This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefingsubscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.Some 187,000 iOS apps could face the axe when Apple rolls out iOS 11, according to SensorTower.iOS developers working with a beta version of iOS 10.3 noticed a message warning that apps not optimized for Apple's 64-bit A7 processor introduced with the iPhone 5s 'will not work with future versions of iOS.' The update could affect as much as 8% of apps housed in the App Store that were built for the 32-bit processor of older-generation iPhones.This isn't the first time Apple has tried to clean up the App Store. In September 2016, the App Store told developers that they need to update their apps regularly, or risk being delisted from the App Store. Nearly 51% of all iOS apps in the App Store haven't been updated in a year or more, SensorTower found in Q3 2016.The move by Apple could be the push that convinces affected developers to update their apps. This will have the tandem effect of weeding out 'dead' apps, as well as improving the overall iOS app experience for users. Apple is likely trying to address three primary areas of the app ecosystem.The App Store is saturated ' there are 2.4 million apps in the App Store. That's projected to grow to around 5 million apps by 2020, according to SensorTower. This makes it difficult for app makers to get their products to stand out in the crowd. Cutting away the bloat could help improve visibility for up-to-date apps.Ensuring that apps are up-to-date can help improve the overall app experience, thus boosting engagement. Regular app updates tend to address bugs, and are optimized to run on the latest iteration of iOS. This also helps patch up security vulnerabilities and gives consumers access to innovative features.Apple is working hard to make the App Store (as a part of its Services segment) a veritable revenue stream, next to the iPhone. Improving the overall caliber of apps in the App Store could improve the overall experience, in turn incentivizing consumers to spend more money.But it's unlikely that most abandoned apps will be updated.The high cost and effort associated with updating potentially affected apps, coupled with their initial latency, makes itunlikely that a significant number of outdated apps will be fixed. These apps are destined for the chopping block.Mobile-app makers and content creators are vying for consumer attention in a crowded and noisy market.Even if an app can stand out enough to prompt a consumer to download it from among a list of millions, it then faces the challenge of enticing him or herto use itenough times to recuperate development, maintenance, and marketing costs. To make matters worse, thosemarketing costs have hitrecord-highlevels over the past year as discoverability has become more challenging.And while consumers are spending more time in apps, most of that time is spent in a few favorites. Consumers spend almost three-quarters of their total smartphone app time in just their threefavorite apps, according to comScore.But it's not all doom and gloom: There are numerous tools at a publisher's disposal to engage and re-engage consumers, and there are new products and solutions coming to market that can help alleviate some of the issues around this app engagement crisis.Jessica Smith, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on app engagement that explores the current state of the app market, the issues around engaging consumers, and the tools at a publisher's disposal. It alsoidentifies best practices for the implementation of some app engagement tools, and presents the pitfalls that some publishers fall into in this pursuit.Here are some key takeaways from the report:The app market today is challenging and volatile. It's difficult to stand out, and most apps have to be offered for free in order to entice consumers who have too much supply to choose from. Thisputs greater emphasis on engaging consumers after they've downloaded an app in order to recoup costs.Consumers are more difficult to engage today, as most have dozens of apps installed on their devices yet spend most of their time in just a select handful of favorites.There are numerous solutions at hand for mobile app publishers and content creators seeking to engage consumers. Push notifications, in-app messaging, and app message centers with badges are three tools publishers can use to engage consumers.While many publishers mistakenly rely solely on push notifications for app engagements, this is a poor practice because many consumers don't allow push notifications and those that do can easily be overwhelmed when they receive too many.The best solution often includes leveraging two or three of these tools to engage consumers with the right message at the right time. The technology in this market has grown increasingly sophisticated, and publishers that don't diversify their approachrun the risk of annoying their consumers to the point of abandonment.There are emerging engagement technologies that will change the current app engagement norms and present new ways for app publishers to communicate with users. The mobile ecosystem is changing quickly as technology improves and consumers become more comfortable conducting more activities on mobile devices.In full, the report:Identifies themajor challenges in today's app market and explains why employing good app engagement practices is more important than ever before.Presents the major app engagement tools currently available.Examines the pros and cons of each app engagement tool while outlining some pitfalls that publishers encounter in implementing them.Prescribes best practices for adopting various app engagement tools or strategies.Assesses how the market will likely change over the next five years asemerging technologies change both consumer behavior with mobile devices and introduce new tools with which to engage consumers.Interested in getting the full report' Here are twoways to access it:Subscribe to anAll-Accesspass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensureyou stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally.Learn MoreNowPurchase & download the full report fromour research store.Purchase & Download NowJoin the conversation about this story
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