Is the following encouraging or discouraging….
There are over 2.7 billion smartphones in the world.
App usage and smartphone usage is growing at a steady rate.
1,35 Tablet users, which has doubled over the past 6 years.
On average people (Americans) tend to look at their phone every 12 minutes.
10 % check their phones once every four minutes.
We use our phones on the street, at home, in bed, at work, in cars, trains, while eating, commuting, travelling, and for no reason at all.
90% of mobile time is spent on apps.
Coming back from China after being there for two years was like travelling back in time. Many of the things I had grown accustomed to doing in Beijing, I no longer could do. They use apps to pay for goods, order food, use the subway, interpret the world around them, communicate and (negatively) monitor others and be monitored. AI, AR and VR were popping up in all sorts of strange places.
Arriving back in the UK, I just felt that people hadn’t fully woken up to the possibilities.
Which is good? It’s tempting to wonder what the point is of creating apps when there are so many other people already in the game.
A recent estimate suggests Android users can choose between 2.47 million apps. Apple users have access to 1.8 million apps.
I’m not daunted. It’s about finding a need. And then telling people they need it.