Innovation is at the pinnacle of most design sectors and the technology field is no different. The world of technology as we know it has changed forever, and the type of technology that we have now become accustomed to is beyond anything we could have imagined just a few short years ago. There are, however, certain trends that have developed over the last decade or more that are now maturing. We are in the age where the technological advances and risks of the past are beginning to bear fruit and the world of technology, IT, and app development are the main beneficiaries of this harvest.

Component Availability

The basic technology and components are widely available from electrical component suppliers and parts companies such as Octopart, and with the proper research you will be able to find exactly what you need in order to build and design apps and platforms based on the following trends.

The Big Tech Changes

Artificial intelligence is whereby a computer is programmed and provided with the ability to perform intelligent tasks such as reasoning and learning and adapting from experience. It’s not necessarily a new concept, as we had all heard of cognitive computing several decades ago, but these were just terms, concepts, and ideas, whereas at the moment they have become a reality. Deep Blue may have beaten a chess grand master, but we now have Alexa and Siri, and the daily interactions with these digital assistants are pure examples of where this tech is going. The number of apps now using this tech is phenomenal and it will be in these games, customer service apps, and rooms that the technology will be perfected and introduced to users as the norm.

Virtual reality is the ability to immerse the viewer or gamer in an entirely virtual world. The previous drawback of overpriced headsets and their size has been engineered out, and the new headsets and VR visors are set to make huge changes to everything from driver training to large-scale media and entertainment. This is the future of tech, and as such, it will be the future of most of what we know: from medicine to fitness in the comfort of the living room, VR and its uses have just begun to emerge as a mainstream and affordable tech reality of our time. The number of VR apps is on the increase and no longer do you need to spend huge amounts to be able to access this technology. VR apps for remote work and actual fitness programs are now available and will only get better as the tech improves. The idea of holding a meeting as an avatar version of yourself can be realized and is now actually happening.

Augmented reality acts as a virtual layer on top of the world in front of you. The application has best been used in games like Pokémon Go, where the Pokémon are caught in your own actual physical environment and geographic location, which is superimposed on the device in conjunction with the Pokémon just caught. The advances have not been as speedy as first thought however, and we do not have lightweight glasses that can be used, but the trend is to use the application for gaming and design, as well as shopping. The virtual shop came to the fore in the recent pandemic and everyone from clothes to furniture retailers are now using this method to allow customers to try before you buy. AR is also going to be a biggie for the visually and hearing-impaired sector in that navigation by AR is arguably soon to be at the level where it can be used to help the visually impaired to navigate indoors.

Automation

With the increase in computing power and the rise in the smart home through the Internet of Things, the next expected step will be the full-scale automation. Industrial automation has already taken hold in most manufacturing sectors and countries. It has, furthermore, taken hold in the customer service and self-services sector, proving to be as effective in both assisting customers and allowing customers to assist themselves. The Internet of Things now makes it possible to bring some of this automation into the home. Some of the biggest white-good suppliers and appliance makers have now made deals with Cloud providers and the apps to control the temperature of fridges, to check on use by dates of items in storage, and more, are now all elements that serve to make modern living easier.

The smart home is one of the best examples of the integration of many of the aforementioned technologies. The ability to remotely turn on the heating, lighting, and control the temperature from anywhere that has internet connectivity is the reality.

Concluding Comments

As tech changes and society now tries to keep up, it’s essential that we are kept in the know and are able to understand the various options that will soon be the norm. This article has provided some insights as to the tech that is about to become mainstream (or has possibly already become mainstream) and will to some extent affect us all in the near future. The app development sector will also change as a result, and the technologies such as VR, AR, and AI will soon be accessible at the touch of a button, or swipe of a screen, on mobile devices.