Technology is moving rapidly along to further, ingenious ground. One of the jewels in its crown is the mobile app, which has utterly demolished what we could expect from phones and tablet devices. Some of them are practically synonymous with how we relate to each other, and the biggest names are worth tens of millions of pounds.
So, what can they teach us? For any business looking to launch their own app, it’s worth seeing what’s made those premier names so successful. Peel your eyes back for a second as we delve into their greatest assets.
Candy Crush
For the serious gaming geek, this humble quest to match brightly-coloured sweets together is the opposite of a substantive experience. But that’s why it’s so beloved by housewives, boardroom execs, teachers, your dad…practically anyone can play it, and they get seriously addicted.
Reportedly 70% of the game’s users have reached the final level without paying a penny. Candy Crush makes its revenue from in-store purchases that give you a better chance at beating it. This is where the compulsiveness kicks in – additions snowball as the player racks up more time in the game’s universe, convinced they’re only another round away from mastery.
Tinder
Vilified by the elderly, beloved by 20 somethings, and always lingering at the blind spots of dating culture: Tinder certainly has made a huge mark on how we hook up. Every day, millions and millions of singletons decide whether they swipe left or right on a profile, which cannily taps into the narcissism of our image-heavy lives.
By distilling romantic chemistry to its basic, surface-level attraction, Tinder has mirrored the increasingly casual approach we take to finding a partner. It becomes like a game, in a sense – friends can compete to see who gets the most matches, or advise on who to pick. It’s so easy to pick up, since one gesture is all you need to confirm a choice. The newly-implemented Tinder Social adapts that concept for group meetings, taking the app down another route that might be more widely accepted.
Spotify
Even if someone’s not exactly sure what Spotify is, they’ve seen its effects. The music industry had to contend with the rise of illegal downloads in the 2000’s, but those sites were shut down continuously, and users were criminalised. This Swedish company managed to fill the gap between consumer demand for limitless music and paying the artists that make it. As such, Spotify shapes our tastes, as well as satisfying them.
Its genius lies in the much-guarded algorithms and ‘Discover’ playlists. Basically, the software monitors what you listen to, and finds wide-ranging suggestions that match, say, the timbre of guitars you’re drawn to, or the vocal range of a certain singer. Also, the interface is sleek and socially aware, allowing you to send tracks to other users and see what they’re listening to in real-time.
Proper, certified genius is hard to deny. The Code Guy is a massive fan of these apps; they exhibit everything we strive for in our own development projects, addressing the user with intelligence, flair and amazing functionality.
There’s no problem in taking inspiration from the big fish in the pond. However, we want you to join them, or make a splash of your own. Give us a call or a message today, and we’ll work out those appware ambitions for your business. There’s no telling where we could go together…