The year 2017 proved to be one of the best times to invest in Mobile app development. Enterprises have now realized that mobile apps are now a necessity. A Smartphone is a very best way to meet customer demands and increase sales. In the year 2017, the projected rise is 254 billion free downloaded apps, up from 57.33 billion in 2012, which proves mobile development is one of the most actively growing sectors in the industry. The key players are Google apps, social media, lifestyle and gaming apps. Large companies (retailers, banks, hospitality, etc.) are using mobile applications for branding, increasing customer engagement, direct marketing, etc., while small and midsize businesses are also following the mobile trend and creating their own apps.

Internet of Things (IoT) and Wearable Apps

The idea of a smart home, smart cities, industrial IoT, automotive industry, smart health, and smart retail is growing. From healthcare to education and smart homes to smart offices, IoT apps will gradually start becoming mainstream in 2017. Though it might take some more time for IoT to fully take off, it is here to stay. Apple watch apps are already booming and will continue growing. Google has also released Android Things to increase IoT adoption. As we see an increase in demand for connected things, apps will be required for smart devices other than smartphones, and developers will have to keep innovating to meet diverse needs. Analysts predict that IoT will grow from $157.05 billion in 2016 to $661.74 billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 33.3%. This directly impacts the mobile app trends as IoT devices are controlled by smartphones.

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Since Google introduced the AMP project, page loading on mobile devices is accelerated. With AMP, you now see the quick loading of web pages on your mobile. Besides this awesome function, Google has declared that it will provide an isolated search index for the mobile web. From an SEO point of view, this step transforms all mobile app development approaches.

Accelerated Mobile Pages will help web apps to load more quickly on all mobile devices, reducing bounce rate. This change will also help publishers increase visibility to their ads and create a boom in the number of visitors.

Mobile Payments

Customers engaged in online shopping through Mobile Applications have been using Internet banking or Credit/ Debit cards to make payments. But with the introduction of Apple Pay and Google Wallet, customers are gradually shifting to m-commerce. It will be a good way for companies to harvest data and provide in-depth analysis of clients. As well as being a more comfortable payment option for customers.

Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Apps

In 2017 AR and VR will start to go beyond entertainment and gaming. We saw the growth trend driven by consumer and business demand for new technologies last year. Both AR and VR possess huge potential when it comes to transforming a diverse range of industry sectors. The market for enterprise Augmented Reality will primarily be driven by industries such as retail, healthcare, engineering and real estate. Virtual Reality technologies will be more focused on the game and events sphere.

On-Demand Apps

On-demand applications are now very popular. They make our lives easier and more convenient, and we can use them from anywhere.

Enterprise Apps and BYOD

More and more organizations embrace the “Bring Your Own Device” model, we are going to see an upsurge in demand for hybrid enterprise apps. 72% of organizations have already started investing in BYOD for employees in some way or the other. In 2017 more than half of the world’s employers will require BYOD. Hybrid apps are known to run in the app form but are essentially mobile websites. This helps reduce the cost and speed the mobile app development process.

Cloud-based Apps

Mobile App Developers are designing more cloud driven mobile apps. With increasing use of cloud technology, it has become much quicker and easier to get data without impacting on your internal phone memory. With Dropbox, Google Drive and various other cloud apps, more and more mobile apps will be cloud driven. Cloud-based mobile apps are especially attractive for enterprises as they would largely alleviate the data security issues inherent in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

Android Instant Apps

Native apps that function like websites can attract more people with their convenience. Android Instant Apps don’t require installation all borders are removed from app and website. You can have all the advantages of your app within your site, with only one click. Run Android apps as seamlessly as loading a web page and save space on your smartphone, no unwanted app downloading

Application Security

The security of a smartphone is more crucial than ever because of the amount of personal user data it contains.Apps with built-in security features can make a large difference in the app space. More developers will be adopting the use of this platform, providing better UX with more security features. With this new programming language, we’ll begin to see more secure apps in the market. Mobile App Developers will be working harder than ever to ensure that every app they design comes with a safety guarantee in 2018.

Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Chatbots

Customised, conversational commerce and chatting with online shoppers are highly lucrative for any business. Apps are increasingly learning about their user’s preferences. Sounds intelligent, but it is way more than that. There is something about playing with their heartstrings. It is emotional quotients of applications being upgraded by sheer bot observation! All off you know such amazing AI apps: Prisma, Siri, Google Now. We are expecting much more in 2017 keeping the AI mobile application development trend intact.

Lazy loading

Another great trend that we should expect in the upcoming year is related to the lazy loading technology. The thing is that the images that load for too long prevent the user from opening the whole article. It takes time to load the page, and users leave not willing to spend too much time on the page waiting. As a result, the bounce rate grows, and the conversion rates drop. So, to prevent this, technology gurus have decided to implement the lazy loading which basically means that images only load when their turn on the page comes. Otherwise, they do not overload the page.

Why Netflix Broke Itself: Was It Success Rewritten Through Platform Engineering?

By : Sampada

Published on Nov 13, 2024

App development Platform Engineering

Let’s take a trip back in time—2008. Netflix was nothing like the media juggernaut it is today. Back then, they were a DVD-rental-by-mail service trying to go digital. But here’s the kicker: they hit a major pitfall. The internet was booming, and people were binge-watching shows like never before, but Netflix’s infrastructure couldn’t handle the load. Their single, massive system—what techies call a “monolith”—was creaking under pressure. Slow load times and buffering wheels plagued the experience, a nightmare for any platform or app development company trying to scale

That’s when Netflix decided to do something wild—they broke their monolith into smaller pieces. It was microservices, the tech equivalent of turning one giant pizza into bite-sized slices. Instead of one colossal system doing everything from streaming to recommendations, each piece of Netflix’s architecture became a specialist—one service handled streaming, another handled recommendations, another managed user data, and so on.

But microservices alone weren’t enough. What if one slice of pizza burns? Would the rest of the meal be ruined? Netflix wasn’t about to let a burnt crust take down the whole operation. That’s when they introduced the Circuit Breaker Pattern—just like a home electrical circuit that prevents a total blackout when one fuse blows. Their famous Hystrix tool allowed services to fail without taking down the entire platform.

Fast-forward to today: Netflix isn’t just serving you movie marathons, it’s a digital powerhouse, an icon in platform engineering; it’s deploying new code thousands of times per day without breaking a sweat. They handle 208 million subscribers streaming over 1 billion hours of content every week. Trends in Platform engineering transformed Netflix into an application dev platform with self-service capabilities, supporting app developers and fostering a culture of continuous deployment.

Did Netflix bring order to chaos?

Netflix didn’t just solve its own problem. They blazed the trail for a movement: platform engineering. Now, every company wants a piece of that action. What Netflix did was essentially build an internal platform that developers could innovate without dealing with infrastructure headaches, a dream scenario for any application developer or app development company seeking seamless workflows.

And it’s not just for the big players like Netflix anymore. Across industries, companies are using platform engineering to create Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)—one-stop shops for mobile application developers to create, test, and deploy apps without waiting on traditional IT. According to Gartner, 80% of organizations will adopt platform engineering by 2025 because it makes everything faster and more efficient, a game-changer for any mobile app developer or development software firm.

All anybody has to do is to make sure the tools are actually connected and working together. To make the most of it. That’s where modern trends like self-service platforms and composable architectures come in. You build, you scale, you innovate.achieving what mobile app dev and web-based development needs And all without breaking a sweat.

Is Mantra Labs Redefining Platform Engineering?

We didn’t just learn from Netflix’s playbook; we’re writing our own chapters in platform engineering. One example of this? Our work with one of India’s leading private-sector general insurance companies.

Their existing DevOps system was like Netflix’s old monolith: complex, clunky, and slowing them down. Multiple teams, diverse workflows, and a lack of standardization were crippling their ability to innovate. Worse yet, they were stuck in a ticket-driven approach, which led to reactive fixes rather than proactive growth. Observability gaps meant they were often solving the wrong problems, without any real insight into what was happening under the hood.

That’s where Mantra Labs stepped in. Mantra Labs brought in the pillars of platform engineering:

Standardization: We unified their workflows, creating a single source of truth for teams across the board.

Customization: Our tailored platform engineering approach addressed the unique demands of their various application development teams.

Traceability: With better observability tools, they could now track their workflows, giving them real-time insights into system health and potential bottlenecks—an essential feature for web and app development and agile software development.

We didn’t just slap a band-aid on the problem; we overhauled their entire infrastructure. By centralizing infrastructure management and removing the ticket-driven chaos, we gave them a self-service platform—where teams could deploy new code without waiting in line. The results? Faster workflows, better adoption of tools, and an infrastructure ready for future growth.

But we didn’t stop there. We solved the critical observability gaps—providing real-time data that helped the insurance giant avoid potential pitfalls before they happened. With our approach, they no longer had to “hope” that things would go right. They could see it happening in real-time which is a major advantage in cross-platform mobile application development and cloud-based web hosting.

The Future of Platform Engineering: What’s Next?

As we look forward, platform engineering will continue to drive innovation, enabling companies to build scalable, resilient systems that adapt to future challenges—whether it’s AI-driven automation or self-healing platforms.

If you’re ready to make the leap into platform engineering, Mantra Labs is here to guide you. Whether you’re aiming for smoother workflows, enhanced observability, or scalable infrastructure, we’ve got the tools and expertise to get you there.

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