The Growth of the Mobile App Industry Amidst COVID-19

In the short term, COVID-19 has unquestionably changed our lives. The virus has spread and mutated exponentially, leaving little time for corporations, organizations, and countries to adapt, survive, and prosper.

As we all try to cope with the disruptions the outbreak causes in our daily life, societies, and companies, the COVID-19 pandemic also has massively driven individuals, organizations, and governments to digitalization and digital platforms. Learn about Mobile App Industry Amidst COVID-19

Mobile apps here have taken center stage. They have shown the potential to reinforce a variety of innovations to keep the world running at a time when corporations are stagnant in a climate of uncertainty and difficulties. Hundreds of different mobile apps helped us bravely deal with the outbreak and educated us to embrace the new normal.

Downloads in Mobile App Stores

App downloads have increased steadily over recent years, according to stats released by Sensor Tower. The total number of globally downloaded apps per quarter has doubled in the five years since 2015, reflecting both increased smartphone penetration and the highly powerful role of apps in our lives.

We saw a sharp spike in app downloads in the first two quarters of 2020, with Q2's total of nearly 38 billion app downloads representing a 9 billion rise over Q4 2019; an increase of almost a third (to be precise, 32 percent).

On the left side, you can see country-levels downloads and on the right side worldwide downloads.

Source: Sensor Tower

User Spending on Mobile Apps is Rising During the Lockdown

User spending on mobile apps is expected to exceed 171 billion dollars worldwide by 2024, more than double that of 85 billion dollars in 2019. That figure is the result of continuous growth of 17-18 billion annually over half a decade, which could be even greater, given that the impact of COVID-19 could be more unpredictable than we anticipated. One thing for certain: in the next 5-6 years, it won't reduce user spending.

Source: Sensor Tower

It is impressive, however, that even the slowest-growing regions in both app stores, Apple's App Store and Google Play, will see revenues by 2024 that are more than 80%higher than their 2019 levels.

Over the next five years, app stores will also go through several milestones.

For example, for the first time in 2020, global spending on mobile apps will hit $100 billion, growing to $102 billion year-over-year to about 20%.

Mobile App Testing Trends Influenced by the Outbreak

It is important to note that the demand for testing services for mobile apps is estimated at $14.7 billion by 2026 and significant growth in revenue is expected to occur between 2016 and 2026. A recent study published by an eminent market research analyst shows that a remarkable 19.5%CAGR value will be reported by the market for mobile app testing services between the forecast period (2016 to 2026).

At the same time companies are not well equipped to cope with the growing complexity and variety of testing multiple mobile networks, devices, and services, according to Capgemini. The company announced that there was a change in focus from traditional 'functional testing' to safety testing, performance testing, and compatibility in the mobile testing solution. Therefore, the industry is expected to depend increasingly on testing services as services provide businesses with the opportunity to maintain high quality while reducing cost and time-to-market.

This has driven the growth of crowdsourced testing in 2020 as it allows businesses of any scale to leverage the power of experienced testers who have access to virtually unlimited devices at any time and in virtually any place.

And in addition, as "remote" becomes the latest trend, it is another reason why the popularity of crowd testing is growing in parallel. The pandemic undermined all the preconceived assumptions of the static requirement of an Agile-driven software development lifecycle.

Crowdsourced testing of mobile apps is estimated at 6.04 billion by the end of 2022. It is worth mentioning that the rise in 2020 is the most noticeable growth due to the pandemic, with 42%relative to other years.

During the forecast period, mobile testing services in the device category segment are expected to report the highest growth rate in the crowdsourced testing industry, as the number of mobile-based software tailored to different operating systems (OS), such as Android and iOS, has increased significantly. Customers, therefore, expect the apps to run flawlessly on all forms of devices, OS, and network on their cell phones.

Source: Maia Research

Final Thoughts

Throughout a range of industries and most mobile verticals, the effect of the Coronavirus was disastrous, although some of them thrived on it. Although the worst affected ones have been companies such as travel and manufacturing, the software industry has still benefited to some extent.

The pandemic has increased the need for a system where it is possible to
remotely execute any operation that previously needed your real presence. The current climate has in many ways been unpredictable for customers, dependence on mobile apps as a means of commerce, communication, education, shopping, and entertainment, etc will continue to grow.

Also published on: https://nurlan-41085.medium.com/mobile-app-industry-in-the-face-of-the-pandemic-opportunity-or-threat-53893df3c8a7