1.2 Mobile App Types
One of the first questions you need to ask yourself before you even start developing is which type of app you are going to make. Although there are many categories of apps, most professional mobile app developers will tell you they fit neatly into seven mobile app types.
Digital e-Book Publishing: You may not have thought that digital e-book publishing was a category of mobile app, but it is. It is often overlooked, especially as a source of income. John Locke (not the 17th century philosopher) sold over one million e-books in just five months and is considered the first person ever to be a New York Times best seller as an independent self-publisher. The value of one million e-books sold with a 70 percent royalty paid by Amazon is roughly $700,000!
Entertainment/Games: Some consider the entertainment/games mobile app type to be two separate types, but we will consider them to be one type. Many developers believe that an entertainment app has different objectives than a game app, because entertainment apps lean toward education and game apps are just that—a game. Either way, they are close enough in nature to be considered a single type of mobile app. One of the most well-known game-type apps is Angry Birds, which was developed by Finnish company Rovio Entertainment in 2015. The app was not particularly successful when it first started—there were fewer than 35,000 downloads in the first 18 months. But as of 2018, Angry Birds has eclipsed three billion downloads. Clearly, there is more to mobile app success than good coding and sharp graphics.
Lifestyle: Many people try to solve common problems by developing lifestyle apps. This type of app can answer questions like these: Where are the best seafood restaurants near me? How do I get around when I am traveling abroad, and what places are worthwhile to visit? What is the best way to meet people? Where do I find music I like? Lifestyle apps tend to be successful business ventures because they lend themselves to sponsored advertising. For example, it seems natural for a fitness app to include advertisements (a form of monetization) for products like healthy foods. Music apps like Spotify or Pandora often monetize by selling ads for upcoming concerts.
News: News apps don't just tell the news; they spread it. The most significant feature of a news app is the sharing function. News apps like Flipboard let users customize their newsfeeds by picking the news sources they are most interested in and give users the ability to share significant news stories with their friends and colleagues. The idea, in part, is that fresh, relevant news content can spread virally—along with ad content—to a mass audience.
Productivity: Productivity-type apps like Dropbox or Google Translate are designed to help people be more productive. All app types need to be designed in an easy-to-use, ergonomic fashion, but this is especially true for productivity apps. A smooth user experience is critical for productivity apps. Any functionality in a productivity app that is awkward or perplexing only adds to the user's workload, which is exactly the opposite of what the user wants.
Social/Business Networking: Social/business networking apps like Facebook and LinkedIn are so inescapable in society that they breed subgroups of mobile apps that connect to social/business networking apps. Strava, for instance, is a mobile app that gives mountain bikers, runners, and hikers information on how long it took them to complete a specific trail and then takes advantage of massive social networks by comparing the user's results with others in their social networks.
Utilities: Utility-type apps like calculator, calendar, weather, and even flashlight apps make up a lot of the mobile apps you own today. These mobile apps are convenient tools to help you with simple tasks. From a developer's perspective, utility-type apps pose unique challenges; most devices like the Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone already include utility apps in their native environments. The mobile app developer has to ask if developing utility-type apps is even a worthwhile pursuit because they are competing with apps developed by powerhouse companies. Could you develop a calculator so good that an iPhone user would be willing to delete the native calculator app and buy yours?