The benefits of handheld devices are so easy to take for granted. Most users consider it solely an essential device for communications and entertainment, not realizing just how dependent they’ve become. That’s not to say it’s addiction, but an observable trend proving that mobile devices are shaping the future but only businesses and developers realize it.
To clarify what that meant, it’s good to take a step back and look at some of the latest trends in software development lately. Here are three cases of industries embracing the mobile platform:
1) Video game developers are catering to mobile gamers
The video game industry is the easiest frame of reference to give an example of how treatment towards the mobile medium has changed. Just recently, the community of gamers ridiculed using smartphones to play video games. That idea came from the fact that smartphones, both iOS and Android, can’t process anything impressive besides puzzles.
The industry has shifted when it’s revealed that mobile gaming garnered 56% of the global consumer spending in gaming in 2023. Consoles were considered the pinnacle of this industry but it only has 22% of the pie while PC gaming gets 21%. The remaining 1% is a decimal distributed between the three platforms.
It’s not a hard image to process either. Eastern gaming companies like Hoyoverse developed mobile-first titles that took the gaming industry by storm. Their biggest titles are Genshin Impact, Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai Star Rail, and most recently in 2024, Zenless Zone Zero.
Meanwhile, games like Blasphemous (The Game Kitchen), Dead Cells (Motion Twin), and Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe) are desktop-first games. However, they were ported into the mobile market by popular demand, even carrying over their updates and expanded content.
2) Casinos’ mobile-first approach gaining traction
Online casinos refer to websites where users place bets on games like slots, poker, and roulette. Traditionally, you’d have to visit gambling houses or hotel game floors to get a chance to do so and win real money. Nowadays, you can do that with browser-based apps like Casino Days mobile.
These services also used to be designed for the desktop but the HTML 5 technology has advanced so far that making mobile-friendly applications is now the norm. You can find most online casino brands and iGaming software providers now have a mobile-first strategy. That means everything they do is made for the mobile-first before it’s adaptable to the desktop.
3) Exchange and stock broker apps rise for smartphones
The entertainment industry isn’t alone in discovering the potential market in the mobile medium. It is also a gold mine for the finance sector after realizing electronic payment is the future of transactions.
Some of the first payment providers to enter the mobile medium and reach global markets are Skrill, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. For exchanges and brokers, some of the most popular are Gemini, Etoro, and many crypto-based platforms like Coinbase and Binance.
These companies found their market on the mobile platform because it’s easy to access. It’s with the user at all times unlike a laptop or a tablet and they can glance at market charts at any moment.
The phone also serves as a lot of people’s choice of cashless payment method because of their prepaid options. It’s certainly easier to get than a credit or debit card, hence its popularity in densely populated countries like Brazil, India, and China.
A summary of why the mobile platform is a priority for developers
All of these trends happen because mobile devices show many promising advantages that businesses seek to capitalize on like:
- Large user base because almost every individual has a phone now.
- Convenient because it’s always on and it fits in the pocket.
- Modern technology made mobile optimization easy for web designers and app makers.
Disclaimer: These are not the universal truth. It is simply a summary of observable factors that could prove the mobile device’s superiority as a medium. More services will come and hardware technologies are going to be better and cheaper as time goes. It’s an exciting prospect because anything is possible with innovation.