn the customer market significance of the app with minimum development costs and time.

How to build an MVP?

Usually, when you are developing a mobile app, you would start the process with selecting the right and flawless design and then work all your way up to the usability, reliability, features, and then functionalities. But, this way, there would be no end to the development costs.

Instead what you need to do is start with choosing the essential functionalities and features that you think would make difference and help your customers in solving their problems and then finally, choose a design that fits with the present app.

Now, coming to the main question. How much does it cost to build an MVP mobile app in India?

Honestly, an MVP costs nothing provided you do it yourself. But then again, it might not be as efficient as it could be if got it done by a professional and when it is not efficient, it would miserably fail to impress your target audiences.

When you try to find the cost of an MVP mobile app on Google or other search engines, you would mostly find vague answers and numbers. That is why we thought of providing a lengthy, actually a bit lengthy answer to your question.

It is no surprise that the cost of an app development is the primary factor in deciding whether you would continue building the app or not. However, when compared to the cost of actual, complete mobile application, an MVP app costs much lesser.

But what is the exact cost of an MVP?

Coming to the options of building an MVP mobile app, there are typically 2 ways (Excluding DIY).

  • Hire a freelance developer
  • Outsource it an IT company

Just like any other usual mobile app, an MVP cost also depends on the type of method you pick. The cost of hiring a freelance developer varies from country to country.

But India is certainly one of the most cost-affordable countries for IT solutions. However, freelancers would charge you anywhere between from $10/hr to $200/hr and mid-sized IT companies charges range somewhere around $2500 – $11,000.

For a better understanding, let’s dig a little deeper. Even if you consider the shortest possible timeline for your MVP development which is 30 days —

40 hours*$30 = $1,200/week

$1,200*4 = $4,800 — The total cost of your MVP mobile app

So this total cost could be ok or fine for some people and it may not for others. Also, this would be the cost of your MVP considering it only takes 30 days to build. But there are cases where it would take months, maybe 2 or 3 depending on the features and functionalities just like a mobile app.

Nevertheless, there are some common issues that could prolong your MVP development process a little more than you anticipated.

Keep the MVP design costs to minimal

Even before checking out what kind of features and functionalities your app has, first your customers will judge your MVP mobile app based on the design and how it looks. The design of your MVP is just as important as any other aspect because this is what the final output of the mobile app is going to look like. Anything other than the outline cannot be considered in this process. Additional changes are only done, once the app is launched.

The UI of your MVP should be simple and easy to navigate so that your users won’t find it difficult to search for anything. Depending on the number of screens of your MVP app, you can get a fair idea of how much it is going to cost you.

Also, what you need to understand is that the initial design is altogether a different and separate expense.

The Total Cost of MVP App:

As I already said, to figure out the final value of your MVP app cost, you just need to multiply the number of hours required to build it by the price of the hour freelance developer charges you.

The below table will give an outline of how much your MVP is going to cost.

There are certain elements beyond the development process of MVP such as:

Elements Beyond MVP Development

  • Initial release
  • Taking reviews and feedback
  • Data analysis

Once you launch your MVP, continue for a brief time as MVP is. If your customers love your app, then they will ask you to release a full-featured and functional app. By making the required changes and tweaks, you can release the final version of your app.

But, if your customers have mixed feelings about your MVP, then ask them which features they like and which they don’t so that you can improve their user experience.

In any case, you get totally negative feedback, and then stop the project for a while. Learn what your customers are expecting from your app. Otherwise, you would just be wasting a lot of money that would give you absolutely zero ROI.

Wrapping up

Now that you have understood how to proceed with your MVP mobile app development, this will surely give you an edge in negotiating with developers and IT companies. In addition to that, you know what to expect from your MVP, you can plan it in a better way on how to improve it and present it to your investors to raise more funds.

Mobile application development is the domain infused with incredible discoveries and innovations. Mobile apps have shaped our lives in ways never imagined before. Today there is an app for everything you can think of.

Developers are constantly on a whim to invest their creative passion and vision in utilizing modern technologies. Smartphone apps have taken over many slices of our daily lives including banking, online shopping, digital payments, social collaboration, healthcare and much more.


The fact that we can communicate, work and play at unbelievable speed is the proof of sophistication and power mobile apps have brought to the world as we knew. In this blog, we are going to learn the impact of mobile apps on the world.

The Dawn of Mobile App Explosion

In a short run, Apple and Google have  done what nobody ever dreamed about. Statista report 2017 confirms how leading app stores currently house staggering 6.3 million of mobile apps.

This is the achievement hit in merely 9 years of the establishment of Google and Apple app stores. Mobile apps deliver incredible advantages and lifestyle convenience standards by using the power of super-fast processing of today’s highly evolved smart phone technology and its infallible supporting network.

Two major factors that drove the eruption of mobile apps are:

  • User’s ability to download and use smart apps on their devices
  • Luxury of carrying their mobile phones wherever they go

Due to these two major drivers, people owning mobile devices became enchanted by the mobile app experience and slowly began to expect almost everything they do on their mobile phones.

They began to realize how it is possible to replace sedentary computer activities with dynamic, interactive and innovative mobile app experience.

The Decline of the Computer

What mobile software development did to people is called dynamic mobility. Instead of pushing dozens of features in single version of program on desktop, advanced technology of Smartphones made people perform computing tasks from their phones.

Apart from providing basic single functions of desktop (calculator, convertor, flashlight, calendar), they gave more power to mobile users such as photo and video editing, blogging and designing, socializing and gaming and much more.

Instant communication and collaboration

Communication is made enriched and simplified with mobile apps that can be used for messaging, voice and video chatting or social networking.

Connect with people living in distant locations instantly or talk to your loved ones while you are away from home. With communication apps, all you need is just a fingertip to enable seamless, quick and fruitful communication.

Now you can have multi-function mobile apps with which you can collaborate with your office employees, friends, family and share media, files, work progress with them on the go.

Healthcare and fitness

Mobile apps have revolutionized the way people monitor and keep track of their daily health and fitness. Built with focus improving health of users, these dedicated mobile apps can include a range of healthcare purposes like patient monitoring, remote assistance and diagnosis, doctor appointment scheduling, online prescriptions, and so on.

Users wanting to maintain their fitness can depend on apps built to improve your workout routine, cardiovascular functioning, diet and food habits and offer motivational boost to stay healthy and fit. Either they use smart fitness tracking wearables or download a smartphone app to fulfil their fitness goals.

Influence on Education & Training

Prior to having apps that transformed the shape of education, having physical classrooms was a necessity that drove students bored.

Virtual education mobile apps brought in the new trend of elite learning programs that provide sophisticated solutions for kids’ education.

Thanks to the gigantic rise of mobile app development technology, you can now choose digitally feasible ways of education and learn the same courses without compromising the comfort of your home.

Moreover, such apps can act as a training tool for both training institute as well as organizational structures. With the integration of Augmented Reality into  learning mobile apps, even smart classrooms of science and engineering have become intense and effective, inspiring development of more mobile apps of state-of-the-art class.

Work Productivity

Earlier it was difficult to fulfil work leftovers outside the office hours, but now you can fulfil all your occupational commitments with mobile apps.

Not only are you able to make an online call through communication apps or send an email, but with company’s specially dedicated apps can help you stay connected to your office network 24/7.

Such apps are built around the idea of enhancing productivity and integrating your professional workflow into your digital apps especially when you are travelling a lot and need instant access to project-related updates.

Digital Virtual Assistants

The era of digitally smart and interactive virtual assistants has begun and will not cease. For instance, Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa  are set to make you life even easier, better and properly organized by helping you remember and find things you need.

Thanks to the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence, days of forgetfulness are gone. Virtual assistants programmed to help you with almost everything you request are changing the way we all conduct our daily life.

Conceptually, AI-powered digital assistant mobile apps have also found their way into mainstream industries such as healthcare, hotel and hospitality, banking & insurance, domestic lifestyle and many more.

Smarter home and smarter workspace

This is another revolution mobile apps have triggered with the help of IoT and AI technologies. Like Smartphone, Smart TV and smart watches, offices and homes are also growing smarter with the combination of IoT and Artificial Intelligence.

Machines can control your home appliances and amenities based on your tastes and usual preferences.

For instance, hotel customers can set the room temperature remotely knowing that in the background the combined technology of IoT, sensors and AI is working to match their specific standards.

This is how mobile apps can sophisticate and automate your living style.

Media & Entertainment

Mobile gaming has not yet completely overpowered the charm of gaming consoles, but there is no denial that the gaming base created by famous game development companies is attacked by mobile game development popularity.

Due to significant improvements in mobile hardware technology, we can see the rise of more advanced mobile games with intricate, immersive and engaging elements.

On the other hand, online entertainment media like YouTube, Amazon, HBO and Netflix enable cordless, TV-less small-screen entertainment, which captures young demographics and increases scope for growth of media advertising.

The eternal pool of infinite data

This is, we can firmly put, the era of delicious data as we as users are surrounded by and leave behind gargantuan amount of infinite data for company owners.

The apps used for social engagement and chat messaging open up the greater opportunities for marketers to generate relevant products and custom offers for end users.

Apps directly interact with user’s social profile as they allow access to their various online footprints on different online portals and location details.

The user data travel to brands that imbibe and assess this massive amount of information to convert it into custom product recommendations to hit the target audience at the right time and the right place.

Apps taking over the world, literally

Based on the history of past decade, it goes without saying that mobile apps have almost taken over the entire world.

The online galaxy of apps is so influential that even schoolchildren can easily memorize popular apps such as Angry Birds, WhatsApp, Temple Run, Candy Crush saga, Pokémon Go, Cut The Rope and so on.

Some of these have been epic blockbusters making their owners rich, creating an unstoppable source of revenue for start-up businesses and emerging app writers.

The app industry is indeed reaching new heights every day, setting new records with brand new innovations and marvellous technologies.

It is true that mobile apps have hit the world by storm, crafting a unique digital economy for professional developers, consumers and entrepreneurs.

Conclusion

Mobile app development is perhaps the greatest breakthrough for the entire world. Enhancing the standard of interactions and methods of staying connected, mobile apps have undoubtedly come a long way, giving us a whole new perspective in life:

Living digital. Innovations like AR and VR have infiltrated mobile app market, offering us completely different realities of real and unreal world. We can conclude that as long as internet remains fast and secure, mobile apps will continue to turn the world around.

It is hard to imagine a world without technology. Virtually all aspects of life have been transformed with technology. As ICs get smaller, batteries become efficient and software become smarter, technology has ushered in digital sidekicks that perform most tasks bringing in speed and convenience to mundane activities.

As brands launched their own versions of digital assistants, loyal customers waged online battles claiming superiority. While the basic functions of most digital assistants were more or less the same, some scored better than the others in certain functions, while others outperformed elsewhere. We help users to rest their case by pitting Siri Vs Google Assistant.

Here’s the low down on the best between the two popular brands.

1) Depth of information

When it comes to posing questions, Google Assistant steals a march over Siri. This is understandable considering the search engines access to most of the traffic on the internet. With algorithms that help users find answers to questions on the browser, it is not difficult to understand how Google Assistant leverages this access to powerful search engine tools to offer quick responses to questions. This makes it a more reliable option if you are looking for answer and insights. You can be sure that you will get the most accurate information here.

2) Compatibility

This is the all important question that you need to ask yourself. If you are an Apple lover, with the iconic logo adorning your devices, then it would be a good idea to go for Siri as it works best within its ecosystem. While Google Assistant is compatible with both the platforms, the experience is a bit different. You will find it seamless to use a Siri on iOS devices. And Siri does not work elsewhere, so its basically two different platforms that you are looking at. If you an Android user, then Google Assistant will be the only choice, between the two.

3) Natural language processing

The idea of having a device for convenience is to make things simpler and less complicated. This effectively means that you would certainly not want to spend time training yourself to shoot out commands that the assistant understands.

You would certainly want one that understands you. In other words you would love to give directions in a natural manner, in a language that you use conversationally. Here it is Google Assistant that walks away with the trophy. It understand your language easily and you do not have to actually take time to frame your commands in machine friendly context.

 4) Playback options

Here it is Siri that takes the honours. This may have a lot to do with the fact that the iOS devices are famous for the music experience. Here the experience is a lot better when it comes to accessing the library and playing your most favourite tunes, including playing back songs on commands that are contextual. While Google Assistant has greater flexibility when it comes to being contextually aware, Siri scores on the music front, being able to do it faster and with equally, if not more contextual commands.

5) Pioneer to grouped commands

While Siri introduced a new feature ‘Shortcuts’, it was regarded as an attempt to match the features of Google Assistant and others. However, Siri was the forerunner in this with the versatile ‘Scenes’ feature. This offered users the power to direct one single command which would then proceed to get all devices execute the command. This gave it a head start over the rest of the digital assistants. This feature was upgraded in Google Assistant with additional options that gave it more traction than Siri, which probably prompted Apple to come out with the Shortcuts feature. However, despite the inclusion of the new feature, Google Assistant took the lead with the inclusion of more features.

6) Ease of Commanding

For instance, when it came to setting of alarms, both fared equally well.  Well almost, actually. The setting of alarm were more or less the same. However, when it comes to cancelling of alarms, Google Assistant clearly had the lead here. This was because of the ability of the latter to understand simple language commands.

Also Read : Best Voice Search Apps For Android (2018)

With Siri it takes a sharp command to get the work done. This is the obstacle that prevents Siri from performing tasks easily. Google Assistant seemed to intuitively understand the commands. The use of AI in search has certainly helped the developers to put together a far more intelligent device than the others in the market.

7) Ability to take questions

When it came to the ability to take questions, it was Google Assistant that outran the entire opposition. As various studies that have been undertaken to determine the better of the digital assistants, typically threw questions at the devices. The speed of the response and the quality of the response indicated the ability to the assistants to process the information. Across all metrics, it was Google Assistant that performed better.

Contextually aware and throwing responses in the fastest possible time, it was Google’s baby that outdid Siri. Though Siri had responded to all the questions, the time taken and the need for framing the questions in a particular manner robbed it of it shine. When it came to accuracy, Siri was as good as Google Assistant, provided the device understood the question.

The jury’s take

Google Assistant scores over Siri, mostly by virtue of its association, and by extension, the access to the substantial search engine algorithms and AI. Siri, despite having an array of stunning features that work wonderfully on iOS devices, is limited to the closed iOS, and is handicapped by limited access to search engine algorithms and AI.

Despite coming a close second in the race among digital assistants, it is fair to conclude with finality that Google Assistant is the leader of the pack, and unless the others come up with something spectacular that changes the convenience levels, the narrative will remain unchanged. Google Assistant rules, and is by far the most enterprising of the two.

Mobile has carved an all new frontier for businesses and companies to grow and connect with their new as well as existing customers. Even small businesses choose to penetrate the relevant market by developing a smartphone app rather than opting for the responsive, mobile-friendly version of the website. However, not all apps you discover in Android or iOS app stores offer the same value to users and businesses alike.

Since mobile apps are also responsible for your business reputation and brand personality, you must consider designing the exemplary features for your mobile app that best suit your business model.

If you are looking for fresh outlook for integrating trending app features, the following list based on latest industry standards will surely help you make the right decision.

1) Feedback and ratings

This can be seen as an integral feature that every mobile app aspiring grow large should have. Having a way for users to provide honest feedback and ratings is key to growing your app from nothing to something. Either you offer a button or a link or message box with request to post review. Users can find it easy to report bugs, share improvement suggestions and critical remarks on their overall experience.

2) Customization

Users appreciate it, if the app they use has great options to adjust its various settings such as font colour, size, background and privacy setting. This is especially more important if it is a social app or game app. your app is likely to take off exceedingly well if you give your users opportunities to tweak and take the charge of customization.

3) Geolocation

Geo-location can be an epic feature for your mobile app in 2018. It helps send relevant notifications to the users based on their specific location. Mobile apps focusing on fitness, traffic and tracking can leverage this feature, enabling users to discover their current status, track their workout, running routes and more. Outdoor fanatics have a lot to gain from Geo-location feature.

4) Push notifications

If used without intending to nag users, sending push notifications or alert messages can keep users engaged and coming back to your app with more interest. This is the most essential support feature in your app that helps make your communication effective. You can build this feature to keep users updated on new features, upcoming attractions, promotions and offers and a lot more. It increases your chance to further enhance engagement level and creates monetization opportunities.

5) Google Indoor maps

Walking an extra mile for users will give you extra returns, of course. Think of Google Indoor-maps, for example. While exploring a premise with many attractions or stores, this feature can help users as they navigate within indoor locations. The feature is of much use especially when the users are visiting malls, museums, restaurants, libraries, etc.

6) Social media integration

Logging in to your app can be interesting and easy with existing social media credentials of users. Getting registered via Facebook or Google or other popular media can make user experience even better, faster and more convenient. Social integration not only simplifies the sign up process but it is also a beneficial feature for brands who want to connect with consumers on a common app ecosystem.

7) Payment gateway integration

If built to outlast customer expectations, Payment gateway has power to represent your mobile app. it makes payment acceptance a wholesome experience. Though it does not fit into the category of charismatic features, the payment gateway does have bragging rights for it gives your business an uncanny advantage of boosting sales by delighting customers.

8) Forums and Support Groups

Be it iOS or Android, mobile apps integrated with community forums and support group do add some value. Users can easily stay connected with other fellow members.

You can think of affording the luxury of chat-based connections to inspire conversational sharing among users. If it is a health and fitness app, users can resort to the support group to consult with experts in the business right in your app.

9) Augmented reality

If there is any technological innovation that has brought unforeseen standards in the world of retail shopping, it is this: Augmented Reality. It offers dynamic features that step out of the reality to encourage “try before buy” model. Consumers using AR apps can avail the advantage of try on items of interest before making the decision. Thus, AR can be considered as one of the amazing app features in 2018, making your experience unreal, exciting and quite interactive.

10) Elements of Relevance

What differentiates common browser-based websites from mobile apps is that app content is focused around the concentrated information. The condensed structure of essential content in mobile apps minimizes the customer journey so that users can grab relevant information quite easily. Adopt the practice of building apps that are not just another extension of web portals, but are strategically built apps offering valuable information in the most straightforward fashion.

11) QR code scanning

The number of layers between customers and quick transaction are depleting with the help of QR and Barcode scanning facility in mobile apps. This feature allows customers to experience immense convenience while making a at ecommerce retailers. The process helps save time and provides hassle-free user experience.

12) Voice-enabled services

As the decade progresses, the mobile apps add more capabilities and power to users’ life. For instance, voice-enabled UI provides highly interactive experience to users. The success of virtual voice assistant Amazon’s Alexa has inspired the rise of voice assistant apps. Enhanced with friendly voice agents, such apps are creating hot trends in app market. This is why the number of users seeking feature is soaring up. The trend of touch-free voice search is intrusive and irresistible as it enhances user experience and offers tremendous convenience.

13) The power of IoT

IoT technology redefines what ‘smart’ exactly stands for. For instance, cable service providers have already started providing voice recognition into TV remotes so that users can quickly discover their favourite shows and channels in a matter of a few seconds. Philips has also developed smart light bulb technology that integrates with mobile app to control the bulb intensity through voice commands. We expect to experience a significant rise in the adoption rate of such creative app features into mobile apps.

14) Advanced analytics

The idea of implementing advanced analytics with comprehensive dashboard is every app maker’s thought while creating back-end architecture. Advanced app analytics is central to understanding user’s behavioural pattern and specific decisions deeply. It helps you track user activity as they interact and navigate through different pages of your app. ultimately, the numbers and figures about users will further boost marketing strategy and help design perfect user experience.

15) Don’t forget to keep it straight and simple

It is easy to think that throwing in a handful of alluring features will entice more users, and that app users will find it cool and attractive. But overkill of such approach may turn your business upside down. Users are now growing smarter and expect great things in simple ways.

Hence, it is wise to focus on a small set of features that you believe are going to resonate with end users. Remember that users seek and trust in mobile apps that let them complete the action in shortest time and with smooth navigation. With this idea forming the major part of user experience, try to create a straight, intuitive and interesting UI.

Conclusion

Your Android and iOS mobile apps will elicit user satisfaction only if there are features that make their in-app journey worthwhile. While all of the features described above capture users’ attention, what puts powerful impact is the simplicity mingled with innovative design. In 2018, these features are must-have for mobile apps built with the considerations of latest standard and trends. They also act as the best value proposition for your customers and help engage increasing number of users

Any entrepreneurship sparks off with doubtful thoughts and a cloud of confusing ideas which somehow end up being a one great winning strategy. In the beginning phase, what often puts you in the muddle is the question: What if users don’t like it or can’t relate with the solution I offer? When it comes to designing an app, this question becomes the crux of the brainstorming. Thankfully, there is an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that can let you feel easy save you from the torture later.

Since MVP is a feedback-driven app model, it helps manage the product development quite in it early stage relying on the real-time responses of users.But again, for any start-up business, it is important to first understand the babysteps for MVP as to what it really is and what it means to businesses launching their next big app in the niche market.

Let’s take a wider look at how MVP benefits mobile app development from a broader business perspective.

What is Minimum Viable Product?

Basically, MVP is a first compact version of the main product developed and launched to test the value and acceptance of the idea. More like a base model, MVP is usually built with minimum but essential features that define the product, and it helps determine the market potential as well.

However, MVP is definitely not an amateur model, but rather focuses on a future growth presenting a mature product model that contains most important features for fetching feedback from customers.

How does MVP work?

After creating an MVP for a mobile app in a standard app development cycle, the team of developers releases MVP to a specific user group or into the market to see if it works. If MVP does not appeal to users, it means that either developers need a different directions for mobile app development or the app idea needs some polish and attention.

MVP in a way helps understand users’ perception of the product idea and how to further improve the product performance and its impact. Thus, mobile app MVPis considered to be an active yet minimalist model of an actual product and not the product undergoing various stages of development.

Benefits of MVP for mobile apps

Given the fact that MVP stands for checking the viability of the product idea, it brings following benefits for mobile apps:

Rich entrance with minimum risks for smart entrepreneurs

MVP is rich, risk-optimized investment for smart entrepreneurs

For smart start-up entrepreneurs, MVP mobile app works as a starting point which, upon being successful, results in a scalable business. Due to wide user base spread globally, it helps you set your foot quickly in to the market and access the user experience without investing a big slice of your budget.

When starting a business, risk management plays the key role in determining the success of the product. MVP helps evaluate the risks involved and project the impact of deliverables in the target market.

MVP is the essence for Lean Startup success

An MVP for mobile apps effectively supports the dream of Lean Startup where idea is the primary fuel and is processed with restricted budget in limited time. As it fits well with the Lean start-up approach, mobile app MVP helps acquiring customers faster than any other method. Interestingly enough, the minimum viable product gives the start-up ventures the quick insight into existing market trends and its future promises, and makes them see what they otherwise can’t without even spending a fortune in the process.

MVP product development keeps your guesswork to a minimum

By shaping an MVP model, the potential area where business feel at an advantage is its ability to test the product value for users without exploring market the hard way. With an MVP, you can confidently touch the surface of how the product performs and makes difference to users by checking the progress on our own.

You don’t have to spend months working on a full app version that may include features rejected by users. Since people are often vague about their exact needs, MVP clears the cough and presents users with several options until they find the one that seems interesting.

MVP means cost optimization

Since MVP does not require to build all the features in one go, you don’t have to worry about making a heavy initial investment. It tests the success and impact of an idea at a very beginning phase, saving you a lot of money in the long run. As you launch the first release of mobile app to a chosen market, you can determine the precise interactive personality of your product, which also you generate more revenue.

Technical performance and resource management

This is another considerable gain of launching MVP for mobile apps. As users post reviews and express honest opinions about how the initial version of your mobile app is actually performing, you begin to gather a clear picture of how to address the issue with right technologies and tools what quality of human resources can yield better output.

Security improvement and feature enhancement

If your app has security threat issues and left loopholes for data loss, it becomes the most critical hurdle for the business. The app with bugs is the biggest disappointment. Users are unforgiving to this and choose to delete the app over waiting for the solution. MVP helps you correct the mistakes and improve the security aspects of mobile app in time. As the issues is resolved in the initial stage, there is less risk of losing reputation and brand image, and a bigger chance of winning back happy customers.

Inspiring Real-time use cases of MVP

Most all the highly successful social media travel assistance mobile apps started from the basic level and gradually scaled up after attaining the significant impact in the relevant market If you have been using Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Snapchat and Instagram for more years, you would know there were not the same when they were launched. These are the real-time use cases of how starting off with an MVP helps you rise to the pinnacle with wise tactics.

Facebook: Intended to connect people virtually irrespective of their location and country, Facebook revolutionized the way people socialize with their friends and make new ones. It pioneered the innovations like photo tag, public comments, private chat box, expressive emoticons, and now it provides AI-based chat assistance, marketing platform, enhanced features of social gaming and expressions, personal storyboards and more.

Uber: It started with the apps that connects drivers with customers along with payment facility. It wasn’t much but it helped Uber enter the market. Uber progressed from the most basic to now quite sophisticated, highest earning app that has cab sharing, digital wallet, location tracking and many more evolved capabilities.

Snapchat: Ideated by Evan Spiegel, Bob Murphy and Frank “Reggie” Brown, Snapchat was built around the logic of sharing images and messages that automatically self-destructed 10 seconds after reading. Launched in 2011 only for iOS devices for sending photos, the app received incredible response with 166 million active users by May 2017.

Things to consider before launching an MVP

Before practically presenting the app in any live app store, make sure your app does not impose glitch after installing it. Since there is a tight market competition, mistakes are seldom forgivable and may destroy your start-up dream.

Hence, run an in-depth check on your MVP and troubleshooting to see if it works perfectly. Share its beta version with your nearby users and friends before you hand it to thousands of online strangers. This is vital step towards saving the future business reputation.

Gauge your success and CSAT with the power of Analytics

The very next step after you have finished the entire development operation is to see whether or not the launch of the product is working fine. At this stage, your work gets double as you begin to understand the gradual success of your business idea. To get capture the precise picture of the product performance, it is important for you to integrate data analytics that helps take smart decisions.

Statistics helps you conceive future directions about where to improve and what changes it needs down the line to evoke satisfaction signals from users.

Summarize

MVP is a brilliant mobile app development strategy about user expectations with a minimalist approach without drilling your financial capacity. All you need is to identify your target market, conceive the essential features, and hire the best mobile app development company with right technology and latest insight. Hope this blog has delivered clear understanding of MVP and its benefits for mobile apps.

Artificial Intelligence used to be a cool and futuristic science fiction idea a few years ago. But now the intelligent technology is going main stream with various technologies of AI family finding its way into every distinguished mobile device. A recent study by McKinsey reveals that Google and Baidu are investing over $30 billion on AI research and development, which inspired app development companies to consider AI’s predictive analytics and its basic leadership into their mobile app development.

Development companies are curious about using innovative methods to sophisticate their processes and deliver projects deftly. AI enables speech interpretation, error correction, predictive analysis and visual perception to developers. However, if you are planning to integrate AI to modernize your existing mobile app development model, you must consider the following pros and cons.

Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence

Pros

  • Ease of Task Management and Completion

Mobile application development is full of tedious jobs where artificial intelligence can make a big difference. Using AI robots and automation to perform mundane tasks, developers can feel less exhausted and reserve a lot of energy which they can use to accomplish other more complex and important operations. Thus, AI offers mobile app developers an immense ease of task completion and relief from excessive workload.

  • Enhance efficiency and perfection

Mobile app development process could be an important phase where all the essential strategies and training pertaining to design approach and development ideas are discussed. AI can assist mobile app development professionals in their daily routine tasks, create the general picture of final product and enhance efficiency of developers. AI can help diminish the human errors especially when they require uncompromised exactness and accuracies. Developers can use its predictive structure and revision capability to take care of reviewing the smallest of spelling and coding mistakes.

  • Use cases of AI-powered robots

From Medication and Hotel personal assistants to Finance, Banking and Manufacturing, a broad array of industries has already begun to utilize the power and calibre of artificially intelligent machines.

  • Medication:

AI’s influence in medication and hospitals is remarkable. Hospitals can leverage smart robots to treat and diagnose the disease along with increasing the awareness of potential side effects. They can even simulate surgery procedure for training and education.

  • Hotels:

Hospitality and hotel industry can experience significant sophistication and automation through implementation of AI solutions such as chat-robotic concierge or automated room service and amenities control enabled in combination with IoT.

  • Mining processes:

Investigating for fuel can be more precise and efficient with assistance from AI robots. Such robots are built to guide miners through tough, gruelling work by providing real-time instructions to improve the performance of workers.

  • Performance and personalization

If you are thinking to boost the efficiency of your mobile app development process, AI can cast its intelligence. It augments your mobile app performance, accelerates the pace of objective fulfilment and personalizes user’s experience to a great level. Of all the AI-powered aspects, personalization is one area AI seems to master.

AI gives developers a lot of flexibility and creativity needed to make interface more engaging and personalized. Intelligent algorithm helps generate better choices and custom product recommendations, processes information, predicts upcoming requirements and user interests, and offers GPS-based precise navigation to mobile app users.

  • Popularity, marketing and success

Based on what is going on in digital technology and mobile app market, we can affirm that AI is reputed as novel yet popular trend among recent technologies. The element of novelty helps AI emerge as a celebrated and trendy technology with positive appeal for user audience. This attribute of mobile apps with AI claim bigger chance of getting popular, successful and profitable. If used with a unique, innovative approach, AI-enabled apps can offer competitive advantage to your app. AI can also make it easy to automate mobile app marketing and promotion activities. Google’s G suite is incredible office software designed around AI technology to enhance productivity by automating email responses with numerous options for users to choose from.

Cons

  • Risk of mediocre features

Artificial intelligence can’t function on its own and requires a solid interface and support of strong, sophisticated technologies that can automate various analytics tasks. If you are struggling with time or lack sufficient resources to develop these dynamic technologies, the chances are you may create an AI app with incomplete features that don’t seem intelligent enough to respond in a desirable and consistent manner. In many cases, omitting such mobile app features sounds better than offering its shabby, mediocre version.

  • Lack of potential creativity

Rich imagination, thought process, creativity and vision are some of the scintillating elements of mobile application developers. Only humans have enough power to imagine a design and then bring it to reality. Machines, despite being intelligent or smart, have limited processing power which is bound to its programmable algorithms. AI machines can help with certain portions of designing blueprints, but they are not capable of thinking like human mind.

  • Employee Replacement

This can be seen as a direct fatal blow coming from AI machines. Professionals who are in a learning phase or have average skill-set might compromise their job as intelligent technology can take over routine first-level tasks. For instance, supervision system of mobile app development companies can be automated with AI, reducing the amount of manpower needed for an assembly line role.

  • Costly solutions and implementation

After quality and convenience, affordability is another epic factor in deciding whether or not intelligent machines are worth the penny spent. For mobile application development companies, the question of cost may be case-specific. Usually, AI solutions for developers might levy massive burden since they involve good amount of expenses in the process of creation. AI has limited vision and needs constant updates to match expected outcome, which increases management and maintenance cost. Therefore, companies of enormous scale with ambitious projects probably have a greater chance to make the most out of their AI investment than emerging or small-scale businesses.

  • Fairly naive and less spontaneous

Human insight relies on cognitive process of knowledge which indispensably involves real-time experience and observation. However, AI machines used for mobile app development are different and follow a robotically programmed wisdom. Unlike humans, AI do store a lot of information but do not access and analyse the data in the same way as humans do.

It is too idealistic to expect AI-powered mechanism to alter their responses and actions to changing needs. It simply lacks the human touch needed to take sensible decisions such as judging the efficiencies of two humans. When it comes to making firm choices based on common sense and natural spontaneity, AI’s mechanical algorithms fall flat and human judgements turn out to be effective.

  • AI implementation is challenging

Despite all its magnificent benefits, it is true that practically, implementing AI solutions and intelligent machines is a major pain point. For a mobile app developer, using and adding AI capabilities to numerous dynamic aspects could be a baffling and gruelling job. The reason is the requirement of perfect harmony and coordination between moving parts to ensure engaging, seamless user experience.

During the process of implementation, AI algorithm must be taught to process, evaluate and understand inputs in a way that the final output matches user expectations. Moreover, since AI apps have openness for constant learning, the need to imbibe latest trends and adjust behaviour is inescapable. These several crucial factors make AI implementation a little complex though the results are unquestionably favourable.

Conclusion

The ultimate decision of whether or not to use AI in mobile app development process comes down to AI developers. Based on the comfort level, familiarity and the degree of taking risks can ensure optimal implementation of AI technologies and chatbots. The final outcome must be made painless, profitable and hassle-free. If you are looking to build AI-powered mobile apps, Redbytes can offer you the most comprehensive resources and advanced solutions with a futuristic approach.

Conventional systems and processes of existing social and business economies are riddled with a lot of challenges including cumbersome operations, inaccurate results and sluggish standards.

To avoid errors and control the process, they constantly need intermediaries, causing increase in stress and costs. Blockchain Technology is economical, honest, simplified and more effective solution especially for financial services.

You might have heard of digital currencies like Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency. Blockchain is another innovation that ensures digital transactions are acceptably conducted and maintained.

There are more applications of Blockchain than monetary transactions, and more are being developed. So what exactly is Blockchain and how it will be applied to different industries? Here is the entire gist:

What is Blockchain Technology?



The blockchain is a promising distributed ledger technology that works hand-in-hand with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It creates organized, safe and transparent financial layers between business network and customers, establishing a unique method of transferring and recording huge data.

The data is kept auditable, decentralized and transparent to ensure organizations using the technology remain democratic, efficient, secure and decentralized.

Though Blockchain is still having work-in-progress appearance, it is expected by global tech community and market experts that it may disrupt numerous industries in the next 5 years.

Let’s take a glance at top 11 Block chain applications likely to shape your future business.

1. Insurance Claims Processing

 

Insurance Claims Processing

 

For insurance companies, claim processing can be a tedious and tiring business that may frustrate the investigator teams since it involves assessment of fraudulent claims, complicated data discovery, fragmented sources, past policy records and much more.

Moreover, manual processing can encourage the room for error. The block chain alleviates traditional workloads and establishes a solid system for transparent processes devoid of risks.

It has encryption qualities that allow insurance firms to claim the ownership of the assets being insured.

2. Honest Trade Processes

Traditional nature of trading and managing assets will require working parties to take certain risks and bear more expenses. This gets more risky when it comes to cross-border transactions and deals.

Because brokers and settlement managers involved in the process keep their own records, inefficiencies and inaccuracies are likely to arise.

The block chain ledger technology uses encryption for records and minimizes errors, simplifying the trade and asset management and eliminating the redundant intermediaries.

3. Blockchain-Powered Cloud Storage

Blockchain-Powered Cloud Storage

Blockchain is likely to disrupt cloud storage in coming years. Since cloud storage services at present are centralized, users are compelled to trust their storage provider who controls their online assets.

Blockchain can tweak the way data is stored and make it all decentralized. Currently, Storj is beta-testing cloud storage that leverages the power of Blockchain to lighten their dependency and enhance security.

With Blockchain, users are allowed to even rent out excessive storage capacity.

4. Cross-Border Payments

The mode of global payments is subject to error, risky and expensive. It is also quite time consuming; you may have to go days until the payment reaches you crossing the border.

Cross-Border Payments

The block chain has innovative solution to offer end-to-end remittance services. It has collaborated with remittance companies such as Abra, Align Commerce and Bitspark blockchain-powered payment services.

Santander has successfully integrated blockchain to a payment app to allow customers to make smooth and faster international payments 24 hours a day.

5. Identity Made Simple, Secure and Seamless

For the purpose of paid advertising, online companies share our identity details to advertisers.

The blockchain helps protect your identity by encrypting it and blocks this by creating a secure and protected data point free from spammers and schemers.

Since you can encrypt only less private information, you need to worry less about your digital security.

Blockchain also makes record-keeping seamless, solid and reliable by encrypting your birth and death details. You can track and manage information securely, which keeps you protected from frauds.

Blockchain gives you a digital form of ID that replaces a range of physical identifications like driver’s license, digital passwords, identity cards, keys, passports, social security ID.

6. Smart Contracts

Blockchain is prepared to generate smart contracts in form of obligatory programmable smart contracts presented in a digitized format.

The smart contract system powered by Blockchain technology relieves you from single central authority and avail legal contracts as variable statements that rely on Bitcoin network as a third party executor to release funds.

Effectively revolutionizing traditional lending system, even people with poor credits can invoke unconventional money lenders to receive loan and put their smart blockchain-encoded property as collateral.

They can extricate themselves from showing the history of credits and work or even processing documents manually.

7. Retail

As of today, your joy of shopping is directly attributed to the store or marketplace where products are hosted, which is more of a centralized retail system.

Blockchain-enabled decentralized retail utilities have unique approach and style as it connects buyers and sellers directly eliminating the need for keeping a host marketplace and their associated charges.

This dynamic system will gain from having smart contract systems in place and security of deals and trustworthy reputation.

8. Blockchain Internet-of-Things (IoT)

Using IoT technology, almost any material object can be controlled and treated as a part of Internet of Things when connected with internet or to similar network of objects.

Such interconnected objects or devices are likely to rule the world in future since according to Gartner analysis there will be over 26 billion IoT connected devices by 2020.

Blockchain-powered IoT devices can be automated securely to function independently and take actions based cognitive knowledge.

For instance, your coffee will be brewed by the machine at your suitable time and your oven will automatically cook Turkey for Thanksgiving.

This idea can be adopted by governments for building smart cities on a larger scale and improve our general living.

9. Secure & Sophisticated Healthcare

Your personal health information and updates can be encoded and stored on Blockchain system using a private digital key. You can keep it accessible to specified individuals.

Similarly, healthcare research can be conducted securely and confidential data can be stored on Blockchain.

Apart from this, surgery receipts could also be stored on blockchain and sent automatically to insurers for further claim approval process.

Blockchain ledger can help with supervising drugs, regulation compliance, healthcare supplies and lab test results, enabling secure personal healthcare management.

10. Blockchain Government

Electronic voting system can be manipulated by clever hackers and raise the questions of integrity and security. Blockchain ledger can prevent this incident and act as a barrier to such vulnerabilities with its encrypting capability.

With blockchain embedded in the voting system, individuals could confirm that their votes were successfully transmitted and counted and can nothing is tempered with during the process.

Blockchain Government

The blockchain approach for electoral voting maintains anonymity of voters through encryption while also saving money for government.

The real-time example of blockchain election process is Liberal Alliance, a political party in Denmark, who was the first to implement blockchain for voting in 2014 – which was the one of the greatest triumph for the technology.

11. Energy Management

Energy marker is going through a tremendous shift when it comes to decentralizing the management and distribution of energy. In a traditional setting, energy producers and users rely on public grid to buy or sell energy.

To transform the centralized energy market, blockchain-powered microgrids can be leveraged to implement peer-to-peer solution for trading energy.

LO3 Energy has developed a system in association with Siemens that allows trading of solar energy locally in peer-to-peer fashion, with its first 50 physical units already tested in Brooklyn.

The project has smart meters for tracking energy production and consumption and smart contracts for transactions.

TransactiveGrid is another start-up in this industry that uses Ethereum to allow customers to trade energy with each other.

Conclusion

For blockchain to work and function as a powerful solution, it is essential that there is a solid agreement from node-to-node network to comply with ethical standards.

Currently, many of these blockchain applications are still in developing phase and will be applied to society and economy experimentally in next couple of years.

The bottom line is that Blockchain is growing fierce and ferocious in its ability to transform businesses, establish fair trading systems, decentralize store and democratize social and economic system.

Apparently, Android is one of the popular and preferred operating systems for people across the globe. Still, there are other big players in the market like iOS, and Android is nowhere near to becoming the only mobile operating system. So, if you want to reach a wider audience then you certainly have to make your mobile app available on other platforms as well.

Now, porting your Android mobile application to iOS takes a lot of time and resources. But what if you can reduce your mobile app development time by building a single application which can seamlessly run across platforms. How wonderful would that be, isn’t?

This is where Google Flutter comes into the picture. A user interface toolkit which claims to do the exact same thing, by providing you a way to build UIs for Android and iOS from just one codebase.

By the time you finish reading this post, you will know what Google Flutter is, its features, and how you can use it to your benefit.

The Core Features of Google Flutter

  • To start with, the earlier version of Flutter only supported Android platform and was known as the Sky. But its latest version will be of a great help to both Android and iOS mobile app developers.
  • The new version of Flutter has an impeccable feature and that is Hot Reload. Using this feature, mobile app developers can easily get an access to a comprehensive range of widgets along with working on the powerful user interface.
  • With the help of Flutter, the app developers will be able to integrate flutter into their mobile applications on WebView component as this will make it simpler for your users to see the web content within the app. In addition, navigating and stabilizing the application becomes much easier.
  • Google Flutter now include support for, formatting the images, the inline videos, etc. thus, making apps more fun and better than before.
  • With an added feature in Flutter, app developers can now localize their applications as well as use it for international purpose.
  • Google Flutter will now support the latest versions of Apple operating system ie., iOS 11 and iPhone X.

Why Should You use Google Flutter?

Unlike Android’s other versions which are based on Kotlin and Java, in order to use Google Flutter, you will have to learn Dart. Of course, the thought of learning a new programming language itself could be off-putting but there are some driving reasons for why you should give it a try.

Cross-Platform:

Google Flutter will help you in creating a single user interface to run on both iOS and Android by utilizing the same framework, libraries, and renderer. To make sure your app runs effortlessly on both the platforms, Flutter offers widgets designed according to Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS) specifications.

Hot Reload:

It is normal for app developers to work on the specific app’s code when the app is running on an Android-powered smart phone to test the changes as you make them. But it takes a really long time for the Android Studio to publish each and every change to the running mobile app. So to help you in being more effective and productive, the new “Hot reload” feature of Google Flutter can easily integrate the updated source code into the Dart Virtual Machine so that app developers can instantly see the changes.

Compatible With Other Programming Languages:

Without having to rewrite the complete current app, Google Flutter seamlessly integrates with Java on Android and Swift and Objective-C on iOS.

Makes The App Development Faster and Better

Since Google Flutter will now be supporting both Android and iOS, it will make the cross-platform mobile app development easier for app developers. Regardless of the platform you choose, you can now have an app that runs effortlessly on both operating systems.

The reason for considering it for developing native application platforms is because it allows you to customize widgets and design an engaging and rich native interface. Without having to use WebView, you can easily draw widgets using Flutter’s extremely rendering engine.

Eye-Catching User Interface

An eye-catching and attractive user interface has always been an important part of the mobile app development. Now, by using Flutter, you can certainly anticipate getting a natural and breathtaking design for your mobile applications. With Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS), developers can build highly responsive applications.

Accessible Native Features and SDKs

The Flutter makes the app development simpler and better via native codes, 3rd-party integrations, and platform APIs. In addition, you can get your hands on native features and SDKs on Android and iOS.

The Functional and Reactive Framework

In order to build creative UI designs, Flutter has an effective tool in the form of platform layouts. Not just that, app developers can also get extremely flexible APIs to use all their creativity to design in 2D and other animations. The functional and reactive framework lets app developers integrate their creativity and efficiency rightfully. Just like Java and Swift, the Dart programming language also offers benefits such as supporting a rich library.

Will Google Flutter Replace Java?

Google Flutter is very much native to iOS and Android, and its design language is just like Java. App developers cannot create the user interface based on templating language because there is none. It makes it extremely simpler to develop high-end applications.

But the intention of Google behind launching Flutter is certainly not to replace the current Android frameworks instead to make it much easier for app developers to build cross-platform, high-end mobile applications. The main purpose of the Google Flutter is to let app developers develop a platform that allows them to share minimum codebase between platforms.

Conclusion

Google has launched Flutter to make the app development process easier. So do the lives of app developers. The first and foremost purpose of this effective tool is to provide a native user interface look with native widgets and buttons.

Currently, this giant tech company is still working on an open-source mobile operating system, Fuchsia, which is written in Flutter. We will have to wait and watch whether it surpasses React native or not. Nonetheless, it can be said that Google has indeed launched a useful software development tool that will let developers create responsive and efficient user interfaces.