Growth of Mobile Apps have become stagnant

Mobile Apps had a good run since the Apple store launched in 2008, officially naming the tiny mobile programs as “Apps”. There have been more than 100 billion apps download from the Apple store by itself. As Apps are convenient and quick they have seeped from Smartphones to tablets, watches, laptops and also TVs. They have become the primary interface through which we interact with all our smart devices. But in March 2015, Gartner published a report, that showed App usage is going to plateau. As many Smartphone users were becoming exhausted and didn’t want to increase their current usage levels. It’s not that people don’t want to use Apps anymore, there’s just too many and even device has memory issues too.

Apparently, Apps are not quite obsolete yet, but the explosive growth of new apps just can’t extend. Mobile app usage time rises, but not app diversity. But despite the increase in app usage and app choices, the number of apps used per user is staying the same, according to a recent report from Nielsen.

Thus, only a handful of apps is going to survive. Apps will become the primary channel through which we work, play and communicate, but companies from Airlines to Food chains will have to search for an alternative way of reaching customers.

The rise of Chatbots

Chatbots are one of the best way to reach out to the customer base. At present, approximately 75% of all smartphone users use some sort of messaging apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, etc. Famous companies from different industries have already made their Chatbots available on Messenger such as CNN News Chatbot, Hyatt (Hotel Chatbot), Spring (Ecommerce Chatbot), HealthTap (Health Chatbot) and much more.

Chatbots are not just a better way of reaching customers for companies but are more sort of efficient and intelligent assistants.

Unified Interface

If we critically evaluate various UI elements, all mobile apps and websites become just a collection of information. All this can be packaged into a single messaging app where a chatbot can offer all the services. With conversation as the main form of interaction, chatbots can replace mobile apps and perform various types of tasks.

Merging the services such as buying movie tickets, groceries or booking a hotel or flight in a single messaging app is much convenient rather than downloading multiple apps taking up your precious storage. Chatbots can help in reducing this multiple downloads.