Each year, we publish a white paper to help businesses and their tech leaders make sense of the ever-changing landscape when it comes to communications, collaboration, productivity and engagement.  When we shared our first one in 2014, mobile was still the focus, with cell phones being the one device 96% of people had access to at all times.

While that's still true, the way people -- including customers, employees and suppliers -- are using them is changing. One of the biggest shifts? The days of downloading "native apps" from app stores and the endless cycle and expense of having to maintain them across multiple platforms are over, as the "Progressive Web App" technology makes an any-device, anywhere, anytime approach mainstream.

Confused? We've got you! Our new white paper, “The 2019 Future of Apps: Progressive Web Apps Grow and Mature” includes insights on app trends and industry predictions from tech leaders on the current mobile market as the world of “native apps” and “progressive web apps” merge.  Here's a taste ...

The app landscape has radically shifted.

Progressive Web App (PWA) technology has been in development since 2014 but breakthroughs in mobile features (once only available exclusively on native apps) combined with its ability to be used successfully on any device has resulted in major brands and retailers making the switch. Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest were joined in 2018 by Uber and an ever-widening adoption of PWA within the consumer technology industry.

Moving from "mobile-first" to "digital first," working on ALL devices.

Just as marketers and businesses were finally understanding the importance of being "mobile first" (despite leaders explaining as far back as 2014 that mobile first is dead), the shift to a "digital first" approach became the focus as the proliferation of PWA made it clear that technology and platforms must be device-agnostic.

As YouTube's Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan (then SVP at Google) shared back in 2014 at the RampUp online ad conference, "90% of consumers start a task on one device and finish it on another."

Five years later the “mobile app” as we knew it is also dead.

The next evolution of apps will look entirely different for the next generation of users. Unhindered from the walled gardens of play stores with access to powerful engines once reserved for enterprise systems, they will go faster and reach farther than their predecessors.

Major retailers and businesses are making the switch.

The white paper also provides case studies and useful resources to show how far Progressive Web App technology will reach as the largest brands in the world are making the switch. With Google, Microsoft and Samsung leading the way and Apple now following suit, PWA is becoming ubiquitous and the future is here.

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The full white paper also has analysis and trends from industry thought-leaders.  Download it now to get the full story!