Facebook to challenge IOS and Android

The duopoly that is IOS and Android has existed for a very long time now. However, could this be coming to an end soon? As it stands, Facebook owns the top 5 apps on the app store, that being; Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. These 5 apps account for the largest proportion of time spend on mobile devices meaning that all this traffic is flowing through Facebook and more importantly, into their bank accounts. Facebooks market value hit $500 billion last summer, which means they aren’t exactly short of pennies for projects.

Seeing as they have the most popular apps with the most time spent on them, it wouldn’t be completely out of the realms of possibility for Facebook to release an operating system to rival IOS and Android. Even if they don’t release an OS then it could be possible that they purchase or create their own ‘Facebook phone’. The infrastructure, technology, and resources all exist in Facebook to make this a reality.

What this means for us? Its hard to tell is the truthful answer. Depending on the route they take would create vastly different outcomes. A new OS would obviously mean having to build the apps for the new OS, but a new phone wouldn’t change too much. While this prediction is the most far fetched of the lot, it is also possibly the most exciting!

India to become e-commerce battleground

India has been an emerging market for a very long time now. It grows at exponential rates, and with such a huge population it means that any trend that picks up there is jumped on by the big corporations. I have always thought that all countries exist either a couple years ahead or a couple years behind each other. The UK tends to be 6 months to a year behind the US, predominantly LA and New York, with all the tech and exciting developments hitting the UK after a being in the US for a bit. Take the Amazon Checkout-free stores for example, which have been on trial in the US for a little while now. I would bet money on the first one being opened in the UK within 6 months.

India exists a good few years behind the UK, and what was the big trend a few years ago in the UK? Good quality smartphones and doing every piece of shopping you could imagine on your phone. As it stands Amazon and Alibaba are going head to head for dominance in India for the e-commerce market which entails all sales from computers and apps. Amazons e-commerce site has only been live since 2013 in India but already they have over 30% of the market, however it looks like Alibaba will back Amazons competitor, Patym Mall, and with Alibaba at its back its more than likely to give Amazon a run for its money.

NN4M has remined fairly localised in terms of clients, with most being based in Europe and the US, however with a boom in E and M commerce in India we could see some clients coming our way from that side of the world. While we wouldn’t be fighting with the big boys of Amazon and Alibaba, we are excited to work with new customers all around the world and it looks like India is shaping up to be the place to keep an eye on!

The Future

At the end of the day its near impossible to accurately predict what is going to happen in the world of Tech. While we can try and predict what will happen, there is a good chance that a spanner will be thrown in the works and it wont end up the way we all think it will. However, predictions on this scale tend to have a 50/50 chance of being fulfilled, but either way it is very exciting to think about what is coming. The world around us in constantly evolving, adapting and overcoming every obstacle in our way and where the next evolution is coming from is hard to tell, but one thing is for certain, the future is an exciting place.