What’s up 2021?!? A quick update for what’s changing the digital landscape
By any measure, 2020 sucked!
Finally, the year-who-should-not-be-named is now over! You’ve made it! We’ve made it, despite everything. 2020 changed how we lived our lives while everyone adapts to what we call the “new normal.” Unknowingly, it has become our superpower just to be sane despite the events from the previous year.
So what’s gonna happen? At least in terms of the digital world…
Well, lifestyle drastically changed with people just staying most of the time at home (which is a good thing, by the way). This means customers quickly turn into the online world, consequently urging companies and businesses to update and modernize their strategies. It is now certain that the internet is now a necessity rather than a privilege to everyone.
Visibility through the digital world will ensure companies and businesses to stay ahead of the game.
The digital world or the web itself evolved so much throughout the years. The percentage of people using smartphones quickly emerges during the pandemic, and increasingly, users browse on their mobile phones more frequently than a web or PC device. It has been reported that almost 50% of smartphone users do not install any new apps in a month.
That implies- it is definitely time for the Progressive Web Applications to shine!
Progressive Web Application
“What is this Progressive Web Applications you are talking about??”
Progressive Web Applications is, in fact, not new. In 2015, Progressive Web Application or PWA was created by Google. But it did not get too much recognition back then since setting user experience for mobile-first isn’t something different at that time.
YES. Progressive Web Application IS the future. The gist is that this aims to combine web and mobile features.
Too good to be true? Nah. Actually, there are a lot of PWAs you are already using. Specifically, Instagram, Twitter, Tinder, and many more! Of course, these are enterprise-level applications, which means they also have native apps that run and can be downloaded on iOS/App Store and Android/Play Store.
Let’s familiarize ourselves with what PWAs is and how it will help develop our knowledge, allowing you to start building and planning your very own Progressive Web Applications today.
As PWAs can be used in different platforms, you can create an excellent possibility for increasing conversions and a better user experience. Here are some of the pros of PWAs:
- Fast — Performance and speed really do matter on every website and mobile apps. PWAs are expected to work even on slow internet connections. So, the user experience will be smooth.
- Offline support — When a user opens a PWA from the home screen, it is assumed to start despite the network status. You might need to turn on your network connections since PWAs will not display anything significant when the user is offline. It will depend on what kind of application you are trying to open.
- Engagement — As mentioned, PWAs feels like you are on a native application. It has the capabilities of what a native app does. PWAs provide a wide variety of APIs for users to have access to the following features:
- Camera
- Push Notifications
- Location
- Platform Payments (Such as Google Pay, Apple Pay)
- And more!
You can read all about Progressive Web Applications here.
Not to mention that there are, of course, disadvantages of PWAs. Offline functionality is limited for a PWA. There are little to none features that allow offline functionality that is compared to a native application.
But what should you choose: PWA or a Native Application?
There is a bit of doubt that PWA is now taking over native applications since its cost is low compared to creating an iOS and Android application. Nevertheless, in PWA, you can have a presence both on iOS, Android, and web browsers already.
Before choosing a choice between PWA or a native app, businesses or companies should analyze their goals since both have their own pros and cons.
We have given you some ideas on what will be the future of the digital world. Hopefully, you will be utilizing most of them this year! For better or for worse, 2020 has made significant changes by far in changing the digital landscape. It is now the time for us to collect the losses acquired during 2020 and continually find new and better ways to maintain high marketing integration.
Don’t hesitate to contact ABKD Studios for more information. It has been a very tough year, and I cannot reiterate that even more. We are always glad to help you find your way to keep up-to-date with your business’s digital and software needs.
Cheers!
Ian Alcantara
Technical Lead
ian@abkdstudios.com