In the tech world, there is a buzz about AI, Data Analytics, and IoT applications. These are trending topics, that is no lie, but today we would like to switch things up. We are going to talk about a tech industry that is, oftentimes, underrated because of the umbrella that it falls under.
The sporting applications industry.
You might have heard of it, or you might have used it. It is a growing industry, after all. So much so, that it has managed to attract the attention of both big-time investors and prospective entrepreneurs ever since it became the runner-up in the fastest-growing applications category. 2nd place? Not bad.
As of this writing, the Cricket World Cup is about to reach its final stages. If you are a fan, then you would have used apps like Cricbuzz and EspnCricinfo to find out which team won, which player scored the most runs, who took the most wickets, and etc. even if you could not watch the live game because of work or any other such engagement. The drama and excitement of the sport, all on your fingertips. That is really handy!
The influence of the sports industry in the mobile world
While there may be a soccer or cricket ground in your city or town, the appreciation for real sports has shifted towards virtual sports and its child, the news industry.
Now, you might be thinking, “If the sports apps industry came in 2nd place, then who came out on top?”
Social media and messaging apps. After the gigantic industry of social media, sports are the activity that people are most interested in.
To put it simply: if you are an entrepreneur, the time to invest in sporting applications is here.
But you should not just run away and start thinking of ideas for a new sports app. Patience grasshopper! There are many considerations that you need to take into account beforehand.
Having an innovative idea is one thing, perhaps the best of things, but developing a mobile app is a whole new ball game.
There are certain major pitfall and challenges that you need to look at. The challenges range from technical issues to marketing operations. Let us begin with the marketing issue first, and then bring you up to speed on the technical ones.
1. Marketing Your App In A Saturated Market
The number of mobile apps out there has gone up to a million. Now take into account the “second place” statistic from above, and you can pretty much estimate the number of sporting applications out on the market.
That is a lot of applications.
Now, this should not deter you from building your sports app, but it should make you ask the question, “How would my product penetrate the market?”
Let us suppose that you figured out the answer to the first question, and you launched a new and unique sports application that has everything a user could ask for from a sports app.
But you are still small fry compared to the giants. So how will you market your product to generate traffic towards your app?
The competition is tough and the giants have a whole lot more of everything: be it marketing experience or a budget.
But getting downloads is not easy, but it is not impossible either. Ideally, a 10% focus on development and 90% towards marketing is the way to go about it.
Now the focus towards development might be 10%, but that percentage has a lot more to it than meets the eye. Let us look at some technical issues related to developing a sports application.
2. Learning The Game
Your development team might have a few developers who have played the game that you are to build or at least have an understanding of it.
However, when it comes to actually develop the game, they will naturally face a lot of challenges. It requires a lot of technical knowledge, sports knowledge, and a strong mental aptitude to understand the nuances of the game.
That might not be a problem if you are building a sports news application. But if you are building a full-fledged fantasy football draft software, similar to the NFL app, you are going to need a team of talented and dedicated developers to successfully deploy the app for users.
3. Data Management
A sports application, like a fantasy sports app, is naturally a big project. The amount of data you would have to deal with is a lot. Even for veteran developers, handling such amounts of data can become a difficult and time-consuming task.
A lot of effort is required for you to harmoniously integrate all the data into a cohesive application. Again, you should have dedicated developers who are experienced enough to co-integrate and filter all the data ranging from the teams, the players, their statistics, their physical prowess, the history of the team, and many others into one sports application.
4. The App And The User
Extending our discussion from the previous point, we would now like to talk about user experience.
An application with so much data is generally going to consume a lot of battery life. If a sports app does that sort of thing, the user might play it for some time, but would eventually uninstall it because it takes a heavy toll on the battery.
Besides battery life, there is the issue of the amount of space that it occupies. Users want an app that is lightweight and performs well. Moreover, if the application was not tested correctly, it could mean bugs and glitches that the user will not like.
Conclusion:
While we may have talked about some issues, it is important to know that these are not the only challenges you are going to face when developing a sports application.
There are issues like testing, compatibility with other devices, navigational issues, and several more.
Our purpose, however, was simply to scratch the surface with the major issues, and we think that we have fulfilled our purpose. Going in-depth with any one of these issues will require us to create an individual article dedicated solely to one issue.
But as a beginner, it is best to be informed about the challenges, so you do not face them when you are working on your sports app.
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