Snapchat went public with market capitalization of $33 billion USD. Uber is valued at over $60 billion and Pokemon Go rocketed with a $1 billion revenue in 2016. Instagram’s net worth is 100$ billion while Facebook is at $82 billion. Destiny of a mobile application depends on how unique is the mobile app ideation in the true essence.
All these facts are pertaining to mobile applications that remain as one of the most lucrative businesses for entrepreneurs and companies around the globe. All it takes is to come up with clever mobile app ideation for starting out on your mobile app development venture.
But the question is how do you come up with something brilliant yet “never-been-done-before”. After-all, there are 2.6 million Android and 2.2 million iOS apps available for users to choose, download and use from.
Mobile app ideation is the first milestone in the mobile app making journey. The following steps can help you in the quest for strong mobile app idea generation in the decade of 2020.
- Get Inspiration
- Don’t Limit Yourself
- Observe your Competition
- Put on your Thinking Cap
- Prototype to Evaluate the Design
- Pay Attention to Customers
- Utilize the Tech Trends
- Get into the Game through Social Media
Let’s explore these factors that can make mobile app ideation much easy in the 21st century.
Get Inspiration
At times, mobile app ideation is not that difficult, especially if you are willing to get inspired. Look around you for the inspiration – it can come from anywhere such as the sky, the weather, the grass, your friends, your favorite TV show or even a book. When you are relaxed and waiting to absorb your surroundings, you are letting in valuable information that is then stored in your system and interpreted by your subconscious in many ways.
Eventually, you are able to come up with simple app ideas that can be built up. For example, Facebook just started off as a way for high-end university students to connect with each other. Look at how it’s become one of the biggest social media platforms to have made random people connect and build indelible relationships together.
Don’t Limit Yourself
Most of the entrepreneurs consider their budget as the center piece around which the mobile app development will take place. That’s true but the idea behind app should not be dictated by your means. Think the unthinkable, then shred its complexity away and consider it on a very base level. After which, run a litmus test of your idea to check its viability.
If the mobile app idea passes, but its beyond your budget; you could get funding for it. As cliched as it may sound, but sky is the limit after all. So, don’t restrict yourself into thinking small when you have some great ideas up your sleeves.
Observe your Competition
Although this point is a little sneaky but you are not trying to steal a mobile app idea. However, we are encouraging you to check what your competition is providing with their mobile applications. So that you can know about some of the important features that should be part of your mobile development checklist.
For example, you are absolutely sure of starting off a mobile app for your retail store. But you have just found out that other merchandisers are interested in starting off a virtual reality (VR) based catalog store through their mobile applications.
Maybe you could also do a little research and development (R&D) to figure out why this feature can be useful to you in capturing important market segment. So, analyze your competitors to know what you need to do to have a successful mobile app in the market.
Put on your Thinking Cap
No idea is great in the start. Some of the ideas need further refinement and improvisation. That means to gather together a small team or even try various techniques for brainstorming your mobile app idea.
Imagine how Google Maps started off. It was about giving a digital map to users. But then the concept of big data and analytics came into place to ensure that the information provided to users is customized with the best route elaborated on maps as per traffic, and shortest possible distance between starting point and the destination.
You can employ various techniques to brainstorm such as questionnaires, filling out survey forms, interviewing stakeholders, mind mapping, group meetings etc. This exercise will help to refine your idea until you come up with something decent enough to capitalize on.
Prototype to Evaluate the Design
There is nothing like having a “dummy” version of a mobile app to check out whether the idea is great or not. That’s where wireframes, mockup screens and mobile app prototyping comes into the picture. This can be a really exciting phase for you as it allows you actually visualize your product and see how it looks and feels. You could also do a little test-run with a focus group to assess their opinion about it.
Some of very conscious entrepreneurs even take help of professional mobile app development services companies to develop proper prototypes so that the end-result is pretty similar to the eventual product. The concept behind prototype is to give you the end-to-end flow of the various functions of the product. It also helps in laying out the theme, fonts, color schemes, icons, graphics and even content in the to-be developed app.
This allows the stakeholders to understand that the eventual product will be like and also make important decisions in the direction of the app. This is the time any major decisions are approved or revised for the overall improvement in the final mobile app.
Pay Attention to Customers
Like it or not, your mobile app is not for you but for your customers. They are the reason you are going through all the pain for creating the app. If they use it enough to keep going back to it, then your app is a hit. If no one wants to use it then all the effort goes to waste.
That’s why, it’s important for you to make sure that the mobile app idea is based on customer-centricity. It’s for the people and has to be about them from the word go including simplicity, usability, minimalism, responsiveness, seamlessness, scalability to name a few features that are a must-have for your mobile app.
Nowadays, the concept of single sign-on (SSO) is extremely popular where users prefer using their existing social media platform credentials to logging into your app. This saves them the time and hassle of creating and remembering an additional user credential for the mobile application.
Another example is that of a seamless checkout and shopping cart feature. If your app does not provide way for adding payment information and even if the payment information does not remain secure then no one is probably going to want to use your mobile app.
It’s a way for their private information to reach wrong hands causing a lot of issues for them and for you also (imagine being sued, losing money instead of making even a single buck, and all the worse possible scenarios). So, think from their perspective and make sure you understand what is needed to add it in your mobile application.
Utilize the Tech Trends
The latest technology trends are important in understanding as they can be incorporated in your mobile app concept too. We have big data, analytics, AI, IoT, AR, VR, blockchain as the major contenders for a lot of mobile apps to incorporate these ideas. As a result, a lot of upcoming apps are accounting for these concepts so that consumers get latest features that stand apart from competition.
For example, Uber and Careem have created the nice for Big Data as the core concept in their apps. Then we have AI in majority of apps that allow high-level of customization and personalization for users. Therefore, if you are looking for a viable mobile app idea; then it’s a good point to look into the latest technological trends as well.
Get into the Game through Social Media
Once you have done your homework, it’s best to get a patent for your mobile app idea. This is very important because you don’t want anyone else to take it away. After you have secured your app idea, you can then start off a little publicity. Get yourself out there in front of the like-minded people through various social media platforms.
This way, once your mobile app is finally going to be launched, you would have already created enough traction, interest or buzz for users to download your mobile app. Remember, that no mobile app idea is great if no one knows about the app’s availability in the market.
You want people to try it out, so once you have created a project plan for mobile app development with complete timelines and product launch estimates. Make sure you also try out getting the word out before the actual launch of the mobile application.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurs around the world are constantly working on creating genuine and inventive ideas for creating breakthrough mobile apps. Some of crafty apps are even creations of simple but smart Mobile App Developers who have expertise in creating refined code for giving best user experiences in the market. It’s all about the coming together of your idea, execution and marketing of the end product to ensure a holistic market success.
Thanks to the Internet, consumer market is not now just restricted to a handful of locations but indeed a global village that allows an arm’s reach to consumers in any part of the world. This itself is the biggest incentive for companies to crave for better ideas for mobile apps.
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