With the focus shifting from personal computers to smartphones, the next gold rush is in the development of applications, said Mr N. Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Browser-based Web solutions are passé as they get replaced increasingly by apps. “But the challenge is in getting enough people with programming capability to develop apps. Start-ups are struggling to get resources…Software firms such as Cognizant too must invest in resources to develop apps. There is an opportunity for developing applications in different languages,” said Mr Narayanan, at a mobile conference here. “The most popular apps in Brazil, Argentina, Japan and China are those developed in the local language.”
And in all this, the focus needs to be on consumer needs, urged Mr Narayanan.
Mr Arun Jain, Founder and Chairman, Polaris Financial Technology, said by 2015 the proliferation of non-PC devices such as smartphones and tablets and adoption of mobile payments will accelerate. Internet commerce will go from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.
“The opportunities are in creating a rich connected and seamlessly integrated ecosystem. Polaris is working on one such product to integrate all identities — Facebook, bank account and mobile payment — on the same ecosystem.”