Mobile apps
During a visit to India, Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google said that mobile technology is the big thing that no company can ignore and it is also the important thing that every college students should learn, if they want to have good jobs in the information technology industry.
Speaking in front of a large group of IT students, the Google chairman said: “Today and in the next few years, the big thing is mobile applications. With the growth in smartphone usage and mobile computing, every business should have their best developers working on mobile applications. As smartphones are growing fast with billion users, mobile apps are also going to be a big thing that no company can ignore.”
Of course, Google wants developers to work on Google’s Android instead of Apple IOS or Microsoft’s Window 8. He added: “Android is going to be the majority player in the market. It supports a lot of devices and is a great platform.”
For a mobile app to become successful, he said that a better way is to develop a platform which other people can use to innovate. On Google’s success, he said, “We focus on hiring the smartest people and I always look for the smartest people around and convince them to join my company.”
When asked about other innovated technologies, he said: “Students should also learn about Data mining and Artificial intelligence. I want my computer to tell me what I have to do, who I have to meet, what I said and what wrong did I say. More artificial intelligence is going to drive more innovations in the next few years. That will be another big thing.”
Companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft are encouraging developers to build apps for their mobile platforms. With over four billion mobile phone users and is still growing fast, the mobile apps market continue to attract a lot of developers. Mobile apps development market is easy to get in. Anyone who has an idea and the skills to implement can start an apps development business. With the approval from the Apps store owner to sell your apps then you can make money. You have access to a huge market of billions of customers. The worldwide mobile applications market place is worth approximately $50 billion dollars and is still increasing with several billion downloads in 2012. That is why there are so many apps developers today, from high school and college students to well established companies with hundred workers, all working on creating applications for mobile app stores.
According to the industry report, few years ago most apps developers can make several hundred thousand or even million dollars but as the number of developers increases, more apps are developed, the market is saturated with so many apps and the income of developers has dropped down to few thousand dollars, unless it is a “Hit” with a lot of downloads. However in the local market, each country has its own needs and today it is still wide open with a lot of opportunities.
Mobile apps for local market are a potential market that developers may want to consider. The current lucrative market is in healthcare or m-health. M-Health can be defined as “mobile apps for healthcare”. This concept represents the evolution of ‘traditional’ e-health systems from desktop platforms and wired connections to the use of more compact devices and wireless connections in e-health systems. For example, wireless telemedicine systems and services are expected to enhance traditional emergency care provision in a variety of pre-hospital emergency care situations where geographically remote consultation and monitoring can be implemented. A timely and effective way of handling emergency cases can prove essential for patient’s recovery or even for patient’s survival.
These applications could be divided into two main categories, those transmitting bio-signals such as ECG, Oxygen Saturation, Blood pressure etc., and those transmitting medical images or just pictures of a patient. Some of the presented applications are a combination of both categories. A patient’s blood sample can be sent via smartphone to a hospital for determination of disease; a monitoring signal of a patient’s heart can be sent to doctor office daily for monitoring patients with chronic heart disease; an image of a wound can be sent quickly to doctor to determine treatment etc. There are many applications in m-heath that could be utilized, especially to patient who live in a far away location. The potential and needs for telemedicine applications are growing quickly, especially in developing countries.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
