App Market Investment: Things to Consider

If you run your own business, investing in the app to promote it and automate the processes is an absolute must. According to the survey, more than half of organizations have a fully implemented mobile app strategy compared with 7% in 2013. Moreover, 90% of respondents stated, that investment in mobile applications would increase in 2016. It means that your competitors are already gone mobile, or they plan to do it in the nearest future.

However, even if you not an IT decision-maker, the mobile market holds some lucrative opportunities for you. The main one is the investment. Not all app developing companies have made the ownership public, yet most of them eventually will, so keep an eye on the most promising ones, even if they are owned privately just at the moment.

Before making a far-reaching decision such as the investment, there are some things to consider.
Namely:

What apps are likely to become a success?

The first thing you would want to consider is what kind of app will be the best investment. A gaming app is rather an obvious choice. Not only they make up the majority of all apps available at the moment, they also seem to be the most successful: they work out the 48% of top paid applications and 31% of top free ones. The second factor supporting the choice is that, most of their time (that is to say exactly 46% of it) the average mobile user spends entertaining themselves (and this figure does not even include socializing) –only gaming, shopping, watching videos, etc.

However, one shouldn’t forget, the competition in this category is stronger than anywhere else, the niche is crowded. There are many apps that fall below the “app poverty line”, i. e. their revenue is lower than $500 per month. In the light of this, there is a sense in turning your gaze to more unconventional apps. For example, apps for apps. People are sometimes overwhelmed with technology – so, the software is being made to manage gazillions of apps that are already installed on our devices, to manage, control and harness them. There are apps that optimize the performance of your device by eliminating the disused applications, there are ones that help you to hide some apps you would prefer to stay secret, there is child internet safety software that allows monitoring – and lots of others apps for apps that are to be in demand in the nearest future.

Another lucrative piece of investment pie are apps that provide people with a socializing platform and take messaging to another level, adding something new to the experience of networks.

Apart from gaming and socializing there is one more thing that makes people buy mobile devices and install numberless apps – and that’s the camera. Instagram and other photo sharing sites have made people addicted to documenting their lives in pictures and integrated photos into the social experience. If the app has something to do with the camera, it’s a candidate for success. Take Snapchat, for example: it combined funny lenses and filters with the networking opportunity to share your photos and stories – and it rocketed during the past 5 years.

The other category of potentially successful apps are those, which create a demand, but they also have the offline service to deliver. For example, ridesharing apps like Lyft or Blablacar.

However, make sure the app is innovative – it should add something new to the existing features, not just copy other successful apps to the T.

How big is the market?

The second important thing to consider is demographics. The broader, the better. The app to invest in must be of interest to as many customers, as possible. Apps targeting the narrow market sector are less likely to be a good investing material. They could be successful in the long run, however, the risk of them passing unnoticed is higher. The question you should ask yourself is the following: “How many people may need the app?” Does it have something to offer for anyone or does it only target, say, teenage females who own shepherd dogs? It doesn’t mean, that the app mustn’t have any specifics as to its demographics – just make sure it’s not too particular. Moreover, a solid app appealing for investment should be versatile platform-wise: it should be both AppStore and GooglePlay compatible; it should also support a wide range of devices: earlier to newest models, phones to tablets. The app that meets all the above requirements takes the cake!

Are you ready for the risk?

The app market is volatile to the extreme, and there are certain inherent risks. Evaluate your own comfort zone: not everyone can take risks with their money. It is important that you understand the possibility of losing your investment – partly or entirely. You may also want to consider a mix of investments, which returns move up and down independently under different market shifts. Finally, be cautious of the fraud. In never hurts to ask questions and then check answers with the independent source before you invest.

The world has irreversibly gone mobile and the process will only speed up in the next couple of years. The question is no longer whether to invest in the mobile market or not, but rather where exactly to place your investment.