What an exciting time to be alive. I remember when VR mobile apps first came about. It was tough to imagine a fully-fledged, always-on VR experience coming in my lifetime, but technology being what it is, here it is knocking at the door.
A recent keynote speech from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in which he announced Facebook’s rebranding to Meta is bringing the future of virtual reality to almost every aspect of our lives (in a way that only Facebook can). It is the first step in developing a fully integrated online experience, something Zuckerberg is calling the Metaverse.
But what is the Metaverse, what does it have to do with augmented and virtual reality apps? Why is it important to your business?
While much of what the Metaverse will actually be, how it will look and feel, is still up for speculation, but by this stage we all have a fairly solid understanding of what VR and AR is capable of, and what kind of digital world it can inspire.
Much like has been in movies like ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Ready Player One’, or on a lighter side, how the internet is depicted in ‘Futurama’, the Metaverse will aim to create an online experience that fully immerses users into a digital world when browsing the internet.
To do this, it will be highly reliant on the same tech used to engage with AR and VR mobile apps.
The possibilities here are endless and exciting, especially as VR devices become more portable and functional, soon we will have headsets no heavier or more cumbersome than glasses, and that’s when the tech should really take off.
So, according to Zuckerberg and his grand plans, we will all be blending our physical world with a virtual one, seemingly at every waking hour of our day.
This is even more speculative, but imagine what it could do with a technology like Elon Musk’s Neurolink.
The point is that our physical world is soon to become a lot more integrated, and even if Facebook (ahem… I mean Meta) doesn’t manage to pull it off, someone eventually will.
So, AR and VR are going to become a commonplace part of daily life as we wear the tech with no more inconvenience than a wristwatch or sunglasses.
But what does that mean?
Imagine walking past a restaurant and seeing its specials for the day front and centre in your vision.
Getting a heads-up display that gives you directions to a shop.
Video calls with people as though they were in your living room.
Gaming that goes with you and makes itself a part of the physical world.
These things are all already possible, but not widespread. The Metaverse is highly likely to bring them to the forefront of everyday life.
This can have a fairly big impact on your business, how it interacts with its customers, and how it advertises itself, regardless of the business you own.
If there is one thing we have come to rely on with Facebook or any other massive tech company for that matter, its that data-driven marketing is at the core of their profitability, and often enough, that of their clients.
If there is a way to turn an interesting technology into a channel for marketing, Facebook will certainly do it.
The Metaverse, will likely be no different…
This will present your business with new and exciting ways to engage with your clients, if you use the tech behind VR and AR mobile apps with a bit of applied creativity.
While Meta and the Metaverse are still a little way off from being a mainstay, it is never too soon to start preparing for it and being one of the first to take advantage of it when it is fledged.
If you would like to know more about our offers on development services for augmented and virtual reality apps, be sure to visit the Applord website today.
Opinions about the coming Metaverse are as varied as they are strong, and these sentiments are as evident in the average electronics user as they are for the scores of businesses watching the digital world storm us from the hills in what I can only describe as an unbridled forcing of an adoption of a technology that few people understand.
The truth is that something ‘Metaverse’ this way comes, and we are largely powerless to stop it. The tech has been taken out of the bottle and we know that once that happens, a new idea can quickly become an unstoppable force.
Except that the metaverse isn’t anything like a new idea, we just used to call it ‘cyberspace’, but as the worlds of AR and VR become more and more sophisticated, perhaps the word ‘cyberspace’ just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Every app, computer programme, or game that has been developed and interacted with since the rise of digital technology can be considered an example, if not a blueprint of the coming metaverse.
The metaverse is coming, whether we like it or not. It will soon be a seamlessly integrated part of our lives where digital retail will be up for grabs while physical ones dwindle into some kind of redundancy and scarcity.
The Metaverse is the next frontier of business, and much like the invention of the railroad brought immeasurable wealth to those enterprises that helped lay its infrastructure, so too will the metaverse. If your business is to make something of it while helping shape it in a way that is positive to society, preparing yourself is key.
With so much rhetoric being thrown around and echoed about the metaverse, it is becoming more and more clear that not a lot of the people who have adopted the concept, actually have a full understanding of what it is, what its potential is, and what it can do for the next wave of digital enterprises.
Some say it is exactly our world, but virtual. Many others have dreams of it spawning global digital currencies and economies free from the regulations and proximal limitations of trading in physical goods.
Some see it as the next wave of gaming.
But the promise it seams to show to all of us is that it will show a practical shift in how business is done. We’ve had a taste for working remotely, for instance, and the Metaverse is sure to be another component that strengthens the way we do that.
Then of course there are the ideas of creating engaging digital worlds for customers, facilitating stronger collaborations from around the world, and even producing digital products and selling them for digital currencies.
This (especially the latter) is sure to bring unpredictable changes to businesses of all types and the expectations that consumers have about how they receive goods and services, how they pay for them, and indeed, how they earn the currency to do that.
From education and healthcare, to retail, therapy, travel, entertainment, and general living, the Metaverse will gradually grow in size, usage, practicality, and sophistication to eventually become the first natural but digital part of our lives.
All of this means that there is time (but not a lot of it) for businesses like yours to start preparing for the Metaverse. Here are a few ways you can do it…
Like social media, the Metaverse is about connecting with people, and you need to know how to connect with them. This means understanding the personalities, lifestyles, pain-points, and desires of your niche.
If the Metaverse is going to be a large part of your future focus, consider doing what Faceboo… ahem, Meta has done, and rebrand to reflect that.
While the average entrepreneur simply doesn’t have the resources to help lay the infrastructure that will bring the metaverse to life, many big companies are already doing it and rolling out their features for others to use. Take advantage of these, play with them, familiarise yourself with the tech.
New concepts and ideas surrounding the Metaverse are being brought to life everyday, there is a bit of an information gold rush underway at the moment. Keep your ear to the ground and learn as much as you can, so that you can be one of the first to take advantage of it.
Looking for a ticket to take your brand into the digital world with absolute success? Contact a representative from Applord today for details on our mobile app and software development services.
There are a number of excellent benefits that your business can get out of building a mobile application for its needs; whether that be for internal communication, marketing to new clients, or communicating with existing ones.
The objective that the mobile app you are building is meant to fulfil will have a major impact on the type of app you are developing; particularly with reference to its architecture.
In such a situation you have a choice.
You can either build a standalone native app that must be downloaded from an app store and takes advantage of the features of a user’s device; or you can opt to build a simpler, more cost-effective and less resource-intensive progressive web app.
In this article, we will explore the differences, benefits and drawbacks of each of these.
This should give you a better idea of which framework would best meet the objectives of your business, no matter what reason you are developing an app for.
Native apps make use of a specific codebase and are developed to be compatible with certain devices that use that framework.
For instance, if a native app needs to be released for both Android and iOS systems, the app will need to be developed for each of those frameworks separately.
This allows the app to take advantage of the hardware and features of that specific device, and also enables it to stand alone as a functional application.
This gives them a number of unique advantages over web apps, but also means that they require specific skill sets to develop, and as such, generally come at a much higher cost than the other two.
Still, if you need to develop an app that is fast, highly functional and complicated, the native approach is generally the best bet thanks to the way they excel in terms of intuitiveness and functionality.
From the above description, a few of the top benefits of native apps should start to show themselves.
Let’s take a look at some of the top advantages of choosing native development. These include superior performance, app store support, an enhanced user experience, the ability to use features on the device using the app, as well as higher levels of trust between potential users.
Out of the three approaches mentioned in this article, native apps provide some of the best levels of performance. These builds are generally more stable, reliable and efficient in the way that they use device resources.
This, in turn, creates a more pleasant experience for users but also provides the only viable option for particularly complicated or functional apps.
Because native apps are generally only downloaded from recognised app stores, they are also given more comprehensive support from platforms like the Google Play and iOS App Store.
On top of this, having a presence in these app stores also makes native mobile apps more discoverable than other types, which means that there is a much higher chance of users finding and using it, as opposed to other types that are not hosted on stores, and therefore may need additional marketing to get them into the hands of your potential users.
Because native apps are built using compatible code for specific devices, they are built within a framework that accentuates best-practice guidelines for that specific device.
This means that navigation, usability and functionality all come with a sense of recognisability for users, who will find using the app an intuitive and natural experience without much of a learning curve.
By allowing for a framework that is familiar to your users, these types of apps make them more accessible to users, regardless of the devices they were developed for.
One of the top advantages to native mobile apps is that in being built with code that is compatible with specific devices, these types of apps are able to make use of the features and hardware on that specific device.
Consider the way Google Maps uses your location through GPS, how Apple Music can send you a notification when your favourite artist releases a new album, or how Instagram can make use of your phone’s camera and apply filters to it.
All of these are examples of how native apps use the functions of a device to provide a unique and seamless experience for users.
As media consumers, we are all quite a picky lot. If we smell a rat, we are likely to keep our distance. Having native apps listed in the various app stores requires them to first be approved by the stores themselves.
This means that by simply being listed, there is an added layer of trust between the app and its potential users, which means a greater chance of users confidently downloading it.
Of course, if native apps were just a list of benefits there would be no need for web-based ones. So, let’s have a look at a few of the disadvantages of building native apps.
Because each platform that a native app is being developed for differs completely in their coding and frameworks, native apps need to be developed separately for each operating system it is released on.
This means that different developers will need to be used for each platform since each will specialise in a specific coding language.
Even when finding a developer that works across a few Operating Systems (such as Android and iOS), the app will still need to be built independently for each different OS, which can raise the price and time of development substantially.
Because of the reason mentioned above, and also because of the specialised skill set needed to develop native apps in various forms, these types of apps come at an extra cost to other types.
But when you consider their added functionality and superior performance, this extra cost is worthwhile for apps that need to take advantage of native development.
Because of the monetary and time costs of developing native apps, and because they work within a complicated framework of specific coding languages, they are not ideally used for simple apps with limited functionality.
While they can be used for more simplistic apps, the approach isn’t always practical, especially when web apps can facilitate them at less of a cost, and with less time in development.
Now let’s move to an approach on the opposite end of the spectrum, progressive web apps.
These types of apps take a much more general and simplistic approach to development, albeit one that offers far less functionality.
Still, cost-effectiveness and relative ease of development makes web apps ideal for simpler apps.
Web apps are generally used in browsers like Opera or Google Chrome. This is because they are developed using coding languages similarly used for websites like C++ and HTML.
Because of this, web apps only need to be built once. Since web architecture can be used seamlessly across multiple devices, it can be employed to be used on console, PC, Android and iOS all at once; as long as the device using it accesses the app through a browser.
In this way, the app itself is stored on a server rather than a device, from where it is accessed by users when they open the app through a browser. When changes occur on the web app, there is no need to push updates to users’ devices, since the changes will automatically be applied when they access the web app.
It does this, however, while sacrificing on the added functionality of native apps.
The fact that they are somewhat simplified doesn’t make web apps worse than native ones. Just different. There are still a number of advantages that they can bring when used in specific situations:
Because they are developed within a web framework, the same web app can be accessed, as is, across multiple devices, regardless of the operating systems they use.
This means two things: firstly, it means that the app only needs to be developed once, and secondly, it will be able to reach a wider prospective audience.
Because they are built for the web, these types of apps don’t require as specialised (and rare) a skill as native apps do.
They also only need to be developed for one platform that can be used across devices.
This results in remarkably lower development costs and times when compared to native apps.
Since these apps behave similarly to websites, they are hosted in the same way as well.
This means that they don’t have to go through the sometimes-lengthy approval process that native mobile apps have to face. This is as true for hosting as it is for when the app needs to be updated.
Because of this, they can be made available to users in much less time than the other types of apps.
When you update a native app, it needs to be done on the store. At that point, your users will be notified of the update and prompted to do it.
Progressive web apps on the other hand, only need to be updated on the host.
Since these apps are not necessarily downloaded to the device that is accessing it, updated features will show immediately when users access it.
This makes things a lot more convenient for your users, and also gives you more control over which build of the app they are using.
Because web-based apps make use of a C++ framework, they do not contain any of the code that allows the app to take advantage of device-specific features. This means no camera, no GPS and no access to your contacts or storage.
Because of this, web-based apps are only really suited to very basic functions.
Collecting information on how many users are accessing your apps is straightforward enough with native apps since all of that information is readily available through the respective app store.
Since progressive web apps are hosted independently, that is, away from app stores, getting usage statistics that you can use to improve your services is a little more difficult, and not as detailed or accurate.
Discoverability is also a concern when apps are not hosted on app stores. They will have to be marketed much in the way a website is if you want to attract in users.
This is perfectly fine and well if you are using an app to communicate with existing clients or offering them a service. But when you want your app to build its own success, native apps on stores are far more discoverable.
If you would like to know more about working with our team of an experienced, professional team of developers to bring your mobile application idea to life, be sure to get into contact with a representative from Applord today and speak to us about our native and progressive web app development services.
Alternatively, feel free to visit our website today to find out more information on our specialised range of app development and marketing services in South Africa.
The concern is real and widespread. You only need to take a walk around a shopping centre and try and count the amount of people not staring slack-jawed at their phones.
Screen addiction is a thing, and its no surprise when you see how dependant we have become on our phones. Obsessive smartphone behaviour is also more prevalent in the youth; but this is the case whenever a new technology comes out.
So, is this widespread concern really fair? Not exactly.
Booking Time Out from Conversation
Believe it or not, there was once a time when books instilled the same fear of social ineptitude that mobile applications now do.
Before the 15th century, people were more into verbally sharing stories. Art gave off a certain amount of entertainment but was often used for didactics (teaching using imagery). Then the printing press and the ability to read changed everything.
Suddenly books were everywhere in place of verbal conversation, leading parents all over the world tutting and shaking their heads at unresponsive children. These children were, of course, simply building a new skill, one that would prove invaluable for the rest of their lives.
Television: The Reading Killer
Television exploded on to the scene and demanded people’s undivided attention in the 18-hundreds. Those rebellious books that parents were once concerned about made may for a new nation destroying addiction- luckily it was one that experts guessed wouldn’t be around for very long; television. Boy were they wrong!
Also, despite people spending hundreds of mindless hours in front of the flashing box, society didn’t fall apart, global IQ rates stayed the same, and all of those concerned parents even took to the television themselves; despite their own incessant warnings of square eyes.
Surfing the Unsafe Waters of the Internet
The internet truly became widely available in the 90’s; another invention that experts reckoned would be short-lived and terrible for society.
Smut, violence and mindless activity became available in equal measure in nearly every home and once again, a natural distrust for a new technology reared its paranoid head as predictions of a unskilled and jaded youth filled the very television screens that once got the same treatment.
In reality, the web opened up thousands of opportunities for the youth that had taken the time to familiarise themselves with it, often creating millionaires overnight.
Then Mobile Apps Came to Candy Crush their Prospects
Now the attention falls on mobile applications and mobile phones in particular. Screen addiction is a buzzword tossed around a lot and its seen as a major problem for the future moral fibre of society, as was the internet, television, books and so-forth.
It is viewed as a generational problem by the baby-boomers who were once stuck to television sets and millennials still waiting for their next fix of online content.
“Nobody interacts without smartphones anymore!” is their rallying cry while concerned parents watch their children tap and swipe away on mobile games and apps.
What these people don’t see is what their parents didn’t see, and what their parent’s parents didn’t see. The youth are tapping and swiping while developing a very valuable skillset, since mobile apps, far from being a short-lived novelty, are fast becoming an essential part of nearly every facet of life.
Mobile apps, like the internet, television and books, are here to stay and are largely beneficial. They should be embraced by the generations that don’t understand their appeal.
Looking for a Tailor-Made Mobile App for Your Business?
If you would like to know more about having a mobile app developed for your business, be sure to get into contact with a representative from Applord today, or visit our website for additional details on our offers.
We are a dynamic team of developers who will assist you with developing your game-changing application and if marketing isn’t your strong point, we can assist you with that too.
Where We Started.
Applord was launched in 2014 as a division of Right Click Media. The core objective of the business is to create web and mobile applications for businesses and consumers. We have a passion for gaming, virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, which we have now added to our product offering.
Implementation of Our Business Plan
Elio Crismann, managing director of Applord, realized the lack of skills and knowledge within the application development space in South Africa and had great difficulty finding employees to fulfil the business objectives. Applord had to outsource projects to China and India. In late 2015 after lengthy screening and recruiting processes we managed to put together a dynamic team of developers with the skill set and knowledge needed to grow our business.
The Launch of Internal Applications.
We have launched a number of internal applications, of which some have grown in the international market. In 2015, we launched an app called Weather Women, which shows a picture of a woman and depending on the temperature will determine how she is dressed. We have also launched various other applications such as Peto, Logbook, My Life and Walkers & Talkers.
CSR Initiatives.
In 2016, we launched a mobile application by the name of Walkers & Talkers. This application was designed to give the lower LSM an opportunity to make an additional income by generating leads for people seeking airtime, electricity, insurance or education and receiving a commission on the leads that they produce. This initiative was aimed at waiters, taxi drivers, newspaper sales representatives, and domestic workers.
In 2018, we launched a lifestyle application for individuals who are infected with the HIV and Aids virus. The application offers workout plans, a chat function, frequently asked questions, advice on eating habits, a feature that reminders the user to take their medication and an online learning platform.
Our Client Base.
Our clients include Bidvest Steiner, Monroe Shocks, Trifocus, Jaguar South Africa, Standard Bank, EOH, Tame Times and Nu Metro to name a few.
Independent Company:
We are proud to announce that in March 2018 we became a stand-alone company, independent to Right Click Media; our sister company.
Conclusion
For more information regarding mobile application development, contact Applord or visit our website www.applord.co.
What is a Chabot?
A Chatbot is an automated application system used to interact with users. Unlike conventional messaging apps, Chatbot’s communicate with speech/audio which makes them more interactive and user friendly. Chatbots can be integrated into websites, Applications and messenger systems.
What Are The Benefits?
Chabot’s can be used instead of human employees for various tasks such as making appointments and setting up meetings, assisting users as they navigate your site by answering any questions they may have as well as many more useful tasks. By automating customer support you will make the entire user experience flow more efficiently and effectively while cutting down on costs and reducing human error. There are many industries that are already making use of this revolutionary system some business sectors include marketing, Human Resources, Sales, Customer Services and many more.
The time is now
Chatbot’s such as Siri and Alexa have been around for some time now however Chatbots are still seen as new technology. Now is a good time to jump on the band wagon and start using a Chabot for your business. Seeing as this is a new form of user interaction most peoole have never used a Chatbot application before therefore users may be amazed by your Chatbot and may feel the need to show the people around them which will in turn draw more users to your site.
Contact Us
There is no need for further convincing the possibilities are endless, Chatbot technology is rapidly growing so get ahead of the game and let Applord help you get started. With our mobile application development knowledge and experience, we can take your business to a whole new level. Contact us today for more information.
Way back in 1991, Apple released ‘System 7’ to the market, one of the first operating systems to come with an interactive and intuitive user interface. It was a major step-up for them from their prior Apple DOS and of course, Microsoft’s MSDOS, both of which were operated by entering complex commands into an unattractive display.
These DOS programs were complicated and offered nothing in the way of aesthetics, but System 7, and Windows 3.1 aimed to change this, by providing users with a graphic interface to navigate and command their computers.
Of course, much has changed since then.
Operating systems have become infinitely more powerful, complex and appealing. They have become more intuitive as well, and in doing so have set certain canons, expectations held by their users and developers.
In the modern age, where digital media dominates our world, the need to understand these expectations when applying the principles of design to app development, has become an essential consideration for developers to make.
Here are the reasons why:
Usability: Users Expect Certain Layouts
Users have come to expect certain design elements in an interface over the years. Things that make functionality easy to recognise: like share buttons, the cog shaped settings icon and so forth.
The layout also comes with certain expectations. If it is too complex, too filled with information or difficult to navigate, it will be more difficult to use, and will likely be less popular as a result.
A Logical Flow
A logical flow is important for the layout of any app as well. Things that make workflow and navigation more efficient.
Giving users the ability to do what they need to do on the app in less time and with more ease is more important than keeping them on the app for longer, which means that the flow of the design needs to make sense and should be intuitive.
Attraction & Branding
Aesthetics, of course, counts for a lot as well, and should always be carefully considered during design.
This is particularly the case for corporate-based apps where branding and corporate identity need to shine through.
Even where the app is being used for entertainment purposes, and is not centred around a particular identity, it needs to be visually appealing, attractive but not too noisy, if it is going to keep your users engaged.
Have a Mobile App Developed by Applord
These points only touch on some of the most important aspect of user interface design and information architecture in mobile app development.
The complex sciences behind what makes a good user interface are dynamic and are never easy to leverage without a solid understanding of how they work.
If you would like assistance from a mobile application development company that understands and applies the best practices of UI design, be sure to get into contact with a representative from Applord today, or visit our website for additional information on our offers.
One brilliant mobile application idea and the effective execution thereof has the potential to shift industries and change lives. Let’s look at Uber as example; the introduction of an app connected to real-time drivers and a transportation service complete from pick-up to drop-off (with costs seen at the get go) simplified the lives of countless people and revolutionised the transportation industry whilst simultaneously creating jobs. But what does it take to come up with a great mobile application idea and can you design a winning app too?
The first step in any business model, including the idea of a mobile application, is to find a need. What is missing in the world? What could simplify things? If another application has already met a specific need in one way, then how can you meet the same need in another way? These are the questions that you need to be asking because they alone will tell you what kind of solutions you need to be working towards.
Whilst an app that provides many elaborate features sounds like a dream on paper, complicated applications rarely provide for a stress-free and easily understood user experience. In addition to those two things, maintenance of that application is going to be complicated further by creating more opportunities for bugs. Remember that we live complicated lives; the simpler the solution that you provide, the more popular it is likely to become.
There doesn’t have to be a great debate between the two platforms or which one to support and which one to subsequently not support. The smartest outcome here is actually to develop an application that can operate and function well on both platforms. To save you time, money and plenty of stress, a cross-platform app development framework can help you design one app for both platforms
Having your mobile application all mapped out with the relevant know how, need, target market and creativity is irrelevant if you do not hire a mobile application development company to build and design your concepts into something tangible. Aside from professionalism and expertise that have been honed, look for a company that shares your passion and wants to see the successful development of your mobile app as much as you do.
If you are looking for a mobile application development company that you can rely on to deliver functional, bug-free and beneficial apps with the potential to propel your ideas and innovations into tangible solutions, be sure to contact the Applord team or visit their website.
Have you found the next best thing? Whether it may be to improve your business, to venter into the next best game or to have your very own mobile application. With the use of app development services, anyone can have their very own personalized app.
As technology advances, so can your business; ideas or dreams advance with it, to fit in with the new modern world of online applications.
You can easily get your product, idea or service, out into the big wide world where it can grow into a booming success.
In the hustle and bustle of the crazy business environment, one can easy lose track of the relationships with its customers. Which in the long and short term, can be crucial to retain.
When work floods in and you sometimes just cannot seem to keep up, why not make it easier for yourself and for one’s business. Creating a personal app just for the customers is just one easy step in retaining public relations.
All one needs to do is come up with the idea and initiative, and all that is left is to create the app through the help of a mobile application development company in South Africa.
Have you found the new Pac-Man, Mario Kart or Donkey Kong? Then why not create your very own game, personalized to fit all ones expectations.
There may be some uncertainty when it comes to the app development of one’s game but there is certainly no need to fear.
When it comes to creating the next best thing or if it is just to have something that you have always dreamed of.
It is possible, through the use of your ideas and your eagerness to get your game out there, it all comes down to you. So get ready for the adventure and the challenges that may come but always remember to enjoy the ride.
If you have found your solution, now is the time to make it real
Contact Applord on their Tel: 011 867 6380 or email at info@applord.co.za. To get your ideas up and running.
Augmented reality (AR) is really just the reality of the now. More and more we are experiencing an increase in the phenomena of artificial design components and animations as they make an appearance against the backdrop of our present and very palpable physical world.