Mobile app testing sees more investment
As more enterprises look to mobile apps and the cloud for increased efficiency, the testing and monitoring of those applications is expected to grow rapidly, according to a recent report from Future Market Insights.
The firm forecasts that interactive testing for mobile applications will reach a market value of $6.88 billion by 2026, up from just over $1 billion in 2015. Automated testing for apps is expected to see similar growth, from around $853.1 million in 2015 to $6.4 billion by 2026.
In terms of value, the Android segment is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 20.2% over the forecast period. In terms of value, the iOS segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 19.7% over the forecast period
As more applications move to the cloud, enterprises are facing the need to do more testing before deployment, as well as more monitoring of application performance – and companies large and small are seeking to capitalize on that need. Smith Micro, which has more traditionally focused on user experience optimization and policy-based device control, last week launched its 4D App Studio service. The app design and development service originates with Smith Micro’s acquisition of app developer iMobileMagic earlier this year, and already has around 30 apps launched that include iMobileMagic work.
Recent momentum is also on display in startup related investments. App testing company Applause just closed on a $35 million funding round backed by Accenture and Credit Suisse to expand its “in the wild” crowd-testing capabilities and start a digital research service. Applause is used by companies including Uber and Coca-Cola for app testing, and has raised more than $115 million in venture funding to date. Chinese mobile app testing startup Testin recently landed $30 million in a series C funding round, bringing its total raised to almost $85 million. Meanwhile, startup AppDiff recently raised $2.5 million for its automated testing platform that relies on bots and artificial intelligence to test mobile apps’ user interface and performance. The platform was launched earlier this month.
“We both worked at leading mobile and testing companies, and wondered why mobile testing was still so manual and ad hoc,” said Jason Arbon, co-founder and CEO of Appdiff, in a statement on the funding round and platform launch. “Our insight was to create software that automatically does 80% of the heavy lifting, and let humans concentrate on the more interesting work.”
Future Market Insights said the app testing market will be driven by “requirement for immediate regression testing with enhanced growth of m-commerce and an increasing demand from the corporate sector and residential sector,” along with the bring-your-own-device trends and demand for enterprise applications. It said that smartphones will be the dominant force in global mobile app testing, accounting for $10.6 billion of the market by 2026; tablets are predicted to make up $2.68 billion of the 2026 market.
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