Hybrid apps developed using a mixture of HTML 5 and native development tools are expected to make up over 50 percent of mobile apps deployed by 2016 as web-based technologies make their mark.
According to Gartner, hybrid apps will be used in the development of a majority of mobile apps built although consumer apps will continue to use native apps, which are developed platform by platform and are mostly able to run offline.
Gartner forecasts that consumer apps will have a 40/40/20 ratio split by 2015 using native, hybrid and web apps respectively, while the ratio of enterprise apps will see 60 percent being hybrid apps, followed by web at 30 percent and native apps at 10 percent.
“While hybrid apps will be the majority of enterprise mobile apps, web technologies like HTML5 will make up the most commonly used languages for building mobile applications by 2015,” said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow.
In addition, the number of mobile customer relationship management (CRM) apps available to download from app stores will grow by 500 percent by 2014.
As the CRM market continues to expand rapidly, it could present an opportunity for operators looking to branch out into offering enterprise apps and the lifecycle management behind it (read MWC 2013: Addressing the challenges of enterprise apps).