Low cost smartphones and their impact on developers
As anyone in mobile app development knows, there are now more smartphones in the world than ever before and the number is still rising. The market has changed dramatically since the early boom, too. Where the smartphone was once the exclusive domain of the geek and the high-powered businessperson, they are now in the hands of students, grandparents, outdoor sports enthusiasts, and people who are more interested in entertainment than checking their stock profile.
At the moment the smartphone market (and hence the iPhone and Android application market) is changing again. Low cost smartphones mean that this kind of technology is within the reach of far more people across the world, not just in the relatively wealthy countries. For increasing numbers of people a smartphone isn’t just a luxury. It’s the single most important communication tool they have access to.
Developers should be prepared to meet the needs of this new market with apps that can supply all the processing and communications needs for a small business. They should be prepared to use their skills to deliver education through smartphones and remember that the technological skills and even basic literacy of the people who want to use these devices may not be as high as they currently assume.
The appearance of cheap smartphones on the global scene presents a huge opportunity for developers – who wouldn’t want millions more potential customers? However, they should also be aware that the desires and requirements of this new market may not be the same as those of the average smartphone user right now.
Let me start by saying nice post. Im not sure if it has been talked about, but when using Chrome I can never get the entire site to load without refreshing many times. Could just be my computer. Thanks.