Can Blockchain technology strengthen the mobile app industry?
Blockchain technology has already made major inroads into industries such as healthcare, real estate, education, and the legal field, and it is believed that will soon be having a major impact on the entire economy surrounding mobile apps as well. Its decentralized architecture provides some amazing benefits and the world of mobile apps will be able to take advantage of these to correct some shortcomings which have become obvious in recent years.
Mobile app industry is expected to become valued at about $6.3 trillion by the year 2021, because there are millions of apps available currently, with more millions being developed all the time. However, there are a few problems which have surfaced which will need to be resolved:
In-App purchase issues:
Although the majority of the world’s population now owns a smartphone, most of those users lack the means to make in-app purchases because the required payment methods, e.g. credit cards, are unavailable to them. Even if a user does have a credit card, the whole process is subject to the possibility of fraud (which other users eventually pay for), gateway fees, card-processing fees, app store fees, and bank transfer fees.
All of that means that in the end, a developer will only receive about 70% of the amount paid for the app. Using the decentralized model of the blockchain, app coins will be used to pay the app store, and a whopping 85% share would then go to the developer. Making in-app purchases will be much easier for users too because they will have app coins to use as a payment method, which eliminates the need for all the credit card processes. App coins will be earned through the reward system, as developers and manufacturers reward users for purchases and for continued usage.
Financial inclusion / Penetration of remote areas:
There are many under-developed areas of the world where people may have smartphones but have no access to bank accounts or any kind of personal credit system. Blockchain will make that a moot point for any user with access to the Internet will have the capability of establishing an online mobile wallet where coins or tokens can be stored until needed.
This will allow individuals in even the most remote areas to participate in eCommerce transactions, obtaining loans, and transferring money to friends or family without being charged exorbitant service fees by banks or other financial institutions.
Streamline app approval:
There are two main app stores which supply users with apps today, Google Apps and Apple Apps, and these two bodies make their own decisions on whether apps are approved for sale in their stores or not. The approval process though is arbitrary, undisclosed, and cumbersome, and in many cases downright unfair to newer developers. Under the blockchain model, apps would be approved via a transparent developer reputation system, because the decentralized public ledger will be consulted, as well as the user ranking system for specific developers.
Reward programs:
It will become possible for users to earn tokens for loyalty to individual companies. It is also likely that earned tokens will become applicable for other kinds of services than the ones by which they were earned.
In conclusion, it can be well understood from these pointers that the implementation of the blockchain ecosystem in mobile app development can prove to be vastly beneficial. Keeping all the above tips in mind, any developer can effectively make use of the ecosystem to develop applications that are efficient, cost-effective, and highly dynamic for generations to come. The reason blockchain will revolutionize the mobile industry is the same reason it has heavily impacted so many other industries already — it simply represents a better way. It is far better protected against cyber attack than current technology can provide for because of its distributed architecture.
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