According to Statista (The Statics Portal) – By 2020, mobile apps are forecast to generate around 189 billion U.S. dollars in revenues via app stores and in-app advertising. Some of the most popular operating system-native stores are Apple’s App Store, Google Play, as well as the Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry App World. As of March 2017, there were 2.8 million available apps at Google Play Store and 2.2 million apps available in the Apple’s App Store, the two leading app stores in the world.
Let us discuss a mobile game that made a fortune in recent times. This will give you the idea about how mobile applications are the best source of revenue generation for businesses currently. PUBG mobile is the most played game of recent times and because of that, App Store and Google Play users are spending an average of approximately $650,000 per day worldwide on this game. Another example is Uber, which is valued at over $60 billion and earns half of its revenue from the mobile app. Moreover, Apple paid out an incredible $100 billion to developers in 2018. That figure is up from the $70 billion paid out by June 2017 and doubled from the $50 billion paid out by June 2016. These statistics are enough to encourage you to build an excellent mobile application and make way for your idea to become a billion-dollar business.
Ensuring your idea is a good idea
Choosing a niche, which is both of your interest and in demand, should be your first step. Look around, there are so many problems that are yet to be fixed and if your application can do that, you are one-step closer to your dream app.
When you come up with a solution in a specific niche that fixes a problem, keep yourself in that situation and think, would you use the application to solve that problem or not? One more thing that you should consider is the fact that there are many solutions to one problem and someone is already using one. Thus, you should try coming up with another method, maybe your method is easy and people will like it.
Here are some apps that solve problems and are used worldwide –
- Remind
Problem: Keeping track of classwork is complicated.
Solution: Remind is a tool that helps users to stay on top of work from myriad classes easily.
- MyFitnessPal
Problem: Keeping track of a fitness routine is tedious.
Solution: MyFitnessPal is a tool that makes managing a fitness routine quicker and easier.
- Venmo
Problem: I cannot pay a friend when I do not have any cash on hand.
Solution: Venmo lets you pay friends back when nobody has cash in easy steps.
If you are unable to come up with an idea, here are some things you can try for a brilliant idea generation.
Experience a situation personally
The best way to know what problems exist; you should go out in the real world and see them on your own. The idea is just the conversion of a single thought that was about to cross your mind but because you were affected by that thought, it stood by and became an idea.
Successful apps that solved real-life problems:
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- Airbnb – renting your room/apartment.
- Postmates – on-demand delivery.
- Happn – geolocation-based dating.
- Hello Vino – tracking/searching wine to buy.
Examples of problems that are yet to be solved:
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- Helping people gain information on when/where/what to vote on.
- Helping restaurants reduce their food waste.
- Helping people break bad habits.
- Helping students arrange carpool rides to school.
Quora is the platform where people look for answers, look for questions that are most asked and those questions are based on a problem that people are facing. So, you might as well use the platform for your brainstorming session.
Validating your application ideas
Once you choose the niche you want to work on, it is time to do some research and validate the idea. It is an important step because it ensures that the money, time, and energy you invest in building your idea into app-form will be invested intelligently.
Moreover, when there are about 50,000 new apps added to the App Store every month and the cost of building an app starts from $40,000 and goes up to $500,000, validating your app idea is extremely important. Therefore, to validate your app idea, follow these steps –
Search and analyze existing apps similar to your idea
If your niche collides with an already implemented idea, find out how they solve problems by utilizing these tools –
- Crunchbase – How they raise funding? Bringing in more funds validates that investors think the app idea is a good one.
- An ASO tool like AppTweak – Do you see your competitors in the top download charts? Do you also see them in the top grossing charts? Since how long are they ranking and how high? Is the app featured on the app marketplaces? Earning good rank and having consistent ranking is the proof that those apps are valid with unique problem-solving ideas.
Check the keywords
List 5 keywords that represent your app idea and use it in the Google Keyword Planner Tool. Pull out data to understand how many searches occur on those keywords per month. A little more than a few hundred means there are people who would be interested in your app idea.
Ask users, after all, they are the ones to accept or reject your app idea
Your application must target a specific audience and you should always know about it. Next, start approaching them through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Tell people you have an idea and see what feedback they have for you, what they think about your idea, and whether it is worth pursuing or not.
If you need professional assistance in validating your app idea and want to know the success quotient of it, you are just a call away.
