Apps are the pulse of the consumer market space today. There are apps for everything from ordering a cab, food, online shopping, billing, and hiring freelancers! Hence the meteoric growth of many apps in different markets. Especially with cloud-based solutions taking the world by storm, mobile app development companies are competing to provide software solutions to business and consumer problems. So once an app is developed, it seems like everything should go smoothly for the developer, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Distribution is a major challenge for developers and they are forced to operate on one of the few available marketplaces. Under these conditions, getting the application to the right customer becomes an obstacle for the developer. This is where Blockchain technology can be very useful. In fact, it is being touted as the solution to some of the major problems facing the mobile economy today.

Blockchain technology - an overview

Blockchain is by no means new! It has been around since 2009 and was described as early as 1991. Blockchain has gained a lot of popularity thanks to Bitcoin and that is why its name sounds very familiar. Blockchain is simply a chain of blocks and is completely open (i.e. to everyone), but it cannot be modified. These blocks simply contain information. Its main feature is its security and its applications, given its incorruptible nature, are immense. They can be used to store not only financial information, but also anything of value. Now that we have had an overview of what this technology is, let's move on to the main problems faced by the mobile app economy.

Main problems faced by the mobile app economy and how Blockchain technology can help
As with any business, the main challenge in the mobile scenario is getting the product to the customer. As a leading mobile app development company, we see that advertising, distribution, app approval and the traditional in-app purchase model are some of the major problems faced by the mobile app economy.

Getting your app approved is no small task

Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store are the main destinations for all mobile apps under development. The approval processes are solely decided by these companies and the quality assurance and distribution policies are not very transparent. We understand that if everything was transparent in the current scenario, there is a risk that malicious apps could be propagated to users. Overall, getting your app approved and published is not an easy task and it is a painful experience for the developer most of the time.

So, how can Blockchain technology help? The app approval process can be made transparent and easier by employing a system such as a developer reputation system. Here's how it would work in a nutshell: the developer submits their application to a website or platform and it is temporarily stored. The application is then scanned with various anti-virus programs and signature validations take place. Then, anti-malware engines are used to filter and analyze the application and only then will the application be allowed to be installed. With this system, the developers' ranking can be kept in a public registry and users can make their decision based on this ranking. This will streamline the approval process and make it more transparent.

There are a lot of middlemen in the advertising business.

With millions of apps on the Play Store and App Store, it's not easy to dominate the market and grab the user's attention. Regardless of the mobile app platform, competition is fierce and advertising is a real challenge. To advertise, developers must rely on CPI campaigns, where CPI stands for Cost Per Installation. In general, for a CPI campaign to work, the flow between the developer and the user is not direct, it involves many RTB/exchanger intermediaries. The CPI network, ad servers, DSPs, SSPs, attribution platforms all the way to the publisher. Thus, the earnings are diminished when they reach the developer.

With Blockchain, the goal is to establish a new advertising model called Cost per Attention. This will link the developer and the user directly, and the user will be rewarded based on the time spent on the app, compliance with minimum requirements, etc.

The in-app purchase scenario is also similar to advertising: when the developer receives money, they have to wait for a long time. Users usually use cards or wallets and there is a lot to deal with, such as bank transfer fees, fraud charges, missed payments, chargebacks, etc. The developer only gets a 70% share of the user's money and the rest is trapped in in-app processing. In addition, most users around the world still have to buy credit cards and get up to speed with the latest payment techniques. With Blockchain, it is estimated that developers will get a larger share, up to 85% of the money spent by the user on the purchase, compared to 70% currently.

Apart from these areas, Blockchain has interesting applications in the areas of device authentication on mobile application platforms and also provides infrastructure protection.