1. The way of business solutionsThe way of business solutions
Towards Green
Eco-Mobile Apps for
the Cleaner Environment
AppsterAppster
MARCH 2017MARCH 2017
www.insightssuccess.comwww.insightssuccess.comwww.insightssuccess.com
GRT OS WET INS
G
A
F
Mobile Apps for
Smoother Human Life
Trending
Wireless Mobile Technology:
Scope for Tremendous
Opportunities
Beginning
Josiah Humphrey
Co-CEO & Founder
The Best Software Development Process in the World
For Technology Entrepreneurs and Challenger Brands
3. G R I P That Truly Works.
www.jktyre.com
+91-11-23311112-7
4. Editorial
he mobile apps usage has increased tremendously over
Tthe past few years. Continuously growing mobile
technologies resulted in the strong adoption of modern
smartphones, more and more. Today, consumers are using
mobile apps to order food, plan & order groceries, book tickets,
perform banking transactions, watch videos, listen to music, etc.
The number of mobile apps keeps on increasing continuously to
make our day-to-day life easier by facilitating through their
unique functionalities.
Today, Keeping in touch with friends anywhere across the globe
is no more a chore, as mobile apps like Facebook, Whatsapp,
and more are connecting not only two friends, but also bringing
all groups of friends together on a single platform with 24 hours
uninterrupted connection. Everything in the world is becoming
digitized, pushing the growth of mobile apps. Daily newer and
newer apps are getting introduced with special features and
functionality. Millions of apps are available on iTunes store and
Play store with different categories. Mobile users have
downloaded billions of apps from their respective app store.
App developers are providing different supports of apps
depending on the hardware and software on the devices.
The growing demand for more functional apps has made
innovation as an essential part of mobile app development. New
technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality
(AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT),
Cloud, Wearable Devices, and more are gaining the share in the
mobile app space. Voice controlled apps like Alexa, Cortona,
Siri, Google Assistant, and more are spreading their roots
strongly in all utility segments like the refrigerator, cars,
mobiles, and more.
Bigger players like Google, Apple, Amazon, Uber, and
Microsoft are investing heavily in the future apps like Voice
Controlled apps, Smart homes apps, IoT, and Cloud. Mobile app
space only feels much crowded, but actually, it is demanding a
lot of innovations for changing user trends and requirements.
Till lots of space is available for new innovative apps that suit
for the future technologies and needs.
Suhel Mashayak
Mobile Apps:
Making our
Lives Effortless
and Pleasant
5.
6. CONTENTS
8
Appster:
The Best Software Development Process
in the World For Technology
Entrepreneurs and Challenger Brands
The Need to
Understand the
Necessity of Innovation
Five Mobile App
Development Trends
to Watch Out For in 2017
Managing corporate
communication on
mobile devices
32
20
42
Towards Green
Eco-Mobile Apps for the
Cleaner Environment
Trending
Mobile Apps for Smoother
Human Life
Beginning
Wireless Mobile Technology:
Scope for Tremendous
Opportunities
22
36
30
CXO STANDPOINT
7. 7/Apps:
Exhaustively Researched,
Meticulously Planned
and Designed to Pixel Perfection 16
A.Y. Technologies:
Building Software
that Solves Real Problems18
Five Pack Creative:
Where Beautiful Apps
Are Born
26
Innum:
An Independent Design
and Development Agency40
Touchtap:
Building World-Class
Apps
38
Fueled:
Fueling the Mobiles
28
8. ,
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Corporate Ofces:
March, 2017
Database Management Steve
Technology Consultant Vishal More
Circulation Manager Robert
Research Analyst Jennifer
David, Joseph,
John, Mary
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal
Ariana LawrenceSenior Editor
Managing Editor
Co-Editors
Art & Design Director
Co-designer Alex Noel
Visualiser David King
Business Development Manager
Business Development Executive
Aparna Vanzul
Art Editor
Picture Editor
Marketing Manager Chris
Vinod Alhat
Abhijeet Parade
SuryawanshiVikram
Suhel Mashayak
John Mathew
Steve Smith
Amol Kamble
9. ith every passing year, mobile apps are rapidly growing than any other tech products. Today, mobile apps
Wbecome the everyday need of a human life that resulted in the formation of this huge industry which is
growing daily, and there is not any friction seen for it. The number of mobile apps in the market is getting
launched with their unique applications and specifications. Since nature and preferences of common users are going
through speedy changes because of the high-performance gadgets, new emerging technologies, and other trends, the
latest innovations and their adoption is making the mobile app industry more valuable business.
For this issue of “The 10 Fastest Growing Mobile App Solution Provider Companies”, we highlight the cover with
‘Appster’, which is the fastest growing App Development company with a vision for creating the most innovative app
technology in the world. Appster has offices in 3 continents from Melbourne to San Francisco with the best software
development process in the world for technology entrepreneurs and enterprise companies wanting to take new ideas to
the market. It helps both entrepreneurs and enterprise with the platforms; Ideation, Validation, Development &
Marketing.
Josiah Humphrey and Mark McDonald are the Co-CEOs and Founders of the Appster. Both had started the
company back in 2011 when they were 18 & 19 years old. In 5 years they have aggressively grown to over 400+ staff
over three countries, with eventual plans to IPO. They are extremely passionate and obsessed with building a company
culture that embodies Appster’s mission.
Insights Success Magazine, after doing in-depth research and studies, has shortlisted; 7/Apps: Exhaustively
Researched, Meticulously Planned and Designed to Pixel Perfection, A.Y. Technologies: Building Software that
Solves Real Problems, Five Pack Creative: Where Beautiful Apps Are Born, Fueled: Fueling the Mobiles, Infinum:
An Independent Design and Development Agency, Touchtap: Building World-Class Apps, Clearbridge Mobile: User-
Centric Product Design & Engineering, Crazy Web Studio: Complete solutions in the field of Web technology and
marketing, and Octal Info Solution: Technology-Outsourcing-Simplified.
While going through our magazine don’t miss out, Eco-Mobile Apps for the Cleaner Environment, Mobile Apps for
Smoother Human Life, and Wireless Mobile Technology: Scope for Tremendous Opportunities from the Editor’s Pick.
Managing Corporate Communications on Mobile Devices, The Need to Understand the Necessity of Innovation, and
Five Mobile App Development Trends to Watch Out For in 2017 from the View of the Successful Leaders.
Mobile App:
Simplest Way Towards Digital Life
13. Creators of Appster
Josiah Humphrey and Mark McDonald are
the Co-CEOs and Founders of the Appster.
Both had started the company back in 2011
when they were 18 & 19 years old. In 5 years
they have aggressively grown to over 400+
staff over three countries, with eventual plans
to IPO. They are extremely passionate and
obsessed with building a company culture
that embodies Appster’s mission.
Secure Solutions for Success
Appster is not just an app developer but a
team of Appster focuses on helping their
clients be successful across the entire
lifecycle of app development. They focus
mostly on de-risking a project and asking
themselves what needs to happen at a
technical and commercial level in order for
the project to be successful.
Appster has a unique set of offerings which
are focused on making projects successful. In
their Rapid Concept Workshop, they design
product strategy and map out the right
technical solutions. In Traction Labs, they
help prototype and validate ideas at an early
stage.
Benefits for clients
Appster has helped many clients go on to
We
Building
World-Class
Apps
♥“
“
The Mobile app industry is all about differentiation
and providing the proper value for customers. The
solutions aren’t just about making a “great app”
anymore. There is a myriad of other things that are
important, Speed of implementation, Quality of the
solution, and Measuring engagement, are some of the
things apps need to focus on to be successful today.
Appster is the fastest growing App Development
company with a vision for creating the most innovative
app technology in the world. For getting this goal, Appster
is working with the people, with incredible ideas that
make them more valuable.
Appster has offices in 3 continents from Melbourne to San
Francisco with the best software development process in
the world for technology entrepreneurs and enterprise
companies wanting to take new ideas to market. Appster
helps both entrepreneurs and enterprise with the platforms;
Ideation, Validation, Development & Marketing.
14. raise millions of dollars, have multi-million dollar
valuations and in some cases get acquired. It provides
separate solutions for startups and enterprises, by
understanding the fact that both demand a different type
of solutions for their businesses.
Appster works exclusively with high potential disruptive
startups and every project is important. Instead of having
countless departments and cross functional hierarchies,
they build stable and high performing teams which work
with each other regularly and with limited clients, so that
they get clients’ vision and dream and can truly get
onboard executing it. It’s HOW clients get the execution
power of a global “big” development firm with the
transparency and collaboration of having a technical co-
founder.
Appster doesn’t think of themselves as a vendor, but a
critical partner to help solve real business challenges.
Team Appster’s belief is that, “you get the best outcome
when we work ‘with’ you rather than ‘for you’. If you
agree, we’ll get along well!”
Appster has launched dozens of Australia’s most successful tech startups over the last 5 years. Their deep experience
working on the bleeding edge of emerging technologies and launching #1 apps means client’s project is developed using
best-practice and is truly future proof.
Learning’s from Experience
Setting up an office in India: When both the founders of Appster were 20 years old and had no context of the culture, the
way of doing business, etc. They took a huge risk to set up there and struggled early on, but with determination and grit, they
managed to build one of the best app development facilities in the world now with 350 people.
Scaling: They had one time when they went from 150 to about 300 in the space of 3 months. Having so many new people
joined at the time was almost like an acquisition of a new company and the culture was impacted for a period of time. They
spent a lot more time focusing on the culture and working on improving leaders across the company which has had some
lasting impact.
Setting up in the US: Both founders know that it is a very competitive market here and they underestimated the amount of
effort and time it would take to get things as large as their Australian operations. But it has paid off now and have two offices
in San Francisco and New York.
Customer Oriented Approach
“Getting noticed is the biggest challenge,” says Josiah about today’s competitive mobile app industry. “It is becomingly
increasingly expensive to get installs with increased competition too. You need to focus on building an incredible product
that people want to rave about. You also need to start thinking about virality and retention from day one. We have some epic
Growth Hacking services that focus on all of these as well as launch strategy and execution,” Josiah added.
Achievements and Future Plans
Appster awards:
-2014 BRW’s 27th Most Innovative Company
-2015 Telstra Business Award
-EY Entrepreneur of the Year
As per future plans, Appster is fully focused on building a development hub for the greatest ideas and innovations in the
world.
“ We
Build Break
through Products
for
Challenger Brands
Disruptors
&
“
15.
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CORPORATE OFFICE
17. Management BriefCompany Name
Five Pack Creative
www.fivepackcreative.com
Jerry Beers
Co-founder & President
Five Pack Creative (FPC) is a mobile app development agency
that provides creative solutions for companies in need of mobile
app services like development, staffing, training and more.
Noah Labhart
Founder
Infinum
www.infinum.co
Infinum is an award-winning software design and development
agency that provides Mobile and Web App solutions.
Touchtap
www.touchtap.io
Touchtap is an app development agency, based in Dallas/Fort
Worth, TX which provide iOS and Android native development
services to startups, agencies and entrepreneurs.
Crazy Web Studio Ltd.
www.crazywebstudio.com
Clearbridge Mobile is an award-winning full stack mobile app
development company in Toronto that provides user-centric
product design & engineering services to enterprises.
Appster
www.appsterhq.com
Arun Goyal
M D, Founder
Octal Info Solution is a web & mobile app Development
Company, which provides all types of innovative mobile app
and web solution.
Crazy Web Studio provides complete solutions in the field
of Web technology and marketing.
Octal Info Solution Pvt. Ltd.
www.octalsoftware.com
Radoslav Nedyalkov
CEO
7/Apps
www.7apps.com
7/Apps develops world-class apps and the complex systems
needed to power them – solving the toughest of problems and
elevating every user experience.
A.Y. Technologies
www.aytech.ca
A.Y. Technologies is a mobile development and web application
agency in Vancouver, B.C., created by founder Amin Yazdani in
December 2015.
Fueled
www.fueled.com
Rameet Chawla
Co-founder
Fueled is an award-winning technology product consultancy and
popular mobile app company.
Clearbridge Mobile
www.clearbridgemobile.com
Josiah Humphrey
Co-CEO & Founder
Amin Yazdani
Founder
Appster is the fastest growing App Development company
with a vision for creating the most innovative app
technology in the world.
Deepak Chopra
CEO
Juan Fernandez
Co-founder & CEO
Tomislav Car
CEO & Co-founder
18. The mobile app market is beyond saturated. Building
something unique and good is now more difficult
than ever. More choices for consumers means sub-
par apps can’t compete. To catch any attention, apps must
be useful, intuitive, engaging, and attractive.
Unprecedented market growth has resulted in an enormous
demand for developers. To remain competitive, many
development shops and ad agencies have turned to foreign
developers,
which can lead to
lower quality
code and design
along with
inherent language
and time barriers.
Choosing the
low-cost
developer will
almost always
cost a client more
in the long run.
7/Apps focuses on developing world-class apps and the
complex systems needed to power them, solving the
toughest of problems and elevating every user experience.
About 7/Apps and its Achievements
Through ideation, rapid prototyping, rigorous development
and testing –7/Apps brings truly great ideas to life. Visions
they’ve engineered for clients include Clinique’s Blue
Ocean app that customizes product regimes, the National
Park Service’s interactive walking tour app for Gettysburg
visitors, an app that identifies paper currency for the
visually impaired on behalf of the U.S. Mint, and most
recently, marking the first-of-its-kind React app that
connects appliance owners with pre-screened repair service
providers on demand for ServiceTapp.
Architect of 7/Apps
7/Apps’ blended creative, technical, and strategic vision is
driven by it’s Co-founder and CEO, Juan Fernandez.
Fernandez began his professional career as a graphic
designer. His portfolio earned him a position with Walt
Disney’s Imagineering and Animation studios, where he
developed an affinity for creative technology and artistic
excellence over his seven year stint. Recruited by Apple,
Fernandez spent the next seven years helping grow Apple’s
Enterprise Group by designing and implementing some of
their largest and
complex solutions for
hospitality customers
such as Royal
Caribbean Cruise Lines,
Hilton, and Starwood
Hotels.
Inspired to bring his
own ideas to life he left
Apple to start a
company where he could combine his love of design and
technology to build creative enterprise apps and technology
solutions for forward thinking clients.
Identifying Truly Great Ideas
Fernandez says, “To be effective in this market, you need to
be able to identify the truly great ideas and work with
clients that have what it takes to see their ideas through to
success. You need to foster a creative environment, refine
your ideas, but then execute quickly, without sacrificing
quality.”
The 7/Apps team works to anticipate client needs today and
years into the future. They keep up with and look ahead of
rapidly evolving technologies. They build scalable support
products, such as websites and back-end cloud
infrastructure, in addition to their mobile app solutions.
| March 2017 |16
7/Apps:
Exhaustively Researched, Meticulously
Planned and Designed to Pixel Perfection
19. They also craft pitch decks on behalf
of clients seeking funding and provide
pro-forma vetting services before an
app hits the marketplace.
Unique Services for Clients
The 7/Apps team puts a lot of
emphasis on research, ideation, spec
writing, and planning. Those
components should account for 20-30
percent of the total budget for an app.
Clients that haven’t budgeted for
research and ideation often end up
wanting major changes mid-process.
The resulting expense usually adds up
to more than the initial research and
ideation budget. 7/Apps is also unique
in that during ideation, the team goes
beyond rough designs, creating
production ready art, iconography and
the entire app UX and prototype. Many
companies start development after
crude wireframes and can leave out
critical details that cause development
delays.
The 7/Apps team of well-rounded
experts brings passion to every project
and works together to develop the best
possible solutions to turn early stage
ideas into visionary products. They
work hard to make sure their clients
know their ideas never have to be
limited.
Learning from Every Lesson
Because 7/Apps’ first team was too
designer-heavy, they over compensated
by hiring journeymen in very specific
fields who couldn’t see beyond their
own discipline. Those lessons helped
7/Apps to evolve into a multi-
disciplinary team with broader,
complementary expertise. “I consider
our team to be one of the best in the
industry,” says Fernandez.
It can be easy to get distracted by the
breakneck speed of the industry and
what trends hundreds of other
developers may be jumping in on, but
the team at 7/Apps works to remain
focused on identifying those unique
components in a client’s vision that
allow for apps that stand out. They are
willing to turn work away when
experience tells them an app idea
won’t succeed or can’t compete in a
saturated market. “There’s always a
way to shine, as long as you execute
brilliantly on a fantastic idea – there’s
little room for error. That’s why you do
the research, design, plan and refine
your ideas – and then refine and refine
again. Then you code”, says
Fernandez.
Future Goals
The 7/Apps’ team accepts projects for
clients who share their vision,
appreciate their value, and want to
work with them. As innovators,
technologists, artists, and
perfectionists, they believe form and
function must have equal footing to
create not only apps that will succeed
today, but also be relevant for years to
come. They have a knack for
predicting future trends in technology
and they ultimately want to catapult as
many great ideas into success as they
have the fortune to.
“
“
17| March 2017 |
There’s always
a way to shine,
as long as
you execute
brilliantly on
a fantastic idea
– there’s little
room
for errorJuan Fernandez
Co-founder & CEO
20. A.Y. Technologies
Building Software that
Solves Real Problems
With more than 2 billion smartphone users in the
world, the mobile app industry is booming
more than ever before. Not only do we have a
bigger market for mobile apps, we have a more
sophisticated market. Users are not settling for mediocre
apps anymore. They demand the highest quality
performance and user experience.
Whether an app is already released or going to be
released, they can’t survive if they don’t meet
certain standards. Speed, usability and
performance are big standard
differentiators in this market, and A. Y.
Technologies is the keeper of these
standards.
A Mobile Development and Web
Application Agency
A.Y. Technologies is a mobile
development
and web application agency in
Vancouver, B.C. Quickly
growing to a team of 8, A.Y.
Technologies provides a range
of services
from their initial Roadmap
Workshop,
development, and custom software/integration services.
They use state of the art technology to solve problems for
their clients. As an Agile development organization, they
collaborate closely with their clients and focus on
delivering innovative, scalable applications in rapid
iterations.
A.Y. Technologies prides itself on it’s talented and flexible
team, which has emphasis on delivering digital products
frequently and rapid iteration.
Software Architect
Amin Yazdani is the Founder of A.Y. Technologies Inc.
Amin has more than 15 years experience with software
development and 5 years experience with software
architecture and design. He has helped many startups
with the scalability of their software systems and
implemented agile processes to improve
software development efficiency. He is an
advocate of the new wave of software
development and operation management
(DevOps) and has been a volunteer and
organizer of DevOpsDays Vancouver for
the past 3 years.
Amin has a B.Sc. Degree in Software
Engineering from Sharif University of
Technology and M.Sc. Degree in
Computer Science from Simon
Fraser University.
Unique Differentiators
For A.Y. Technologies, there
are two unique differentiators
in the market: 1 - Technology and 2 - Process.
On the technology side, they build all their mobile apps
with React Native. React Native is on the cutting edge of
technologies for building Cross-platform mobile
applications. The apps they build with React Native are fast,
performant, secure, and cost-effective. Furthermore, as they
| March 2017 |18
21. build only in React Native and then
compile into both Android and iOS
platforms, their clients spend less
money and get more value.
On the process side, A.Y. Tech has a
unique on-boarding program called the
Roadmap Workshop. They offer
Roadmap Workshops for every stage of
the product development cycle. They
help entrepreneurs get their ideas off
the ground and find product market fit,
and also helps start-up businesses
speed up development and growth.
Furthermore, they help the established
businesses improve efficiency and
reduce costs.
These workshops are 2 weeks long and
the main goal of all of them is to
reduce the risk of failure, delays, and
cost overrun. Untill now A.Y. Tech has
been very successful with these
workshops and expects more in the
future.
Current Challenges within the
Market
Being a young company, the team of
A.Y. Technologies has learned a lot
during the past year and half. They’ve
learned the value of clear
communication between team
members and their clients, and how to
better manage projects to deliver as
promised.
They found that the biggest challenge
for mobile apps is that users are getting
more sophisticated and their standards
are generally much higher. The apps
that had acceptable performance or
user experience a year ago would not
pass the test today. Mobile apps need
to match the level of sophistication of
their users and that’s the biggest
challenge, both from the technology
side as well as user experience design.
Building Great Apps that make
Companies Successful
To overcome the current and future
market challenges, A.Y. Technologies
follows the best user experience design
practices with state of the art mobile
development technologies. They bring
the best of both worlds together to help
apps reach their full potential. They
also focus on building scalable
platforms for apps, so they can easily
handle millions of users. With their
focus on startups and entrepreneurs,
they build apps that make companies
successful.
Making Mobile Apps more User-
Centric and Performant
On their unique approach, Amin says,
“We are not here just to build what
clients think they want. We guide them
through our process and clarify what
they need and, in the process, reduce
the risk of failure. By building
clickable prototypes that look like the
real thing, we help them test their apps
with their target market before writing
a single line of code.”
Their goal is to help startups achieve
their growth goals. And they see
themselves as a leader in a new mobile
app movement, one that is making
mobile apps more user centric and
performant.
“
“
As an agile
company,
we deliver
results fast
and
make sure
they can see
the return
on their
investmentAmin Yazdani
Founder
19| March 2017 |
22. TRENDS TO WATCH
OUT FOR IN 2017
2. Android Instant Apps Becoming More Common
Similar to Progressive Web Apps, Google recently
announced Android Instant Apps, which delivers exactly
what its name says-it enables Android apps to run instantly.
These apps do not need to be downloaded or installed on a
device, making it possible for users to access a wider range
of apps seamlessly. For example, if a user sends a link from
a friend, they can open it with one tap. This enables them to
utilize a specific feature from the app without actually
installing it on their own device. Android Instant apps are
still in its early days, and only available for Android that is
limiting, however they’re great for apps people may not use
as often.
3. Beacons & Location-Based Technology Will Continue
to Rise
Within the last two years, we saw the advancement of
location-based beacon technology and it shows no signs of
slowing this year, particularly in the retail and healthcare
space. Beacons enable retailers to bridge the gap between
the in-store and online experience. They collect valuable in-
store data, location-based push notifications, and even
traditional in-store metrics such as footfall. Personalization
has become more important than ever, which is a main
reason why beacons are gaining traction as engagement
tools to enhance the overall customer experience.
4. Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality Taking Hold
With the release of Pokémon GO in 2016, there’s no
surprise that AR development will continue to rise.
Pokémon Go proves AR technology has great potential to
influence consumers in engaging and meaningful ways.
FIVE MOBILE APP
DEVELOPMENT
his past year shaped up to be a phenomenal year for
Tthe app economy, and 2017 is set to be another
progressive year. There has been a continuous
growth in the number of companies that are adopting the
mobile-first mindset, and realizing that the mobile is no
longer an optional investment, rather a necessity.
Today, apps aren’t just built for smartphones, but for a
myriad of other platforms, including connected TVs, smart
homes, IoT-enabled devices, and many more. With these
various platforms, the app space holds a significant amount
of promise and opportunity for the both companies and
consumers. What does the future hold for the app economy?
Here are our top predictions on the tech trends that will
shape the way we use and think about mobile app
development:
1. Progressive Web Apps Gaining in Popularity
Progressive web apps have attracted a lot of attention
because of the ease of development and the almost instant
gratification for the app’s user experience (UX). A
progressive web app is an application in which the user
interface runs in a web browser. With a progressive web
app, users will be able to immediately begin using it
without downloading it first.
Progressive Web Apps are fundamentally designed to help
websites load on mobile with unstable or poor data
conditions. The capabilities of web apps are advancing
quickly, including better performance with special features
such as push messaging.
| March 2017 |20
CXO Standpoint
23. About the Author:
DEEPAK CHOPRA
Founder and CEO
Clearbridge Mobile
Apps that utilize AR have often been perceived as
promotional however, a greater number of apps
have started integrating AR into utility.
Much has also been said about the growth of
virtual reality as forecasts predict its growth into a
USD 30 billion market by 2020. VR has come a
long way in terms of performance and accessibility
thanks to Google who introduced Cardboard back
in 2014. In just one year, several leading tech
manufacturers launched their own VR headsets,
which are quickly pushing the technology to
mainstream adoption.
5. IoT Apps Will Surge With Smart Home
Technology
We’ve been hearing about the up and coming
revolution of the IoT, specifically the
interconnectedness of smart home technology, but
the problem has been an overly saturated market.
There are many appliances and apps on the market
right now, but there are very few solutions to unify
devices into a simple, seamless UX.
This year we’ll see more smart homes that will get
much more interactive. Amazon, Nest, and ecobee
are two companies that have trail-blazed smart
home technology. Now, that bigger companies are
becoming more experienced in creating seamlessly
connected user experiences, we expect to see some
major advancements on this front in the coming
year. Apps that cater to IoT
and integrate seamlessly
will reap the most benefits.
These are the top 5 trends
that we predict will take
shape in the upcoming year,
however, as user behaviors
are shifting at a rapid pace,
companies must adapt in
order to meet demands.
What is definite is the fact
that users’ attention spans
have shortened dramatically.
Because of this shift in user
behavior, mobile apps must
contain a great deal of value
to entice a user to return for
a longer session. If you fail
to do so, you’ll risk losing
your users to your
competition that offer a lot
more value.
Deepak Chopra is the Founder and CEO of Clearbridge Mobile, a
leading mobile app development firm that provides user-centric design
and product engineering services. He leads a team that works with over
35 Fortune 500 brands to bring the next generation of mobile
applications to users.
Over the past 15 years, Deepak has become one of the leading experts
and a frequent speaker on the mobile market through various roles
including entrepreneur, wireless executive, equity research analyst and
investor. Before founding the Clearbridge Mobile, Deepak was a top-
rated sell side equity analyst for over a decade following the technology
space. He was best known for his in-depth coverage of the mobile
ecosystem.
Deepak Chopra
Founder and CEO
Clearbridge Mobile
21| March 2017 |
24. Eco-Mobile Apps
for the Cleaner
ENVIRONMENT
ffects of Climate Change are becoming worse and
Edisturbing the overall culture of living being.
Increased carbon dioxide emissions tend to the
greenhouse effect and the heat emerged from that, melts the
ice of the poles and the ocean that worsens the weather and
expands the oceans. Uneven weather is a major threat to
agriculture that reduces outcome or destroys all crops in a
single attempt. Polluted air directly affects the human
respiratory system, causing different health disorders.
Polluted water also leads to different diseases of stomach,
eyes, bones, and much more. Pollution not only affects the
humans, but also all living beings. Species dependent on
forests, polar/sea ice, etc. are vanishing. These effects make
human beings to take efforts for changing their living style
for the survival of self and the entire world.
Many fruitful efforts have been done and are going on to
reduce or stop emissions of carbon and other pollutants into
our atmosphere like; use of hydrogen in vehicles, use of
solar/wind/tidal/water energy for power production. All
these efforts are limited to specific authorities, but from an
individual point of view, that needs different solutions.
Growing mobile technology helps a lot through the mobile
apps which guide an individual towards the cleaner
environment that results in great future and health of living
being. There are millions of apps specially developed for an
ecological purpose. This large growing eco-apps market is
making a significant effect on cleaner and greener future of
our planet and its inhabitants.
Ecologically oriented apps are available in a number of
categories that includes air and water, energy,
transportation, education, food, chemicals, and much more
like;
Air & Water Apps
Pollution: Pollution app by aMobileFuture informs about
local pollution sources, and their measured exposures like;
Electromagnetic Pollution, Air Pollution, Water Pollution,
Pollution and
emissions to soil,
Real-time air
quality, Interactive
map, with
visualization of pollution
sources, and more.
State of the Air: The State of the Air app gives the ability to
see what your lungs are collecting anywhere in the
United States. That provides through different tabs
like; Today’s Air Quality, Air Quality Alerts,
Get Informed, Speak Up, Donate.
EPA’s AIRNow: The app will allow users
to get location-specific reports on current
air quality and air quality forecasts for
both ozone and fine particle pollution. Air
quality maps provide visual depictions of
current and forecast air quality
nationwide, and air quality-related health
effects explain what actions people can
take to protect their health at different AQI
levels, such as ‘code orange.’
Bluesky Map: This is a mobile app by the
Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE)
of China, which allows users to monitor air and water
pollution in the China. It reports real-time emissions from
sources all over the China. High pollution areas are shown
with orange circles. This app encourages citizens to report
the government official regarding high levels of pollution.
Transportation and Energy Apps
Alternative Fueling Station Locator: The Alternative
Fueling Station Locator app helps the user to find fueling
stations that offer electricity, natural gas, biodiesel, E85,
propane, or hydrogen. It shows the stations on a map or list
of stations ordered by distance from current location. It also
| March 2017 |22
Towards Green
25. provides the contact
info and other
details.
Carbon Emissions
Calculator for Air
Travel: Carbon
Emissions
Calculator allows
passengers to
estimate the emissions
attributed to their air
travel. The user just needs
to select origin-destination
airports, and then specify the class
of travel and number of the passengers. It
will evaluate the carbon footprint on that specified trip.
GasHog: GasHog is a fuel-efficiency app that
evaluates the efficiency of the vehicle by entering
the odometer reading and the amount of fuel
added each time in the tank and compares it to
historical averages. The app also offers tips
for improving fuel efficiency.
Waze: Waze is a community-based traffic
and navigation app. The user can join
drivers in their area who share real-time
traffic & road info to save time, gas money,
and improve daily commuting
for all. This traffic navigation app
helps the user to waste less time and
reduce emissions.
Breeze Wind Farm Monitor: The Breeze
app collects data from users wind
turbines and presents it in an intuitive
interface. It provides detailed data of wind
farms and the status of each wind turbine on
the go. It provides a track record of wind
turbine stops and warnings in the real-time.
Consumer Information Apps
GoodGuide: This app helps consumers to find
safe, healthy, green, and ethical products with
product reviews based on scientific research and ratings.
Products are rated on the scale from zero to 10 for their
impact on health, environment, and social life. The user can
find ratings for food, personal care, and household products,
by scanning the barcode of products and get information
about it.
Light Bulb Finder: It is a mobile app that makes it easy to
switch from conventional light bulbs to energy-saving
equivalents with the right fit, style and light quality. The
app allows users to view bulb images, cost, savings, and its
environmental impact
.
Think Dirty: Think Dirty provides the easiest way to learn
about the potentially toxic ingredients in the cosmetics and
personal care products. It allows the user to compare
products on shopping. It needs to scan the product barcode
and it will give the information about dirty ingredients that
helps to shop for cleaner options.
Visualization Apps
NASA's Images of Change: NASA’s Images of Change
app provide the close-up view of many of changes due to
human activities which are rapidly altering the face of our
planet. For example; it compares Alaska's Muir Glacier in
1941 to the glacier as it looked in 2004, Shows the
expansion of agriculture in Saudi Arabia as viewed from
satellites. It provides constantly updated, informative,
compelling, and up-to-date visual experience.
These are some of the mobile apps which are benefiting us
and our environment by securing our health and future. The
introduction of new technologies in mobile phones again
easing the working of apps with new improved features.
These are only some initial steps taken towards green and
clean future using mobile apps. No doubt in the future,
numbers of new Eco-Apps will be introduced with
improved features using advanced technology; helping
human beings in securing the future of the Earth.
23| March 2017 |
Towards Green
26.
27.
28. Five Pack Creative:
Where Beautiful Apps
Are Born
The mobile marketplace continues to grow very
rapidly, which includes a high demand for
beautifully crafted apps for consumers and
enterprises alike. Apps released into the marketplace
continue to grow at an incredible pace. Innovation in the
mobile device space is moving so rapidly that companies,
as well as educators, cannot keep up, resulting in a
continued shortage of the talent required to build and
maintain these apps. Five Pack Creative (FPC), a premier
mobile app development agency in the Dallas area, noticed
the talent shortage and the desperate need for a more
innovative educational avenue by which developers can
continue to evolve quickly with the market demand.
Five Pack Creative
(FPC) is a mobile
app development
agency based out of
Frisco, TX and has
been building native
mobile apps since
2008 when Apple released the SDK and gave the
development world access to the App Store. Since that time
it has grown into one of the premier resources for custom
mobile development projects and for sourcing mobile
development talent.
Five Pack Creative works in four areas of business:
Custom App Development: This is where the FPC team
helps companies (everyone from startups to Fortune 500)
build their very own custom app. Services include: strategy,
UX/UI design, project management, development, testing,
launch, and maintenance.
Advanced Mobile Staffing Services: This is where the FPC
team can partner with companies to solve staffing
challenges by assisting them with contract, contract to hire
and direct hire placement.
Development Education: FPC launched their first iOS
Bootcamp in 2016 called ALT-U, for Alternative University,
which has been a great success. These classes, taught by
FPC’s top developers, draw from the company’s vast
experience in order to improve students’ skills so they can
become highly qualified in the mobile development field.
Hours Time Tracking: FPC also has their own App called
“Hours Time Tracking”. It has been extremely popular and
a leader in the time tracking app space. It is designed to
take the pain out of
project-level time tracking.
FPC has had the
opportunity to work on
100’s of released apps and
has accumulated several
high profile clients in their
portfolio, such as American Airlines, Match.com, One
Technologies, and the United Way to name a few. FPC is
focused on native mobile development, and their favorite
by far is Apple technology, including iOS, tvOS, and
watchOS.
FPC projects have included mobile apps for industries like:
Medical, Travel, Education, Retail, Social Media, Gaming,
Music, and many more.
Creator of Five Pack Creative
Jerry Beers is a Co-founder & President of Five Pack
Creative. Jerry got his start at Worldcom as a systems
administrator, and his first programming job was at a
company called TAASC - Tax and Accounting Software
| March 2017 |26
29. You can
trust us
to deliver a
great product
and a
great
experience
Corporation. Intuit later acquired this
company. While there, he met some
great people, including Kevin Legg the
other co-founder of FPC.
Jerry was one of the very first
developers standing in line at Apple’s
WWDC event in 2008 to get access to
and learn more about Apple opening
the iPhone to developers. He knew it
was beneficial, as well as rewarding, to
build professional relationships with
his peers, so he brought Kevin on
board and began assembling a team of
top-shelf talent. Jerry is considered a
thought leader in the mobile
development space and contributes to
tutorials and books from the leading
iOS resource – RayWenderlich.com.
Solutions to Innovate
FPC partners with their clients to help
them innovate in the mobile space and
ultimately accelerate app development.
The FPC team is extremely flexible in
meeting their clients’ needs and
helping them with their mobile
initiatives in Custom Development,
Mobile Staffing, and Development
Training. Their flexibility allows the
FPC team to easily plug into any
development environment.
Benefits for Clients
With a massive amount of experience,
the FPC team is able to minimize
pitfalls throughout the design,
development and delivery process and
ensure a great product is delivered. The
result: the client gets beautifully
designed applications that exceed their
users’ expectations. The FPC team can
also spin up innovation or skunk work
teams for companies to help prototype
and develop new innovations for which
their core development teams may not
have the time.
With their deep experience and
specialization in mobile, FPC helps
small, mid-sized, and large
organizations by reducing their time
spent recruiting, interviewing, on-
boarding and replacing mobile
developers. FPC has access to great
talent and experience in finding,
screening, hiring, training and
mentoring quality mobile developers of
today.
Process for Success
While assisting their customers, the
FPC team recognized another
challenge where companies struggle
with the iterative software
development process. The days of big
requirements and long release cycles
are gone. As with so many apps, the
challenges become differentiation and
ease of use. Nearly all app ideas have
competitors in the market, and the FPC
team helps clients concentrate on doing
things a little differently and a lot
better in order to come out on top.
Co-founder Jerry says, “To be an
innovator, you have to get high-quality
products to market quickly. This
requires a good process, but also a lot
of flexibility and the ability to
prioritize and make decisions quickly.”
Five Pack Creative’s Vision
FPC is a mobile expert and a leader in
native mobile development in the
Dallas market and beyond. Whether it
is custom development, advanced
staffing services or developer training,
FPC will continue to serve their clients
with the same flexibility that has
proven to be beneficial time and time
again.
“
“Jerry Beers
Co-founder & President
27| March 2017 |
30. We’ve seen this major shift towards a
prioritization of product-led thinking in the way
companies build apps. Especially in Fueled’s
early days, the dominate approach to mobile (for big
brands) was to build something from a marketing
perspective, not focused on driving value for users and
driving users to take an action that drives direct revenue for
the business.
These products were little more than toys and gimmicks.
We can see a trend away from
those traditional marketing
techniques. Companies are
moving towards product that
customers really want to use,
but most agencies are poorly
equipped to work on a product
in a strategic business sense
rather than from a promotional
and marketing perspective.
Fueled is an award-winning
technology product
consultancy and popular
mobile app company, which is
appreciated globally for their
experiments, innovations and
efforts for fulfilling the real needs of the end users.
Fueled’s Insights
Having its offices in the New York and London, Fueled is a
product development agency that is globally recognized for
its work in creating world class mobile apps. Fueled has
created award-winning iPhone, iPad, and Android apps
used by tens of millions of users and generating hundreds of
millions in revenue.
In 2013, Fueled opened the Fueled Collective, a shared
working space housing 35 of New York’s most innovative
startups. The Collective has since served as a driving force
and catalyst for continued innovation in the local
community.
Refiners of Fueled
A man who is better recognized for having an authority on
mobile technology and a player in the global technology
scene, Rameet Chawla is the Co-Founder and Chairman
of Fueled. Often acknowledged as a thought leader, Rameet
is a regular contributor for Forbes, Inc.,
UX Magazine, VentureBeat, and more. A
frequent conference speaker, in 2014
alone Rameet has led talks at Google, the
London Business School, the Island
Innovators, Tech Open Air Berlin,
Techweek, Northside Innovation and
more.
Ryan Matzner is the Co-Founder of
Fueled, and over the past four years has
led Fueled’s growth from a living room to
a 100-person global team at the forefront
of mobile design & development.
Before joining Fueled, Ryan pioneered
new social media and viral marketing
tactics at Hummus Bros, a London-based restaurant chain.
He met Rameet Chawla in NYC when the two decided to
collaborate on an app that celebrated their passion for good
food by allowing users to easily keep track of their favorite
restaurants.
That passion for building intuitive, useful products has lead
to the creation of apps that have driven over $1 billion in
revenue for clients and numerous apps featured in the Apple
App Store and Google Play Store.
Fueled:
Fueling the Mobiles
| March 2017 |28
31. He was recently listed number 4 on
TNW’s list of “50 People in NYC Tech
You Need to Know” and has been
invited to speak at events such as
Behance’s 99U Conference, NYC
Social Media Week, Louisana
International Film Festival, and
Berlin’s Tech Open Air.
Delightful Services and Solutions
The diverse skillset of the team Fueled
allows them to expertly tailor their
services to match the customer’s needs
across strategy, design, and
development for mobile and web
projects. From full-project
engagements to à la carte services, they
help their clients launch the best
projects possible. With best of the
renowned strategy & planning, the
team of Fueled works alongside their
world class branding and digital design
experts. They craft polished, intuitive
designs that top-notch developers bring
to life with nimble and immaculate
code.
Benefits for Customers
Fueled launched over 1 million iPhone
& iPad apps out there. Team Fueled is
passionate about standing out of the
crowd. They build the kind of apps that
people move to their home screen.
They know what users want and know
how to build apps that matter to them.
Fueled has built businesses for mobile
apps that makes money. It’s no
coincidence the apps they’ve built have
generated over $500 million in revenue
for their clients. And that doesn’t even
include the over $100 million in VC
funding they’ve received. Fueled apps
featured in the Google Play and Apple
App store over a dozen times. Their
projects have topped paid and free
charts in multiple countries and
languages. Their apps have been
covered by every tech publication
under the sun.
Learning for Success
“One of our key learnings is that what
clients initially want, and what we
ultimately deliver, are rarely the same
thing. The biggest lesson learned is that
we should focus on the client’s goal
and ask ourselves, what are they trying
to achieve? What do they want their
users to achieve? Then we work
backwards from there to create the
perfect product”, Ryan asserted.
Future Focus
Team Fueled knows the saturation
level in mobile app is so high that only
the most interesting products can break
through. Fueled is concentrating
mainly on innovative and unique
products that stand them out from the
crowd.
The team Fueled is inspired by the idea
of helping others build apps that are
both visually stunning and highly
functional. The main goal of Fueled is
‘To empower both startups and
enterprise corporations by building
beautiful apps that users actually love’.
“
“
We are
the
purveyors
of
splendid
apps
Rameet Chawla
Co-founder
29| March 2017 |
32. Wireless Mobile
Technology
Scope for Tremendous Opportunities
Wireless mobile telephony was mainly invented and implemented only for voice
communication to be used anywhere, anytime, and on the go. With time wireless telephony
has been heavily researched and developed. Each year, each month, and even each day new
innovations and trends are being added in mobile communication technology. That has produced till dates,
the most sophisticated wireless mobile telephony that we are using in the form of a smartphone.
History
Some decades ago, mobile phones were costly, large in shape and heavy in weight used for voice calling
only with limited access within metro cities. Gen X people know these big-1G-analog-mobile phones very
well. These big phones remained the status symbol of rich people only. In 1990’s 2G-digital-mobile
service was introduced that consisted voice as well as data capabilities, this was the major innovative
generation of mobile phones. With this, doors opened for mobile telephony for all with ease and compact
mobiles. These mobile phones were a bit costly and not heavy performers like PCs because of their weak
hardware.
Satellite Mobile Phone
In addition to the cellular network phone, mobile phones can also be connected directly from Earth-
orbiting satellites. These satellite phones can be used in remote areas where wired network is unavailable
or where setting up of a cellular network is difficult. The Inmarsat system is the world’s oldest satellite
phone network. Some other operators like Iridium, Globalstar, and Thuraya also provide satellite phone
services. Use of a satellite phone is very low due to the need of a special expensive device that supports
satellite frequency and high usage cost. In some countries, the use of satellite phones is illegal. Most of
the satellite phones are used in defense and disaster response.
Wireless Broadband
With the rise of 21st century, 3G service was first introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan. This technology
becomes a game changer in the field of mobile broadband. Use of high-end-cutting-edge technology for
manufacturing made mobile cheaper in addition to good hardware that can perform an internet browsing
and downloading very well. 3G mobile phones reached the popularity with the Internet Access and Video
Calling. Use of mobile phones instead of PCs made compulsory for OEM’s to build similar strong
hardware and OS as PCs. New hardware and OS were introduced and replaced with new one.
| March 2017 |30
Beginning
33. Operating Systems for Mobiles
For a decade, Symbian of Nokia was very popular as a mobile OS. It faced stiff competition afterward with
the introduction of Android and iOS. After Symbian OS; Android, iOS (Apple), and Windows operating
system became popular that converted a mobile phone into a smartphone. Symbian, Android, iOS, and
Windows are the milestones in mobile technologies that provide nearly similar computing capabilities of PC’s
to mobile with the similar hardware configuration. All these OS supports different applications for a different
purpose depending upon the user requirements.
Need for Mobile Applications
Digitization in banking, governing, and in near about all the fields increases use of smartphones instead of
PCs and laptops because of their low cost and compactness. Now people are not only using mobile phones for
communication, but also for gaming, online transactions, social media, job hunting, online shopping,
downloading-watching videos, and more. All these needs cannot be full-filled by Mobile OS and Mobile
Browser only, which demands most sophisticated separate application for different use. Mobile Applications
are becoming more popular as they are time saving and simple in operation. This has given birth to the
Mobile Applications Industry.
Effect of New Technologies
Newly developed 4G technology broadens the use of wireless mobile technology. IoT (Internet of Things)
mainly use the wireless network for their operation. Using the IoT machines can be connected to each other
and can be remotely controlled and operated with the help of wireless internet and software. IoT needs high
internet speed and strong software to control machines like drones, autonomous vehicles, etc. 4G technology
provides 50-1000 Mbps speed which is highly suitable for IoT devices. IoT also needs a special application
depending on need, which may run on iOS or Android or any operating system.
Base for Mobile Applications
Mobile applications are mainly based on the OS and hardware on which mobile phone or device works.
Today there are mainly three popular OS; Android, iOS, and Windows. Based on this, developer develops the
applications for specific use. These applications are available in App Store of that OS. Like Android places
their apps in Play Store, iOS of Apple in App Store, and Windows in Microsoft Store. All these apps are third
party apps developed and maintained by other developers and solution providers. Some of the apps are free
and some are priced small amount with some validity. Another fact is, free apps are also available in
chargeable premium version, maybe with ad-free versions having high-end features.
Scope for Business
Mobile apps business is growing faster after the 3G technology. 3G and 4G technology provide faster internet
access that brings users to the mobile internet platform. Mobile is now used as a replacement for bulky PCs.
All-day-today activities are carried on mobile that demands different applications for different use with
periodic update depending on changing trends, security, and needs. All biggies are making large investments
in the app solution business due to huge demand for different apps. Dependency on apps is growing due to
use of the new technologies like IoT, M2M, Virtual Reality (VR), and more. Again gaming apps are also
gaining more popularity as hardware of mobiles are becoming more advance that can support high-end
gaming.
Numbers of apps are entering into the mobile market, creating lots of space for mobile app developers and
solution providers. New mobile technology innovated, implemented and grew continuously, that again creates
the new requirement of different apps, keeping app industry growing.
31| March 2017 |
Beginning
34. Bigger, faster, everywhere! The measurement of how
we rate technology in general, but more specifically
data communications. From the days of spending
hundreds of dollars to upgrade from a 14.4 to a 28.8
modem, we have always wanted the data to arrive as fast as
possible. More importantly, we have always wanted the
user experience to keep improving as we breach new
horizons and figure out how to make it bigger, faster and
everywhere.
It’s in human nature to want to always make things wildly
more impressive from a performance perspective. The car
engines just kept getting bigger and bigger to make the cars
go faster and faster. At a certain point, the realists had to
step in and make it clear that an even bigger engine doesn’t
do anything, because the rest of the car is not equipped for
that power. The engine itself has to get more efficient with
technology, not just bigger, and we have to start thinking
about other things, such as stability, safety, efficiency and
longevity. As nostalgic as some of us can be over the 1960’s
vehicles, the era of the Prius and Tesla are here. Even the
older style muscle cars are packed with much newer
technology and safety features.
I remember the days of bragging about the bonded 128k
ISDN line and when my friend got a 500k modem. The
location to live would greatly be determined by what type
of internet is available. Today, if I ask some of the savvy
network engineers what their bandwidth is at home, they
won’t even know, and if they check, it’s usually around the
50-100Mb. Meanwhile the less savvy will brag about their
300Mb or 1Gb fiber and will be upset if they are only
testing at 700Mb.
Why is this the case? What changed? Are we just getting
older and not caring about latest and greatest tech anymore?
After digging a bit deeper into this question I realized that
we are those realist jumping and saying “do you seriously
think you are using more than 100Mb at home?” The reason
the internet is crappy is not because of the speed, but
because it’s crappy!
So, what are the important applications of the internet?
Browsing, Voice, Email/messaging, Social media,
Shopping, Video streaming (movies), Payments/banking
etc. Of all of these applications, it seems that security,
privacy, latency, quality and reliability would be the most
important things. Bandwidth would really only come into
play for streaming video. Netflix suggests 5Mb/s for every
HD stream. That means at 100Mb, I can have twenty
separate HD Netflix streams at the same time, and even that
I’m sure never happens in any household or office. So why
do we push for 200Mb, 500mb or 1Gb? Do we just love
the sound of it?
The Need to
Understand the Necessity
of Innovation
| March 2017 |32
CXO Standpoint
35. I predict that there will be some
refocus of how connectivity is
provided. The main focus will not
be bandwidth, but will be all the
other parameters with bandwidth
being one of them. Intel finally
changed to model numbers to
make it clear that the clock speed
is not the only metric. (I3, I5, I7)
SD-WAN is becoming a reality
for all businesses and it will soon
become a reality for homes as
well. SD-WAN provides
reliability, quality, some privacy
and latency/jitter prevention. It
also opens a new way of doing
security and making it more
accessible for everyone. This is
the beginning of a next evolution
of how data will be delivered
worldwide. The connection
between LAN and internet has
relied on the wrong metric and
poor quality for long enough and
the world is realizing it now.
Along with the realizations and
new technologies, people will
quickly retire the old metric and
start looking at new metrics as the
litmus test of connectivity.
Carriers have been building
services bundled together with
their unreliable connection. They
are now starting to shift to
provide those service OTP or at
the top, which mean provide it on
the IP layer and decoupled from
the connection carrier layer. Long
time ago, Nortel made a big bet
on services over layer 2 and they lost, because it wasn’t
decoupled and couldn’t provide the level of integration that
was needed. Meanwhile, other companies like Cisco put
their services over layer 3 and quickly became the dominant
player in the industry.
Connectivity will decouple from services to enhance the
connectivity and provide the services separately on top of
the enhanced connection.
Welcome to the future of always connected with quality,
reliability, performance for its intended uses, not just
making the gauge hit the red line!
About the author
Andrew Bagrin is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of My Digital Shield
(MDS), a leading provider of Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) for small businesses.
With more than 17 years of experience in the IT security industry, Andrew started
MDS in 2013 to bring cloud-based, enterprise-level security technology to small
businesses at an affordable price.
Andrew Bagrin,
Founder and CEO,
My Digital Shield
33| March 2017 |
36.
37. CUSTOM WEB
DEVELOPMENT
MOBILE
APPLICATION
UI / UX
Custom Web Development
A professionally created website and a remarkable design go
a long way in creating that impression about your business
and thus help in converting a visitor into a customer.
Mobile Application Development
Develop powerful, highly usable apps that solve business
problems, attract users, and reinforce your brand.
UI/ UX
Our role is to offer the expertise and determination to
deliver each site to the utmost standards.
User Engagement
We do it by using artificial intelligence to provide true end to
end personalization and continue to engage shoppers across
unlimited segments to deliver experiences that convert.
USER
ENGAGEMENT
Email id: contact@ascratech.com | Contact No.: +91-9769162289 | www.ascratech.com
WEB AND MOBILE EXPERTS
38. Mobile apps are becoming essential and popular
tools for carrying out our routine activities.
These are getting largely used while social
networking, internet browsing, downloading different
stuffs, watching movies, purchasing online, transacting
digitally, securing device from malware, gaming, and more.
The new emerging technologies like IoT, VR, AI, etc. are
also demanding different sophisticated apps for their
functionality.
What are the Mobile Applications?
As everybody is aware of mobile apps that are the software
application developed to run on mobile devices like mobile
phones, and tablets. Mobile apps are developed separately
for each operating system such as; iOS, Android, and
Windows. These specially developed apps may get pre-
installed into the device or available at the special ‘app
store’ of that respective OS, from that app it can be
downloaded and installed on the device.
Mobile apps are available on the basis of the use, type of
device, and operating system. Most mobile devices are sold
with several apps as pre-installed software like; web
browser, email, video player, calendar, maps, antivirus, and
many more.
Some major popular Apps are;
Internet Browsing Apps
These apps are mainly developed for the mobile that helps
smooth browsing with weak hardware. These apps also
provide; faster page loading, ad blocking, secure browsing,
font/image adjustments for comfortable viewing and
reading, shortcuts and bookmarks for instant loading, etc.
Some browsers also provide inbuilt apps or shortcuts for
apps, for all-in-browsing. These apps also run on weak
hardware and software with compressed version making
them more popular in this segment.
Social Networking Apps
Social media apps are purely made for a specific social
networking service, like Facebook, whatsapp, tweeter, and
instagram are having their own apps. Social networking
service is mainly driven by mobiles and smartphones.
Mobile phones are always with the user; facilitating them to
maintain continuous contact with their social group, unlike
PCs. These apps provide flexibility to the user to upload
their images, view, download images and more in addition
to chatting, voice/video calling directly from their mobile.
Social networking apps are on the top for getting installed
from the respective app store.
Gaming apps
Gaming apps requires specific hardware in mobile to run
smoothly depending on various elements like their
complexity, resolution, connectivity, and number of levels.
After social networking apps, gaming apps are more
popular as they provide a total gaming platform on-the-go.
Multi-player gaming apps have the facility to connect with
number of devices, having the same app through wifi or
internet connection. By using this feature multiple players
can play the game in real time from their respective
devices. Location-based gaming apps are not only played
on mobile phones, but they also integrate the player’s
position into the game concept. The player’s movement and
coordination are main elements in this mobile game.
Presently, Pokemon Go is very popular in this segment.
Depending on the functionality and specialty, variety of
gaming apps are available on the app store.
Mobile TV, Music and Video Player Apps
Watching live TV or video streaming on the mobile is
possible by using TV apps, user can select the channel and
watch the TV live without requirement of TV or setup-
boxes. Music app has a huge song list of all types. From
that list, users can select songs and play without the need of
downloading. Video player apps help user to play video of
any format with options like screen size, screen resolution,
video brightness, volume adjustment, subtitle on/off, and
more.
E-Commerce Apps
E-commerce-mobile apps are developed only for special E-
commerce platform (like Amazon has its own mobile app
for shopping). These apps help buyer to compare and
choose an item and add the selected item in the cart and
order when needed. The buyer doesn’t need to log-in every
time, and can check order status, order history directly from
a mobile phone. The E-Commerence site also offers
discounts, sometimes for orders through mobile app. For
| March 2017 |36
Trending
39. payments, these apps provide the option of wallet for every
account or redirect to internet banking or also provide an
option for cash on delivery depending on the customer’s
requirements.
Maps and Navigation Apps
These apps help user while travelling to new places by
navigating them on maps. These maps also provide voice
assistant for bikers. These apps are mainly
developed by giant like Google and Uber. Uber
uses this platform in their taxicab business for
booking and payment.
Health Apps
Health apps are generally pre-installed in the
smart-wearables as it shows heartbeats,
temperature, and other functions of user’s body
which helps them during workouts. These apps
can also be downloaded to mobiles as well;
because it also gives diet advice to users for their
daily intake.
Mobile Security Apps
Security apps mainly installed in the device for
securing from malware. These apps act as
antivirus as well as device cleaners. It cleans junk
file and stops unused apps for better performance
of the device and battery. These apps provide
continuous updates to the users that safeguard
their devices from new malware.
Mobile Wallet Apps
The mobile wallet is gaining more popularity as it
eliminates physical handling of currency for
transactions. By using a mobile wallet, users can
pay bills, recharge their mobile/DTH packs
directly from mobile, and transfer funds to any of
their bank accounts. Big automobile companies
have also introduced mobile wallet into their cars to pay
bills for parking, fuel, tolls, etc.
These are some useful apps made for the everyday
application. But with the improvement in technology,
utilization of apps is also advancing. Innovative new
technology changes the conventional way of usage of apps.
Some of the advanced apps are;
IoT Apps
IoT apps are developed on the basis of requirement, use,
and the type of device. IoT makes use of different sensors,
processors, actuators, network connection, and software. As
IoT is gaining more space due to automation, it demands a
special mobile app. IoT apps are mainly used in
autonomous vehicles, drones, smart-homes, etc.
VR Apps
Virtual Reality (VR) apps are used to generate the realistic
images, sounds and other sensations that replicate a real
environment. VR is becoming more and more popular with
the continuous introduction of new VR related products in
the market, they are creating a space for different VR
mobile apps.
Voice-controlled Apps
Voice-activated Assistant Apps like Amazon’s Alexa is
made for voice interaction, music playback, setting alarms,
making to-do lists, playing audio-books, streaming
podcasts, and providing weather, traffic, and other real-time
information. It can also control many smart devices as a
home automation hub. Some automobile companies also
implementing voice assistant apps for their vehicles for
controlling different functions.
Nearly, all the needs of the user can be completed with the
apps like purchasing, taxi-train-plane-bus seat booking,
food ordering, selling of old-new products, and more. There
is the continuous addition of new apps in the mobile market
that takes place with their uniqueness and usefulness.
New technologies and new requirements are making the
apps industry to innovate beyond limits that can fulfill the
emerging requirements of a human being.
37| March 2017 |
Trending
40. Infinum:
An Independent Design
and Development Agency
The demand for software in general is as strong as
ever and the Mobile App solution industry is
getting more competitive. It’s a global marketplace,
and it’s good to have many players involved because it
keeps everyone pushing forward and doing better work.
Better work demands innovative and flexible solutions
depending on the clients’ needs.
Infinum is an independent
software design and
development agency. It
currently employs over a 100
highly-skilled employees
across offices in the US and
Europe. Having around 11
years of experience and a solid
US client base, they are thrilled
to be recognized for the quality
of their work, especially
because the San Francisco Bay area is known for being the
global center of technology.
Over 300 clients entrusted Infinum to build their digital
products, and they’ve wrapped up twice as many projects
by now. Many of these projects are also award-winning,
which come as a staple of quality. Infinum works with
clients ranging from financial, telecommunication,
healthcare, automotive to FMCG, media and, leisure
sectors.
Infinum’s leadership
Tomislav Car is the CEO at Infinum and one of the
Founders. He co-founded Infinum along with his friend
Matej Spoler when he was 19 years old, and three other
partners (Nikola, Josip and Tamara) joined after a couple of
years. Tomislav is a programmer by trade, he graduated
computer science and dabbled in different aspects of
building software.
Tomislav says, “I’m basically unemployable, simply
because I never worked anywhere outside of Infinum in my
life. I love motorcycles, I own two of them, one in Europe
and one in SF, where I spend most
of my time to run the US office.”
Beginnings
Infinum started providing Mobile
App solutions because it was
interesting for them and also the
clients were demanding for the
services. It was like the market was
trying to tell them to do so. Their
clients were continually impressed
by the end-quality of their work, and Infinum grew based
on referrals. At that point, the smartphone market was just
getting started and Infinum was lucky enough to be in the
right place at the right time. The rest was hard work,
planning and leadership.
Benefits for Clients
Infinum dedicates a lot of time to user experience. “The
entire UX research process opens a multitude of questions
client didn’t think about beforehand ”, says Tomislav.
That’s why, before starting sketching or coding anything,
Infinum always runs a series discovery meetings, design
sprints or workshops with the clients. This essentially
means a clearer vision of business and consumer objectives,
and a better interpretation of the end product.
| March 2017 |38
41. Another important factor is code
quality. At Infinum, they pay a lot of
attention to the underlying technical
implementation. This enables them to
be fast in updating their clients’ apps
and to introduce new features on time.
They recently wrote an article about
technical debt, communicating the
value of the code quality. As Tomislav
explains, “keeping the code tidy will
save the organization and their client
stress, money, and even bankruptcy in
the future.”
Ultimately, Infinum tests all products
before shipping them to production.
They have an in-house QA team and
they work closely with designers and
developers from the beginning to
ensure every app that they release
meets Infinum’s standard of quality.
Sometimes they even do usability tests
with specific target groups.
Infinum’s Journey
Tomislav started Infinum from scratch,
with zero capital, basically
incorporating with the money from
their first sale. After that, everything
they earned was reinvested into the
company until they build a stable
business model.
Difficulties along the way included -
not really knowing how to run a
company, at least until team Infinum
learned it “on the go”. Finding,
motivating, and retaining people and
dealing with spikes of either having too
much work or too little work.
Apart from the money Infinum
invested, everything they could spare
went to their employees in order to
make them better off and happier.
Offices, perks, the ability to work on
internal projects, etc. Team Infinum is
also quite aware that being profitable is
key. One great lesson Tomislav has
learned from Jason Fried - no one ever
went out of business by turning a
profit.
Challenges and Goals
Infinum see a general shift in
consumers’ perception. There’s a
mobile app for almost anything now,
and getting the user to install an app
has become a serious issue. Tomislav
says, “A lot of the trends in technology
today go towards circumventing the ‘I
need to install another app problem’.
Chatbots for instance are trying to do
that. Voice interfaces like Alexa,
Google Home, and Siri. And then
there’s the good old web app.”
“We built this brand through the
collective effort of our team, that’s why
we’re so proud to have it evolving to
this day. We are all friends, we treat
each other fairly, have fun together,
support each other and offer help when
needed. Simple commitments such as
these are deeply integrated into our
company’s culture, and they’ve worked
extremely well so far,” Tomislav
added.
Team Infinum is devoted to producing
high-quality work. They know that
their reputation depends on the
solutions that they deliver, and they’re
always trying to go that extra mile.
“
“Tomislav Car
CEO and Co-founder
Every day,
large
companies
and brands
trust us to
design and
develop
their digital
experiences
39| March 2017 |
42. Touchtap
People come about with entrepreneurship in their
veins and they take the challenge to make our world
a better place. Be it in IoT, Cloud, IT or even
Mobile Apps, they make their mark on the business world
with their creativity, passion and vision.
Likewise, Noah Labhart, Founder of Touchtap, has
entrepreneurship in his veins. Even more so, he enjoys
seeing lives impacted by creative technology and elegant
solutions. Thus, when he saw the opportunity to make a
difference in people’s lives with mobile apps, he took the
plunge into starting his own native app development agency
based in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
Touchtap
provides
iOS and
Android
native app
development
services for
digital startups, creative agencies and businesses. They also
provide front end web development, back-end development
and technical services to support the apps that they build.
Since its inception, Touchtap has built and deployed 20
apps and platforms across the gamut of verticals, and have
since grown into a multi-member, fully distributed team.
Touchtap Started with One Goal: Build Great Apps
Nowadays, there’s no excuse for a company to not have a
mobile app. In the same light, it's mandatory for companies
to build something robust, user-friendly and fully
functional, if they are to gain traction. When they do this,
they have an intimate, direct line to their customers via their
smart phone. It’s hard to predict the future, but there is no
doubt that mobile is here for the long haul. Anything we do
manually can and will be transformed by our smartphones -
from turning on the lights to starting the car to opening our
garage door. That’s what Noah recognized and ventured his
vision into Touchtap with the sole goal of building great
mobile apps. As time has passed, this vision hasn’t changed,
but has matured.
An Entrepreneur Who Took Mobile Apps to make
People’s Lives Better
Architecting solutions has been Noah’s passion throughout
his business journey. Having worked in numerous lead roles
over the past 12+ years, he gained tremendous experience
in small to large scale organizations and implementations -
from multiple web
applications to
utilities to mobile
apps.
With Touchtap, he
continues to build
upon his passion
for software by designing and developing mobile solutions
that impact people and their organizations. Outside of
creating, Noah maintains a personal-professional life
balance by taking care of his family and home. “When I’m
not being a geek or reading old calculus books, I can be
found chasing after my beautiful bride, being chased by my
kids, enjoying a good cup of coffee, playing my guitar(s) or
being outdoors”.
‘Four Ds’ that makes Touchtap Unique
Every project that in the Touchtap pipeline goes through a
four-phase process (or the Four Ds, as they call it
internally). The first part of the process is Discovery. They
offer a discovery service apart from development services.
It’s a multi-session approach where they focus on and learn
about the client’s business vision and goals. The goals of
Building World-Class Apps
tapt uch
| March 2017 |40
43. his phase are to ensure alignment,
tand to give new clients insight into
Touchtap, the process and the
marketplace. Once Discovery has been
completed, the next step is Design,
where they develop a project’s
aesthetic and architectural design.
After that, the team starts into
Development, where they utilize agile
project management methodology,
developing in two-week sprints and
executing feedback cycles before
moving on to the next sprint. Finally,
Deployment takes place where they
push the app live for market
consumption.
Keeping Client’s Vision and Business
Goals at Top
Touchtap focuses on two primary
things - strategic alignment and user
experience. They deem it paramount to
understand their client’s vision and
business goals so they can effectively
partner with them and build their
product to meet those targets.
In addition to understanding client’s
vision and goals, they focus on user
experience and urge their clients not to
compromise in this area. Each decision
they make on a feature set during
discovery and design is first vetted
through the lenses for a quality user
experience. If something isn’t going to
be supportive to the end user’s
experience, they explore alternative
solutions to improve the design with
their client.
Meeting and Exceeding Budgetary
Expectations
The Touchtap team is very attentive to
their clients’ business needs. As such,
they immediately get in the co-pilot
seat. With each new project, the team
is excited over how the product will
impact their client’s organization or
customers. Moreover, the team
manages their project scope and
project budget very closely, meeting or
exceeding budgetary expectations. By
making a low-to-high estimates based
on an assessment project features and
risk, meeting project deadlines are as
simple as tracking numbers. At
Touchtap, they are experts at
estimation.
Overcoming Struggles while Being
Prepared for the Future
Like every startup, Touchtap faced
some challenges in terms of keeping up
with demand, from which they learned
to keep their development network
close at hand and to be masters in
communication with clients. By doing
so, they learned early on how to
manage client expectations. These
early lessons are the foundation on
which Noah developed a more robust
discovery process. The Touchtap team
always aims at strengthening the
company culture of transparency and
understanding before executing.
“
“Noah Labhart
Founder
We’re not
a code
shop
–
we’re
technology
partners
41| March 2017 |
44. There is a strange inconsistency
in how enterprises manage
mobile communications
compared to other types of business
communications.
With traditional voice communications
and data communications, we directly
control how communications are
deployed and used by our employees.
But for mobile devices, we give up this
control to external mobile service
providers, creating expensive
management and regulatory headaches.
It doesn’t have to be this way, which is
why I founded Tango Networks a
decade ago to revolutionize business
mobile communications.
The Company is The Service
Provider
Consider how other forms of
communications are managed for
employees.
For typical desktop phone service, the
company purchases phones from a
vendor along with a central system to
provide voice calling, conferencing, in-
office dialing, and other features. The
company or its contractor will run
cabling and power for the phones.
Then the company contracts with a
service provider for voice services. The
enterprise is in control of the
communications system, and sets the
policies for each user.
It’s the same for data communications.
The company will contract with a
service provider for Internet service.
But then the company will install
routers, firewalls, SBCs and Ethernet
cabling, or Wi-Fi access points and
similar infrastructure to get its
employees online. The company
similarly is in direct control of its local
and wide-area networks, and sets the
policies for each user.
In both cases, the company is acting as
a service provider for its employees -
delivering and supporting essential
communications services.
But this model has remained broken
when it comes to mobile
communications.
The Broken Mobile Model
In more traditional situations, the
company will contract with a mobile
communications service provider and
buy or lease mobile phones and service
for employees. The company pays the
provider to handle support,
configuration and management of the
phones in addition to the primary voice
and data service costs. While the
company is incurring these expenses,
the company does not have direct
control over the devices to ensure that
corporate policies are followed.
Companies that must monitor
employee voice calls and data sessions,
or archive them for regulatory
purposes, face added expenses.
In some companies, this model has
evolved into Bring Your Own Device
(BYOD) programs, often when IT
departments have simply given up
trying to gain control over corporate
mobile communications the way they
have always been able to manage their
other services.
Instead of contracting for phones with
a service provider, the employees are
permitted to use their own devices.
Then the company reimburses or
otherwise subsidizes services. While
this can be less expensive than a
company-owned phone approach, it
makes enforcement of policies very
difficult, especially for regulated
industries requiring
communications recording.
In both cases, the mobile devices and
service subscriptions remain separate
| March 2017 |42
CXO Standpoint
45. That’s exactly what Tango Networks’ solutions do. Our
Kinetic Communications Platform enables a company to
control mobile communications in an entirely new way.
Shared Control
The breakthrough is an innovation in how communications
signaling and routing are managed. Our Kinetic platform
creates a communications control system that is shared
between your company and your mobile service provider,
enabling the enterprise to be the service provider for their
employees.
This means your IT staff sets policies, determines call
routing rules, turns on features, and executes similar control
steps. These enterprise-managed policies and configuration
settings interface directly with the service provider where
they are enforced on the mobile communications in the
service provider’s network.
This provides great advantages for both companies and
their service providers. For service providers, it means that
companies are taking on much of their own support and
management tasks. For the companies, it means the IT staff
is more directly in control of this critical form of corporate
communications. Our system is supported by many Tier 1
mobile service providers around the world and is serving
hundreds of thousands of users with enhanced mobile
communications today. On networks where our solutions
are not yet supported, we also offer many of the same
control capabilities for employees that use Android,
BlackBerry and IOS (Apple) devices.
For the first time, mobile communications can be managed
by your company precisely the way traditional fixed voice
and data communications. In the end, this means easier
regulatory compliance, lower mobile communications
costs, and a better user experience that maximizes the
productivity of your employees on the go.
About the Author
A company co-founder, Andrew Silver now serves as Tango
Networks’ Chief Technology Officer. Silver is an
entrepreneur and business technologist who has held senior
management and director roles in large and small wireless
companies including Ericsson, Nortel Networks, Comverse
and Spatial Wireless. He is an accomplished speaker at
wireless industry forums and has been granted more than 50
patents in wireless communications systems. Silver holds
an electrical engineering degree and an MBA from McGill
University.
from the main form of corporate communications. If I call
you from the office, you see my corporate number as the
caller ID. If I call you from my mobile, you see my
personal mobile number, or another number you don’t
recognize. If you call me on my mobile but I need to take
the call from my desk phone for recording compliance, I
need to call you back, or else start up a special app on my
phone to record the call.
In short, the user experience is messy, unwieldy, and less
professional in appearance.
The Better Way
Imagine instead that your mobile phone could be an
extension of your main corporate communications systems.
You could make and receive calls using your corporate
number. You could transfer, conference, call with in-office
dialing. You could send text messages from your corporate
number and receive incoming texts to your corporate
number - something your desktop phone probably cannot
do. Your calls and texts could be archived for compliance.
Your IT staff would have direct control over when and
where you could make toll calls, or even route them
through the corporate networks to reduce costs.
Suppose all this were possible even with your own
personal device. Your business communications would
operate as an extension of your corporate phone system
while your personal communications remained totally
private.
43| March 2017 |
46.
47.
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IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM.
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