Amazing Experience with Augmented Reality Games

Augmented Reality (AR) enables gamers to experience digital game play in a real world environment.In Augmented Reality Gaming, a gamer cannot tell any difference between the real world and the virtual, and simply enjoys a great fun.Augmented reality gaming fulfills the wishes of gamers who wanted to have their favorite video games come to life in 3D space rather than just being contained by a Monitor or Television.Video game development companies all over the world have started incorporating AR technologies into their games. Augmented reality gaming enables players with a unique view, groundbreaking gameplay options and the capability to interact with games directly instead of a controller or a keyboard.Augmented reality gaming drives the gamers’ into reality by combining storytelling, and imagery effects.

Besides Augmented Reality, there is another technology called Virtual Reality, in which a gamer will wear special gloves, earphones, and goggles to feel real environment and play the game.  Let's take an example game called Temple Run, which is an edge-of the seat exciting game of running away from dangerous creatures while ducking to obstacles and collecting collectables. Till now, this game is played on a small window of mobile phones, but no longer. Temple Run VR (Virtual Reality) of the infinite runner from Imangi Studios is now available on the Samsung Galaxy Gear VR.

Niantic Inc. is now coming with an augmented reality game called Pokémon Go. The game will be available for the gamers later in 2016. It will be available for both iOS and Android devices. In this game, players can leverage information about location and can combat, catch and trade with other players. The augmented reality gaming’s goal is to immerse the gamers by enabling them to continue to be in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects around them. AR games will not intimidate gamers and are accessible to gamers of all levels. 

Game geeks can jump in and start trying them out. Playing AR games is one of the better way to gain knowledge of the potential creative applications of Augmented Reality across many disciplines.A survey suggests that there is a huge demand from the gamers who want to be able to view and experience things that can’t be physically present and at the same time game development companies want to project layers of virtual data onto real world environments, creating meaningful and outstanding experiences. AR and VR technologies have the ability to help solve these problems.

The big companies across the world pouring billions of dollars into virtual reality and augmented reality, thus suggests there is no doubt that the technology is here to stay. A survey conducted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers via an interactive timeline on Facebook says that 51% of respondents, globally, believe that AR/VR is the future of gaming. It also suggests that gamers are always looking for new things, whether it is the new version of the game in a franchise or the next hardware platform/capability. It suggest AR/VR will be the most crucial innovation of the next gaming generation, and gaming industry will figure out how the technology is viable.

HOW WE CAN RETAIN OUR MOBILE APP CUSTOMERS FROM THE VERY FIRST TIME? WHITEPAPER

ABSTRACT

There is rapid increase in the number of mobile apps on the online store. Many of these apps are very similar to each other in terms of features and services. This suggests there is a massive competition between the mobile app providers who constantly endeavor to retain customers from the very first time. In this whitepaper, we will identify what are the factors that need to be improved for customer retention and stand out in the online market place. 

INTRODUCTION

The new generation mobiles (Smartphones) enabling customers to access the Internet from anywhere and anytime to download different types of mobiles apps to use their services as one of the conveniences. However, many of the customers still face difficulties in using the mobile apps seamlessly and effectively. With ever-growing increase in the demand for high quality mobiles apps from the customers, Mobile app development companies are pressurized to identify customer needs and serve them accordingly. If the customer is unable to quickly use and access the service of a mobile app not wasting any time customers might switch to other mobile app that is working perfectly. The customer also might delete or uninstall the app that is not working properly sooner or later and never download the app again even after the bugs are fixed because the customer had a poor experience with the app.A poor app can bring heavy loss in terms time, money, effort and reputation for the mobile app development companies. Once they received negative talk about their mobiles app it might be very difficult for them to retain customers and attract new customers. So, the mobile app development companies have to test the apps in all the possible ways to identify issues before launching into the online market. As there are many similar mobiles apps available in the online market it might not a big deal for the customers to use different apps and identify that is working properly for them.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS THE KEY

Mobile app development companies experience little success when customers download their mobile app. But the real success only can be achieved when these apps work well on the mobile of the customer. Companies need to identify issues in the mobile apps like poor functionality, poor performance, incompatibility with the device and platform before a customer does and to keep engaged with their app once they have downloaded them. App usage rates have been constantly rising in the past few years along with the room for a lot of improvement. Companies need to identify who are their targeted customers, for e.g., when it comes to shopping using mobile apps; customers have high expectations and shorter time.

generation mobiles (Smartphones) enabling customers to access the Internet from anywhere and anytime to download different types of mobiles apps to use their services as one of the conveniences. However, many of the customers still face difficulties in using the mobile apps seamlessly and effectively. With ever-growing increase in the demand for high quality mobiles apps from the customers, Mobile app development companies are pressurized to identify customer needs and serve them accordingly. If the customer is unable to quickly use and access the service of a mobile app not wasting any time customers might switch to other mobile app that is working perfectly. The customer also might delete or uninstall the app that is not working properly sooner or later and never download the app again even after the bugs are fixed because the customer had a poor experience with the app.Many of the customers who use mobile apps consider them as the primary computing device to complete nearly every desired task.  A high quality customer experience is the key factor in getting customers to use a service from and of an app and wait for the release of next version. Mobile apps have become a favorite tool for reading the news, watching videos, communicating, socializing, shopping, and more.

For mobile apps, customers experience is everything. Installing apps is so easy anybody can do it while doing any other work, But if customers experience is bad, customers will simply move on to competitor apps—especially when there are tens of hundreds of similar apps to choose. Customers have urgent needs and they are also creative. They stress an app in ways that companies never imagined. Companies need to check how confident they are that their app will never crash. Customers want apps that are reliable which demands performance testing.

Many of the customers are impatient. It's never going to be a surprise for a company of its most loyal customers complains if app takes more than three seconds to respond. Less loyal customers will abandon app if it can't complete an action more than three seconds. And prospective customers won't even try the app if it loads very slowly. They will just close it and look elsewhere. Customers always like to use a fast and a simple mobile app. Simple User Interface (UI) is also very important, for e.g.  A customer is standing at somewhere, and wants to find out the location of his friend who gave him a visiting card which has address. 

The customer opens a locator app, and it asks a customer's address, why does it need a customer address, why it cannot use customer device location? Customers will not click extra buttons if an app of a competitor can finish the same task in a few clicks. It also happens if an app ask the customer to fill in a long form with many fields. So, the bottom line here is to keep it easy UI.  Integration with other apps is the key to keeping customers engaged. If they can't easily share their content with their friends on other apps, or land into app from a browser link, they will think like an app takes time and effort. 

An app should not drain battery life, for e.g. a music streaming app works great, but one of the customer noticed that the app draining his/her battery too quickly. Would he/she recommend this app to his/her friends? Customers are very cautious to their battery life. Companies need to make sure their battery consumption is kept to a decent level. So the key here is no app is useful on a dead mobile. Prioritizing battery life over developing fancy features is important. 

An app with great features and a poor user experience will be less successful than an app with good capabilities and a great user experience.  Whenever companies are developing, make sure that they consider the user's perspective like How, when, where, and why will they use app? The difference between a successful app and a failure is customer retention. It is the foundation of business growth, more importantly positive talk in the online market. High quality mobile apps always turn new customers into loyal fans and advocates. 

A company’s mobile app is a representation of its business in general. That means having a quality mobile app is crucial than ever before. A company’s customers are on the move and using their mobiles to some task on an app. Mobile app customers who are on the move, so these apps need to be easy to use in spite of the limitations that can come with mobile devices, especially limitations due to their size.

One possible way to improve the mobile customer experience is to focus on the people who will actually be using an app: current and potential customer. While designing an app, it is important to identify who are target customers are and what their needs are. When determining what these needs are, companies should consider things such as customer preferences, goals, and their knowledge level. Identifying the context in which an app is used will enable companies to design an app that meet the needs of the people. For example, the features of an app for medical professionals may differ than an app for an e-retailer.

When designing an app, companies should ensure that its visual presentation is fits well in different mobile devices. Font, color need to be customized and as per the standards to make sure the most pleasant customer experience.  Companies should not miss releasing user-friendly app versions for all upcoming device platforms and versions, since customers might upgrade their mobile device platform version, and if an app doesn’t work customer will look for another app. To ensure customers have an exceptional experience while using app, companies need to perform comprehensive, reliable mobile application testing. 

Clearly, customers like their mobiles and the mobile apps they can use on them – but they can’t like all the apps that cannot be used. With tens of thousands different apps on the online market, the competition is fierce. So unless a company has a ubiquitous presence on mobiles everywhere, companies have to identify how to make its app stand out. Many of the mobile app developers have realized importance of focusing on improving or redesigning existing ideas to make a better app. When a customer downloads an app, it shows interest in a brand. App holders are the most valuable customers. 

One important aspect is that a company can choose customer group carefully, and ask each member to provide their feedback individually. This will help to collect diverse opinions and gives a wider perspective of how the app is working on different devices and customer experience to improve customer retention. 

CONCLUSION

Thorough testing of an app for functionality, performance, compatibility with different devices and platforms, collecting and analyzing feedback data of the successful and failure similar apps, identifying customer usage patter and experience, and developing accordingly are some of the excellent ways for the mobile app providers to launch their quality mobile app and retain their customers from the very first time.

Top 5 Game-Changing IT Trends and Predictions for 2016

The scope of IT is advancing at a rapid pace while giving a space for different types of technologies that help different types of companies to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace. In 2015, IT Trends like, Big data analytics and Cloud Computing have ruled the business as more and more companies have started realizing the advantages they provide. Predicting 2016 will be revolving around five IT Trends which include, Big data analytics, Cloud Computing. It predicts the other three IT Trends like Internet of Things (IoT), Security Testing, and Wearables will be the talk in many companies. Predicting these trends has a lot of potential for significant impact on the companies.

Big data analytics

With data velocity increasing all the time, different companies are facing difficulties to quickly analyze their data and get precise, meaningful results instantaneously. These companies are likely to start using analytics to mitigate this problem, which will become more important to their business. Big data analytics helps to analyze large amounts of data to identify hidden patterns, correlations and other insights that enables addressing challenges and discovering new opportunities for growth.

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is providing many advantages like Agility, Scalability, Flexibility, Availability, Reliability, Accessibility, Cost Efficiency for the companies that planning to use their budget economically. It is enabling companies to establish processes that allow them to move rapidly with supreme reliability. In 2016, more and more start-up, medium sized companies will be seen approaching Cloud Computing services and solutions. Predicting, a lot of Cloud Computing services and solutions providers will be coming forward with their cost-effective offerings for the businesses.

Internet of Things (IoT)

With millions of different devices getting connected with each other in the Internet is allowing businesses and the individuals to communicate very efficiently. The Internet of Things is getting a lot of attention from analysts and the press. A study says that by 2018, there will be 22 billion IoT devices installed. In 2016, Internet of Things (IoT) will see multiple devices increasingly connecting to help businesses and the individuals to engage with services in the internet in more practical ways than ever before.

Security Testing

With increase in the demand for high quality mobile apps, web applications especially e-commerce websites and other software products, software development companies are compelled to perform security testing. As technology is advancing, it is leaving an edge for these companies to cover security aspects. These companies have realized that what can a minute vulnerability in the application can do for company which is completely dependent over it for the business.  These companies have also realized that a user data is also crucial to take business to next level. In 2016, companies will not hesitate to spend money in security testing services and solutions for mission critical applications.

Wearables

Predicting manufacturers will ship millions of wearable devices in 2016. In 2015, the common types of wearables like smart-watches, Apple Watch, fitness trackers have attracted people across the world.  It seems that businesses are never behind in using the opportunity to interact with consumers. Businesses will start creating a new generation of apps for wearables.

Summary

Predicting top five game-changing IT Trends for 2016 that include Big data analytics, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Security Testing, and Wearables. Predicting these trends will change the perspective of companies towards utilizing them for business purpose. As these trends have made a strong presence in the year 2015, predicting they not only likely to rule in the year 2016 but also in the years to come.  Believing that providing services or solutions on these technologies will be the better option for the businesses that want to add more feathers to their hats as these technologies has the potential to generate some significant amount of revenue.

Improving Customer Online Shopping Experience

E-commerce industry is growing at a rapid pace as it is increasingly providing many conveniences for the people who come from an age of doing traditional shopping. Some of the conveniences like; shop at anytime, from anywhere, search for a wide range of products in a single window, compare the products, cash on delivery, EMI, and so on. But not many online shopping websites are providing these conveniences as their websites might not be fully functional, user-friendly, high-performing and secured.  Customers visit websites and they always want to enjoy searching a lot of things within the websites, so easy and faster navigation, and breadcrumb are must in order to know where they are in the website.     These websites should be ultra-cool and ultra-clean without any errors like spelling mistakes, poor content, poor images, no proper product details, complex buying options. 

Besides these factors, owners of these websites need to ensure no customer is navigated to competitor in the peak times like holidays, festivals etc, as typically people will be flooding on to these websites to purchase products, so websites need to up and running all the time as many websites get crash due to heavy load. Owners have to realize biggest threat isn't a competitor; it's the load, if it loads too slowly, and customers won't wait around. These owners should not forget mobile users, as customers are increasingly using Smartphones, so these websites need to be device, platform, and browser compatible.  A study reveals that around two-thirds of cell phone owners are using their phone as their primary access to the Internet. 

Online customers want the information at the click of a mouse or a swipe of a Smartphone. In order to improve customer retention and attract new customers, these business owners need to optimize their websites to provide high performance regardless of a customer’s network connection and location or whether they are on a desktop or a mobile device. One more important aspect is that Customer reviews, which are trusted many times more than a marketing piece from a business. These owners can significantly improve the customer experience by allowing viewing product reviews on their websites and mobile apps.

Identifying Right Mobile Application Testing Strategy

Today, people are increasingly using smart-phones, tablets and other mobile devices. It led software companies to produce quality mobile applications by performing mobile application testing.  Mobile applications are helping people to drive personal and professional interactions. However, to have a fully functional, high performing, and fully protected mobile application needs highly effective, reliable functional, performance and security testing. Companies also need to ensure that testing covers customer expectations and business objectives. Moreover, mobile applications are used on multiple devices, platforms, and browsers, so testing needs to compatibility aspect as well.  Amidst tight budgets and short deadlines, companies go for in-housing or outsourcing their required testing activities. While outsourcing can provide a company with access to an extensive pool of required talent and testing tools; however, it might be difficult to find right outsourcing partners who can adhere to scheduled deliverables.

 Unlike in-house testing which might fall short of the right tools, guidelines, industry standards, best practices, efficient methods, and resources; outsourcing will help a company to reduce costs. It will enable a company to focus on the core activity, spending more time in marketing campaigns, customer services, and more. And also approaching a Cloud-based mobile application testing strategy would be very beneficial in terms of time, cost and effort. It provides a web-based mobile testing environment where applications can be deployed, tested, and managed. Besides providing on-demand access to the diversity of mobile devices, platforms, browsers with required type of testing, cloud testing environment helps cut down the project costs while improving ROI. One thing to remember, approaching Manual testing processes can be tedious, error prone and time consuming in the proliferation of devices, carriers and platforms.

Furthermore, Manual testing never can be replaced with automation testing, so companies need to identify right testing strategy for their multiple mobile applications. One thing to remember, approaching Manual testing processes can be tedious, error prone and time consuming in the proliferation of devices, carriers and platforms. However, Manual testing never be replaced by automation testing, so companies need to identify right testing strategy for their multiple mobile applications. However, Testing under real conditions for real end user experience is important and it’s a business imperative. However, Testing under real conditions for real end user experience is important and it’s a business imperative as well.

Big Data Analytics — Speed and Efficiency

Big data analytics helps companies to examine large amounts of data to uncover hidden patterns, correlations and other insights that allows addressing and mitigating issues and challenges in the business and finding new opportunities for growth. In Traditional approach, managing large volumes of data can be expensive. Big data analytics helps to capture, manage, and process the data with low-latency from the tons of structured and unstructured data sets. With the ability to analyze new sources of data, companies are able to analyze information immediately – and make faster, better decisions based on what they’ve learned.

With the ability to identify ever-changing customer needs and satisfaction through analytics empowers the companies to provide customers what they want. To put it in simple words, Big Data Analytics is a self-service model that provides companies with full autonomy to easily and quickly work with data, extract maximum value and be able to respond effectively to key business questions. It helps companies to continuously identify new trends, services and products to develop a variety concrete solution to seamlessly run the business based on facts that have been unearthed from the data instead of relying on gut feelings. It is not only about finding problems faster, but about solving problems faster that were not addressable before.

It is believed that big data analytics projects are only for larger enterprises, and they can be too costly and complex for a small business. But, many vendors are also focusing on the SMBs market. Many companies want access to real-time data to personalize the look and feel of both their content and website to suit customer’s preferences and needs. However, before adopting big data analytics, a company should ensure that they have the relevant skilled resources in order to analyze and access the volume of data in an efficient way and manage the increased volume of data, customer and market insights that they will be receiving.

Cloud Means Advantages - Agility, Scalability, Flexibility and more.

Here are key advantages crucial for companies to achieve competitive edge in the marketplace.

• Agility
• Scalability
• Flexibility
• Availability
• Reliability
• Accessibility
• Cost Efficiency

Cloud arrives with opportunities that enable companies to be more productive & competitive by utilizing enterprise level business automation. It helps companies to establish processes that enable them to move at top speed with extreme reliability.  It is undeniably beneficial for the different companies of all sizes and shapes adapting to the new technology. The industries experts believe that trend Cloud will only continue growing and developing even further in the years to come.

Cloud is becoming a major enabler for the diverse companies; it has the potential to transform the traditional business model, help align product innovation with business strategy. However, there is a strong need for proper planning. Companies need to precisely map out a computing strategy in order to embark upon a successful cloud experience.

Cloud specializes in enabling companies to perform their preferred type of testing of their applications from anywhere, anytime.  Using Cloud, companies can save significant amount of money, because it reduces numbers of servers, the number of staff and the software cost, also many cloud-based service providers offer “pay as  you use” model through which companies are allowed to spend money from their budget very productively. This flexibility helps companies mitigate unnecessary costs.

Cloud is more reliable than in-house servers. Many cloud providers offer services that guarantee almost 100% up time of the server. If your server fails, you would be provided with another server without losing any data. Managing in-house resources is pretty difficult, while Cloud enables you to bother less about technology and focus more on your key business activities to increase your revenue.  Cloud service providers offer easy and immediate access to software, applications and services for use through web based interface without any hassles.

Cloud allows team to edit, share and access documents from anywhere, anytime due to its availability for 24/7 and 365 day service, it provides visibility of all their collaborations. Keeping it in simple terms, cloud can be defined as an environment consisting of ocean of IT resources that can be consumed on demand. Cloud helps cut costs, boost profits to better compete and grow. The obvious conclusion is that many companies haven’t quite grasped what the cloud can provide for them, which is why it is time for these companies to approach IT organizations for reaping insights about cloud.