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Blockchain Financial Services Technology

Blockchain art: Opening new avenues for artists and collectors alike

Blockchain art is a bit of a paradox. The highly technical and the highly creative generally don’t mix well. However, several recent projects are bringing the two worlds together in fascinating ways. Blockchain technology is not only a tool for artists (and collectors) to protect the value of their work. It’s also increasingly becoming a medium of expression. Digital artists especially can now control the authenticity and scarcity of their work with the help of distributed ledger technology. Ownership titles, provenance, and even art asset tokenization are a few of the compelling use cases emerging.

But more than simply controlling the flow of distribution, blockchain art also opens new avenues for artists to engage a broad community of connoisseurs and enthusiasts. Even the notoriously conservative art and collectibles market is slowly starting to adopt the technology to establish provenance and facilitate art sales. Several cutting-edge startups are working on blockchain applications in the art world. Blockchain art may fundamentally shift how artists create and how collectors collect.

Blockchain art market

Elena Zavelev, CEO of the New Art Academy believes digital artists will benefit the most from DLT. She wrote in Forbes, “For the first time ever, limited editions of digital art are possible thanks to blockchain technology. Digital artists can create limited editions of their works, providing a new way to grow their market. Previously, the bane of digital art has been the fact that it’s easy to copy and pirate.”

Projects such as CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks were among the first examples of editioned blockchain-based art. Art projects as much as technical feats, the unique figures demonstrate blockchain technology’s usefulness in this sector in a way for everyday people (like me) to easily grasp.

Each CryptoKitty and CryptoPunk is unique and cryptographically secure. While these original works are cute, there are deeper implications for artists and other content creators. Once a collector buys a CryptoKitty, no one can forge the originals thanks to the ERC-721 token. Think of them like baseball cards without the central authority. While blockchain technology guarantees uniqueness, it also limits distribution making these digital assets more valuable for collectors.

Radical Shift

Price speculation in CryptoKitties threatened to collapse the Ethereum network late last year as collectors flocked to buy and trade the exclusive cartoon cats. Some even sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars as interest peaked. Many criticized the craze as frivolous but failed to see the bigger picture. More than a way to speculate, this decentralized ownership model for an original digital artwork is a radical shift in the art world.

Immutability is useful for both artists and collectors. Unchangeable authorship information, for example, allows living artists to prove that their work is original. Once an artist sells a work, a record of its sale also goes onto the blockchain linking any future buyers to a clear history. Buyers benefit from investing in an immutable digital asset.

Blockchain as medium

Artists are also taking blockchain a step further and incorporating it into their work. Brooklyn-based platform Snark.art calls itself a blockchain art laboratory. The startup aims to change the relationship between collectors and artists. According to chief marketing officer Fanny Lakoubay, who spoke to me over Telegram, ”Snark.art is producing conceptual art experiments on the blockchain with established artists who want to reach the crypto community and get traditional art collectors to discover complex and conceptual digital art projects.”

Their first collaborative experiment in blockchain for art is Eve Sussman’s 89 seconds atomized. The video installation is a reimagining of Sussman’s 2004 video installation 89 Seconds at Alcazar. In the original work, Sussman recreated the moments prior to and just after Velasquez’s masterwork Las Meninas in film. In 89 Seconds Atomized, however, the artist split the video installation into 2,304 atoms at 20 x 20 pixels each. Collectors can buy individual atoms — similar to asset tokenization — and decide whether to display their atom to reconstruct the work, or not.

Lakoubay explained that owning a piece is slightly different than fractional ownership. “[Collectors] own an atom entirely,” she said “and can decide what to do with it without having to have consensus from all other owners. It is a choice for you to take part in the buyer community to reconstruct the original work by lending your piece.”

Community experiment

89 Seconds Atomized is not only an art installation but also an experiment in digital ownership and community. Users can view their own atoms on the platform, or either borrow or purchase atoms from other users to view it. Snark.art also encourages the community to organize their own screenings. Granting access to individual atoms is a defining aspect of the concept. “89 seconds could not exist without the blockchain, it is part of the medium of the work,” Lakoubay said.

What’s so groundbreaking about the installation is that it’s a conceptual artwork first, and an investment vehicle second. The community of atom owners is as much a part of the work as the film itself. Though both have implications for the art world. Art has a unique advantage in teaching a broader public about how blockchain technology works through accessible lessons. Ownership, permission, and peer-to-peer transactions are just some of the benefits blockchain technology lends to the art world. Of course, it’s also another way to speculate on price. As art enters its own asset class, investors look to blockchain art as an asset that accrues value.

Not only digital art

Digital art is not the only medium decentralization is starting to change. Some startups and more established players are looking at ways blockchain can enhance the trade in physical art and other more tangible collectibles. Just as digital art benefits from an immutable record of ownership, the more conventional art market is also adopting blockchain innovations. Similar to digital blockchain art, authenticity and a clear provenance increases an artwork’s value and reduces friction in the traditional art market.

For art collectors, provenance is an essential consideration. Investing in a fake, or stolen artwork is an expensive mistake few would like to make. However, the global trade in art and collectibles is a shadowy, unregulated market. One where you have to trust many different actors. Art fraud looms whenever a work comes up for auction. Auction houses hire teams of experts to verify the authenticity and clear provenance of any work before it sells it. Unsurprisingly, this costs both time and money. Blockchain technology could help manage all the parties involved. 

Art Fraud

A 2013 case involved a woman named Glafira Rosales who claimed to be selling previously unknown 20th-century paintings from masters such as Mark Rothko and Willem De Kooning. Instead of being genuine paintings, a Chinese painter was mimicking the artists’ styles and “aging” the works with tea, or dirt. She sold a total of $80 million dollars worth of fake art before the fraud was uncovered.

While blockchain may not help directly in preventing theft, it can help establish ownership as well as a history of transactions. One of Espeo Blockchain’s developers Krzysztof Wędrowicz believes blockchain technology could help auction houses and buyers spot fakes. “Let’s say each artwork could be digitized into a cryptographic print,” he said. “This proves that even if someone would forge a piece of art — to create something which is really really similar, in terms of what your eye can see — you can’t see the difference. With a blockchain, you can prove that a work is not authentic.” 

Currently, a work has to have an extensive review each time it comes up for auction. For an effective title registry to work, however, an expert or centralized institution will have to establish provenance, to begin with. Wędrowicz admits that “You need some authority to start with — so yes it’s some kind of risk.” However, several startups are developing novel ways to track provenance and authenticity using blockchain technology.

Decentralized title registry

One project addressing the provenance of art and collectibles is Artory. According to the company’s website, it’s a decentralized title registry for art and collectibles – a $2 trillion-dollar market. Currently, this asset class lacks a central registry. Artory stores vital transaction data and the history of ownership, and is easily accessible to all parties involved. Wide adoption, they claim, will help reduce costs and give investors more confidence.

Adoption across the art market, of course, will depend on how stakeholders will perceive the change. Artory remains confident that large stakeholders will see the benefits. Previous efforts to keep a central registry have failed largely because collectors don’t trust central entities with their information and intermediaries would like to keep their jobs. However, due to the decentralized nature of Artory, more stakeholders are willing to accept it, they claim.

Last month, Christie’s concluded the sale of the Barney A. Ebsworth Collection of 20th-century art. The record-breaking auction brought in more than $320 million. The auction was not only hugely profitable, but the sales were also recorded on Artory’s decentralized, public blockchain.

Provenance tracking on a blockchain could add more transparency to the art market and facilitate valuations, provenance studies, insurance claims, and even asset-backed lending.

Art Asset Tokenization

Similar to 89 Seconds Atomized, investors can also own individual pieces of physical artwork. Art asset tokenization enables many investors to own parts of an asset. Real estate asset tokenization is another industry where companies are using blockchain technology to tokenize.

Developers claim that blockchain art asset tokenization will add more liquidity to the market encouraging more people to invest in smaller units. Fractional ownership gives investors the chance to own small parts of famous works of art.

Blockchain advisor Francois Devillez has written extensively on asset tokenization and believes it’s the future of blockchain. 


“[Asset tokenization] works as follows,” Devillez told me. “Let’s say you have a house, you bring the house into a company and you tokenize the share. So you don’t tokenize the asset itself directly. With art, you associate a token with ownership. When you sell the art, you sell the token with it.” Unlike digital art, tokenizing tangible art is more about representing ownership.

Fractional Ownership

Art startup Maecenas is already tokenizing art assets. Maecenas is an unabashedly investment-focused platform looking at art assets as a way to make money. Art sold on the platform is stored in safe facilities far away from the eyes of the public. Nevertheless, for investors who view art as an asset class, this is perfectly natural. 

In a conversation over Telegram, Macaenas press spokesman Mayank Jain said, “we are pioneers in asset tokenization and we firmly believe in its financial potential to reinvent some industries such as the fine art market. But [asset tokenization] shouldn’t be an end in itself. The disruption lies in the value proposition behind the technological process.”

Greater Liquidity

Maecenas claims that splitting million-dollar paintings into smaller pieces will open the market to greater participation. Liquidity is the main argument for this kind of innovation. As in real estate asset tokenization, being able to quickly buy and sell smaller financial units of large assets will allow smaller investors to react to enter the market.

Maecenas’ platform runs on a public, decentralized blockchain to keep all transactions transparent and to protect the company from insider trading, according to the company’s whitepaper. When an owner wants to sell a piece of art, he or she first has to put it up for sale on the platform. Investors bid with the company’s ART token using smart contracts. Once the auction finishes, the smart contract calculates the final share price and the number of shares each investor receives. The seller then receives either ART tokens, or an equivalent crypto or fiat currency.

“Maecenas’ proposal is not just a theory,” said Jain. “Our platform is a tested and proven fractional ownership model. In September, we successfully tokenized and auctioned a 31.5% stake in Andy Warhol’s 14 Small Electric Chairs (1980), collectively raising $1.7m, and recently we revealed Project Phoenix — our upcoming sale of a tokenized Picasso.”

“Project Phoenix will be the first ‘perpetual’ digitized and tokenized work of fine art,” Jain added. A single ERC 721 token and a fixed number of ERC20 tokens will represent ownership of the physical asset. Similar to owning stock in a company, holding tokens gives investors voting power for key decisions in the painting.

Unfortunately, tokenizing the paintings makes them difficult to view in person. Each goes into a safe storage facility in a “freeport” such as Singapore’s Le Freeport. Keeping art stored in these facilities allows investors to avoid high taxes involved in selling luxury items.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology is revolutionizing the art world in a number of fascinating ways. From cutting-edge blockchain art, asset tokenization, and decentralized title registries, blockchain tech is driving innovation in the space. Blockchain not only controls the distribution of digital assets, but also records vital provenance information, and opens the market to investors. Many of these projects are still in their infancy but have also demonstrated successful use cases for the technology.

Images in order of appearance:
CryptoKitty
Las Meninas Diego Velazquez 1656-1657
Chop Suey Edward Hopper 1929
Big Electric Chair Andy Warhol 1967

Categories
Entrepreneurship Software Technology

7 Common Mistakes When Developing MVP

7 Common Mistakes When Developing MVP

Whereas some startups become successful, the truth is that nine out of ten initiatives fail. Introducing a new product to the market is quite risky. In order to minimise the risk, an MVP is created but unfortunately, despite the efforts, some startup owners still fail at this stage.

So, what is an MVP?

Most people think that an MVP is the end product, whereas others think it is a beta version of the final product. However, a minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early adopters and also to get significant feedback to incorporate it into the final product. It makes potential customers realise what your product is all about.

It is an opportunity to test the waters and garner customer feedback before the final product is launched. Having said that, it is important to avoid these seven development pitfalls so that your MVP will be successful.

1. The Need to Create the complete Product

An MVP is not supposed to be the final product, but it will achieve its goal by subtraction. However, many business owners believe otherwise and tend to include everything the final product should offer. In other words, they don’t just stick to the minimum number of features but include most or all features, also they try to make the design top-notch leaving no space for future changes and improvements.

This stems from the desire to impress the audience. That is why developers feel the need to polish up the user experience, but also more features are added to display the app’s multi-functionality.
Such an approach might turn out to be disastrous especially if the audience rejects the concept despite allocating a big budget. Deciding what features are crucial while developing an MVP depends on two factors:

The feature selection process involves going through the MVP’s goals and objectives as well as customer needs in order to determine only the key features relevant to the goals. Also, outlining each proposed feature and pointing out its specific benefits in relation to the predetermined goals and users’ expectations. This enables you to see clearly and avoid adding unnecessary features at the MVP stage.

2. Striving for Minimalism

But there are always two sides to a story. When you focus too much on minimizing the features of an MVP, you may fall into the trap of excluding the very features that are key for customers. In addition, you might end up choosing the minimal features that are neither in line with your customer’s desires nor with your own goals. As a result, the MVP ends up having minimal features that are useless to potential customers.

As a rule of thumb, remember that it should not just be a minimum but also a viable product.

3. Disregarding the Market Research

Unfortunately, this is among the main reasons why start-ups fail. You need to know your market. Apart from knowing the customers’ needs, desires and wants, you should find out if your idea is innovative or similar to other that already exist.

Unfortunately often, after carrying out market research, some business owners choose to ignore the results altogether. The common belief is that they either know it all or their idea is so unique that will pass the market test anyway. Although there is nothing wrong with believing in your idea, disregarding market research might come at a cost.

Imagine building an MVP only to find out later it isn’t in line with the market’s needs or that it already exists, or that it isn’t unique at all and won’t make a difference in the market. Wouldn’t that be a waste of time, money and resources?

4. Evading the Prototype phase

Prototyping is a very important step while developing an MVP. It is a visual representation of your idea or, in other words, it brings your idea to life, and what is more, it makes the app development process easier. In addition, it is essential as it dispels any doubts the investors might have about the product.

This phase consists of three steps:

  1. Begin with interface architecture and build a basic structure of your product as well as general information related to it. Remember to include an interaction foundation for your application.
  2. Build a sketch, build a low-fidelity interactive prototype – a rough wireframe that maps your app’s information architecture and includes interactive elements.
  3. Finish with a high-fidelity interactive prototype which includes the graphics and interactive elements which allow navigation through the application.

5. Choosing the Wrong Team

Hiring an improper, inexperienced or unprofessional team can be an MVP’s downfall. What is needed is a team of designers, developers, QA engineers and PMs in order to build an MVP. However, if this team does not have top-of-the-notch skills and proficiency, then the development stage will fail.
When you work with an unprofessional team, you are likely to come across two issues:

Missed deadlines. An MVP needs to be developed in a fast-paced environment. There is a need for constant testing and upgrading. An unprofessional team is likely to miss deadlines and in the end slow down the process or miss opportunities all together.

Feedback analysis. Since timing and analysis are crucial for any MVP, then its success depends on the entire team’s competence. If your team is incompetent, once you receive the first feedback from your users, they can be unable to work on a better version. The best development teams focus on the product so much that they might provide some very valuable feedback and insight. They act as consultants both on the technology and the product.

6. Inappropriate Development Method

Developing an MVP successfully is like cooking. If you intend to marinade and roast chicken and then you change your mind and decide on boiling it, you will spoil it and fail. This is the reason why some MVP developers give up halfway through the project.
There are generally two approaches to building an MVP: agile and waterfall. Agile software development is more efficient in this scenario when compared to the waterfall (traditional method) due to its ability to deliver high-quality results week after week. In addition, the agile approach done properly helps avoid bugs and offers adaptability to changing circumstances.

Although the payment structures might not matter, it is worth noting that most companies that offer agile software development are paid per-hour rate while those that use waterfall are paid per-bid basis. When developing using waterfall one might finish up with a product done according to the specs instead of the product that’s actually needed. Each change done outside of the agreed scope might be paid extra. This can affect the development stage where one is unable to pay on time hence delaying the MVP or affecting the relationship with the developers.

7. Ignoring analytics and user feedback

One of the main purposes of an MVP is to generate feedback in order to make the final product better. Ignoring feedback renders the whole process useless as it deprives it of its purpose.
Why build an MVP only to ignore feedback later?
Feedback is important as it helps you understand the user better, adjust your product to meet the customers’ needs as well as gauge the audience’s perception of your product. Therefore, ignoring the analytics and user feedback is business suicide.

Conclusion

Developing a successful MVP will increase your chances of the product seeing the light of day in the market. In addition, it might turn your idea into a profitable course. However, not all MVPs are successful. Avoiding these seven mistakes will go a long way toward making your MVP successful at its development stage.

See also:

Categories
Blockchain Software

How can blockchain contribute to B2B process improvement?

Blockchain technology shows promise in several key sectors. While it’s far from a cure-all, some key aspects could aid businesses in their process improvement strategies. Cutting waste and inefficiencies from business processes remains a challenge — one that blockchain technology could address. Below are some cost reduction examples blockchain technology could work to improve.

Sectors from real estate to charitable giving have begun to implement blockchain technology to innovate and compete in a fast-changing market. One field which could greatly benefit from blockchain is B2B. Process improvement and cost reduction brought on by the technology could increase profits and boost the industry to new heights.

B2B process improvement strategies

Business-to-business companies often deal with unnecessary complications. The behemoths of the industry such as Alibaba still use antiquated technology to handle their processes. Wide adoption of blockchain technology in the industry could improve processes and reduce costs for enterprises. As global commerce increases, the complexity and number of actors increases.

Businesses can benefit from implementing innovative solutions to increase their competitive advantage. One of many process improvement strategies is to save time and streamline international shipments. Some other cost reduction examples include automation and supply chain improvements.  When a buyer orders a product, the transaction can take weeks to finalize. The usual intermediaries slow the process. Lawyers, red tape, logistics agents, and banks can delay a transaction unnecessarily. 

Many B2B companies still use electronic data interchange technology or EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). According to a 2015 eft survey, B2B business owners and stakeholders believe that EDI is outdated and should be replaced by better technology. Here are a few process improvement strategies blockchain could address.

Eliminate expensive third parties

Smart contracts enable sellers and buyers to scrap expensive third parties and automate business processes. Blockchain smart contracts are transparent features that automatically bind all the parties involved. The smart contract is a set of cryptographic codes which only verified participants can access.

Once the data the participants give correlates with the existing data, it automatically executes. This is one of the biggest cost reduction examples as I’ll mention below. No one can alter the data once it’s on the chain. This makes it immutable, and since blockchain is a distributed ledger, the smart contract has no single point of failure. Even if one node goes down, the system can still operate. 90 percent of B2B stakeholders have realized the benefits of smart contracts and there’s no going back.

Automate data processing

Blockchain processes data in real-time, making it one of the best process improvement strategies for B2B companies. For instance, sellers will be able to access data on their e-commerce portal and see as the numbers add up. This will help sellers make decisions based on the information instead of waiting for weeks before calculating the data before making decisions. Blockchain will reduce the time lag, therefore, sellers will be able to carry out other tasks without delay.

Improve supply chain

Aside from the other process improvement strategies, smart contracts will provide for B2B companies another important benefit of blockchain is supply chain enhancement. Blockchains are a chain of distributed ledgers that process data autonomously. This means that for B2B, sellers can depend on blockchain technology to handle unstructured data. Where traditional supply chain fails in processing data efficiently, blockchain will thrive without error.

Increase transparency among B2B partners

Blockchains can record and store information in a supply chain. All the parties involved can access the data making it easier to exchange documents between business partners.

One of the drags on the global economy is the fact that companies cannot fully trust one another. Blockchain technology sets up a trustless environment improving relationships between enterprises and potentially growing the global economy. Fewer fraudulent transactions or non-payment will increase profit and serve as one more of the powerful cost reduction examples blockchain technology can offer the B2B firms. Blockchain ensures shared visibility like never before. 

Adjust to a changing market

Antiquated EDI technology doesn’t do well with big data supply chains. Due to changing market realities and consumer habits, B2B companies will have to adjust their processes. About half of B2B buyers are millennials and as such B2B companies expecting the manual process of placing fax orders, and handling paper contracts may be asking for too much from millennials. Current consumers want to place orders via B2B e-commerce portals and have their products delivered to them. Blockchain could replace EDI as the logistics technology of choice.

While blockchain seems like the most suitable technology to replace EDI, some remain skeptical. Many pundits predict that blockchain will augment EDI and not replace it. Blockchain can aid B2B companies in their process improvement strategies.

Cost reduction examples

As I mentioned above, blockchain tech can play a role in process improvement strategies for B2B companies. Eliminating intermediaries, supply chain automation, and an improved supply chain are also good cost reduction examples. But how can blockchain technology actually do this?

Reducing fees

One intermediary is the bank. Once there’s no bank involved, sellers will be able to save the percentage that would have gone to the banks involved in payments. According to Accenture, and McLagan, blockchain will save money for B2B partners by reducing or completely eliminating financial institutions fees for B2B transactions. B2B partners can also save the money that would have gone to lawyers. Cutting intermediaries also makes transactions fast, once the seller makes a payment, the buyer receives it immediately.

Automated supply chain

When data processing on supply chains becomes more accurate and immediate, one should expect that it will reduce expenses for B2B sellers. With greater automation, fewer employees are necessary. Human error can also drive up costs Why? Well, because for every human error in data analysis, the business owner has to correct it or pay for it. For instance, if a buyer places an order of 50 million copies of a product and during the logistics and product delivery there’s an error such that they send more than 50 million copies to the buyer, the seller will eventually pay for it.

But think of a scenario where products are labeled on the seller’s supply chain using blockchain technology, and the physical products must correspond to the labeled products on the supply chain then one can assume that it’ll be almost impossible to make an error.

Blockchain integration

The time has come for B2B companies to scale up and adopt blockchain technology. Many big brands such as Amazon, IBM, Alibaba, are pouring money into blockchain development. As of last year, 57 percent of B2B leaders noted that they need to integrate e-commerce with backend technology that will make B2B business processes seamless. While blockchain technology still appears too complex for B2B sellers, some blockchain experts have developed blockchain-as-a-Service for business owners, so that B2B executives can easily integrate blockchain API into their business.

Why wait when you can develop your B2B company on blockchain? As a startup, developing your B2B brand on blockchain from the beginning may factor into your process improvement strategy. Although there are not many B2B brands that are already using blockchain technology, it will be much worse to be miss out on a competitive advantage as more B2B companies.

Categories
Software Technology

5 Key Steps in Moving your Web App to Mobile Platform

5 Key Steps in Moving your Web App to Mobile Platform

Websites have become a staple for businesses which seek out possibilities to engage with potential customers via an online presence. As millions of sites go online each day, there has been a significant development of the web market. What’s more, this has caused a change in the way marketing has been developing; goods and services are now at customer’s convenience who does not even have to leave the comfort of their home in order to make a purchase.

However, the 2010s have brought about a new wave of online interaction which came in the form of mobile devices. First, the smartphone was introduced as a way of increasing the utility of cellular devices. Second, the tablet influenced the way in which users access content. These devices were innovations that allowed PC-like processing speed and RAM in a much smaller, mobile device.
Needless to say, their popularity has been increasing exponentially, leading to the current situation where a mobile app has become as important as a website. Thus, for anyone looking for ways to transform a website into a mobile-friendly App, here are a few tips and guidelines to follow that will ensure a more efficient process and an impressive result.

1. Progressive Web Apps

In the past, apps and websites have been two fairly distinct domains. Of course, they often serve a similar purpose, but the development and creation were done separately.

Recently, however, web apps have come into play and a kind of merger between the two different formats, allowing owners to benefit from the best of both websites and mobile app features, has been observed. This should be the first step in any online business presence, as it also facilitates construction of a mobile version at a later stage.

As technology progresses and users are constantly on the lookout for more convenient online interfaces, implementing Progressive Web Apps (PWA) is a definite way to stand out from the competition. The main benefits include a faster browsing experience, more efficient site navigation and a user-friendly interface that fares better than traditional websites.

As an added bonus, Progressive Web Apps feature on a user’s home screen, meaning that they do not have to enter a search engine or internet browser to access a site. Moreover, the Progressive Web App also has functional offline capabilities, either through an offline mode or the capturing of cache data.

Overall, many are proud advocates of implementing PWA, as they seem to provide the means for the ultimate marriage between convenience and high-functioning sites. Apps generally suffer from a lack of content, but progressive Web Apps may just be the bridge that connects the two effectively.

2. Remove Any Unnecessary Elements

5 Key Steps in Moving your Web App to Mobile Platform - Remove Any Unnecessary Elements

The mobile device has a much smaller screen. For any website user there is nothing more annoying than having to sift through tons of unnecessary content that barely fits within the boundaries of the screen. If the same format is put into a mobile App, the results are disastrous.

Thus, ensure that all of the unneeded content is filtered out. Perhaps consider redesigning the App so that additional sections are created for such content. Whether it is marketing material, large advertisement banners or the promotion of a new product, try not to bombard users with too much information in too dense a space.
Instead, think about simplifying browsing experience. An exemplary app is easy to use, intuitive and slick in design. Overall, such an approach will increase performance across all devices, especially phones and tablets that are not exactly the latest releases.

3. Make the Font Bigger

Sometimes, it is the simple things that accumulate into one huge competitive advantage. Although often overlooked, creating a bigger font is crucial for a successful transition between a website and an app.

Websites are traditionally visited through personal computers and laptops. This creates a bigger screen in which more information is presented. To allocate space for such information, the website font is usually quite small, as the bigger screen allows for users to scroll through seamlessly.

When it comes to apps, much of that information is discarded, as explained in the previous section. The app resembles something more akin to a skeleton of the website, an easy to use format that encourages user-friendliness and familiarity. Thus, to ensure that the space is properly utilized, the font should be larger and easy to read within the confines of a small mobile phone or tablet.
The alternative leaves users with the impression of an ill-thought-out application that does not really utilize the space it has. Nothing is worse for a brand than a half-baked offering.

4. Test the Page on Applied 3G

5 Key Steps in Moving your Web App to Mobile Platform - Test the Page on Applied 3G

There is nothing more frustrating than an internet-based application that does not run at an appropriate speed. Moreover, as the app will now predominantly run over 3G networks, it is essential that the experience is similar to that of Wi-Fi.
Research shows that more people are using their cellular data as a method of connecting to the internet. As such, the App should be able to run compatibility over cellular data services – whether 3G or 4G network connections.

A simple test before launch should help find out whether the development has been successful and where the necessary holes in the operation lie. It may seem like a ‘no-brainer’, but this simple test can save a fortune in negative publicity and bad ratings. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

5. Use media-queries

If you don’t know much about media-queries – use the Bootstrap grid with “col-sm” classes. By attaching Bootstrap or any other CSS framework you can use its responsive out-of-the-box breakpoints without knowing what the media queries are. By using class “col-sm” you automatically set the breakpoint to 768px, which means your app will look much better on small devices such as tablets and smartphones. The change will kick in automatically and so it will autoscale to the device you are currently using.

Summing up

The mobile Application market is on the increase and certain empires have been built just on the back of a successful app that operates efficiently. Moreover, as the smartphone market develops, a well-thought-through mobile application may become the new face of a commercial online experience. Progressive Web Apps, in particular, are greeted with great excitement by organizations and developers as they provide a new way for companies to position themselves within everyday operation of a personal computer. Not only are they a means of increased browsing enjoyment and efficiency, but they now have a desktop presence, which means taking user interaction to a whole new level. The possibilities are endless and there may yet be more innovations that follow.

See also:

 
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