Design, Innovation And Diffusion Theories For Mobile App Development

Design Thinking and Development of a Mobile App

Before the advent of technology, different types of problems like social, service or commercial were handled manually. As a result, the processing of the problems was slow and was biased towards certain categories of people due to some factors that are out of scope of this development. With the development of smartphones, the app developers started to different apps that were aimed to addressing the different processes easily without the need for any manual handling or intervention of any physical entities. For instance, before the development of the apps or even smartphones, electricity or telephone bills needed to be paid manually with the payment in cash. However, with the apps, an individual can pay the same amount using cashless transfer and there is no need for the individual to be present at the payment office. Hence, it can be said that mobile apps have greatly reduced the manual workload and eased the way of the people to solve different problems easily.

Based on the analysis above, it has been decided for this particular assignment that in order to execute design thinking for addressing certain problems, the mobile platform is probably the best choice. Hence, for this assignment, a project plan for the development of mobile app (supported by Android and iOS) has been presented that is aimed to address a specific social problem that is domestic security.

The main problem that will be addressed using the proposed mobile app is the domestic security. While searching for the major social problems faced by people around the world, it has been found that domestic security is one of the growing issues. Domestic security issues include domestic violence, forced intrusion by the thieves and robbers, revenge murders, rapes and others. Most of the time, people are robbed, severely injured or even killed as they are unable to call the police and other security personnel in time. With the exponential increase in violence among humanity, this problem is also growing exponentially. Development of a specific mobile app can help to reduce the problem to a large extent or at least ensure quick response from the police and security personnel.

The proposed app will have the following features for addressing the above mentioned problems.

Security Alert System – In the cases of attempted intrusion and theft, this mobile app will be able to alert the people living in the particular house immediately. However, in order to implement this particular feature, an additional force detection device will be required that will have to be connected with the app and then placed on the lock of the door. Whenever an intruder tries to break the lock, it will exert pressure on the alert device, which will then immediately send alert message to the phone of the user.

Call for Help – In addition to the alert system, there will be a red panic button that will appear on the wallpaper theme of the user’s phone. Whenever the user is under distress or attack by domestic or external people, the user needs to press the red button, which will then immediately send an alert to nearby police stations will the exact location coordinates of the sender. Owing to the success of this feature, the health services feature will also be developed in the near future.

Problem to Address

Identification Feature – Another proposed feature of the app is its access to the people identification database. According to the proposed feature, the app will be able scan the face of an individual and will immediately display the identity of that particular individual. This will be helpful for the domestic people to verify the identities of service men like plumbers, electricians and others. However, this feature will be subject to licensing from the government.

The chosen problem that will be addressed is not something new and many developers have already started to develop domestic security apps. Hence, it is naturally expected that there will be some significant competition in the market. However, with growing awareness among the people, the market for this particular type of app is growing fast and hence, it can be expected that once the app has sufficient promotions, it will slowly starting earning revenue that will also increase with time. As a result, in order to achieve commercial success with this app, it should be ensured that all the features are working according to plan and is actually helping people as per the claims of the objectives for the development of this app. However, regarding commercialization of this app, there is a problem.

In the app download platform like Google Play, there are hundreds of apps that claim to provide similar security services. However, almost 90% of them are frauds and most of them contain dangerous virus files. When a user downloads such an app, the virus gets into the system and steals the personal information of the users that include his location, bank account details, credit and debit card details and others. These apps come with attractive screenshots and well-written descriptions that attract the user to download the app for use. Moreover, after download, the apps ask the user to give 5 star rating before it starts functioning. In this way, the apps lure more and more users and as a result, the regular users are losing their faiths in these apps. Hence, it will be a significant challenge to convince the users that this app is not fake and will actually provide services as promised in the description. This is important in order to take hold of the market and avoid any competition from other similar apps.

There are numerous design thinking tools and techniques that are used to evaluate a certain design thinking plan. These design thinking tools include SWOT analysis, mind mapping, rapid prototyping and others. These tools and techniques help to breakdown the entire project into several parts that will simplify the requirements and the implementation can be done step by step. For this particular project, SWOT analysis is utilized in order to analyze the opportunities and limitations of the project. The analysis results are shown in the following table.

Strengths	Weaknesses
i. This app will address a significant social problem that is growing day by day ii. Commercialization of the app will be able to earn significant revenue iii. This app will be made available for both android and iOS and will require minimal storage space	i. How many people will download and utilize this app is not known ii. In some countries, domestic people like housewives may not know how to use mobile apps in smartphones iii. There is no way to detect fake alerts
Opportunities	Threats
i. Once promoted sufficiently and commercialized, the app will be able to earn high revenues ii. This app will be able to address security problems of many countries	i. There are hundreds of fake apps in the app stores ii. In spite of alerts, some police may not act accordingly and send help iii. There may be budget constraints and license issues while developing the app

The launch of this app will follow the rigorous development and testing phases. The entire development and launch plan is as follows.

Initial Study of Requirements – First, a study will be conducted on the problem that will be addressed and the currently available solutions to the common people. Moreover, the available and working of the apps that are currently in the market will be analyzed and it will be observed what are their features and what features they lack. Accordingly, a plan for the proposed app will be prepared that will be able to compete with the existing app.

Market and Competition

Development of App Prototype – In this phase, a prototype of the proposed app will be designed and the proposed features will be added. A fake police number will be created and the alert system will be tested to find whether it is able to send alert to the number and if yes, what is the reaction and alert delivery time of the entire system.

Development of Beta Version and Testing – Following the implementation of the features, the beta version of the app will be ready and it will be ready for testing. It can be made available for users in the form of demo versions so they can test it and post feedbacks.

Debugging and Launch – After all the changes are done, debugging operation will be conducted to remove all the bugs existing in the app. After debugging, the app should be ready to use and will be made available for download in the app store. It may be made free for download or at a certain price owing on the expenses in the project and the availability of the initial funding.

In order to execute the project, sufficient resources will be required that will be procured using the available budget. An estimated resource plan is shown in the following table.

Resource Required	Estimated Expense
Access to Development Platforms for Android and iOS	$200
Development Softwares and Tools	$1500
Hardware Support	$2500
Software Safety Tools	$600
Licensing and Entry Fee in Play Store	$2000
Search Engine Optimization	$200
Total	$7000

Since the plan is to commercialize the app, the long term plan is to achieve a strong hold on the market and bring in as many customers as possible. Hence, judging by the success of the app more new features will be added to the app in future including SOS calls for hospitals and others. However, the long term plan will only be implemented if the app is sufficiently successful in the first three months. 

The activities that need to be performed within the time frame are shown in the following table.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Development of Mobile App to Address Domestic Security Problem	230 days	Tue 19-09-17	Mon 06-08-18
Project Planning and Development	26 days	Tue 19-09-17	Tue 24-10-17
Initial Study of the Problems	5 days	Tue 19-09-17	Mon 25-09-17
Proposal of Features to Address the Problems	2 days	Tue 26-09-17	Wed 27-09-17
Analysis of Existing Apps	15 days	Thu 28-09-17	Wed 18-10-17
Proposal of the Project Plan	2 days	Thu 19-10-17	Fri 20-10-17
Final Project Plan Development	2 days	Mon 23-10-17	Tue 24-10-17
Project Initiation and Execution	162 days	Wed 25-10-17	Thu 07-06-18
Procurement of Project Budget	10 days	Wed 25-10-17	Tue 07-11-17
Procurement of Project Resources	5 days	Wed 08-11-17	Tue 14-11-17
Initiation of Developmet of Prototype	30 days	Wed 15-11-17	Tue 26-12-17
Inclusion of New Features	5 days	Wed 27-12-17	Tue 02-01-18
Testing of Prototype in Simulated Environment	10 days	Wed 03-01-18	Tue 16-01-18
Development of Beta Version	2 days	Wed 17-01-18	Thu 18-01-18
Launch of Demo Version in App Store	10 days	Fri 19-01-18	Thu 01-02-18
Collection of Feedbacks	15 days	Fri 02-02-18	Thu 22-02-18
Changes Included in the App	15 days	Fri 23-02-18	Thu 15-03-18
Development of Final Version	30 days	Fri 16-03-18	Thu 26-04-18
Debugging and Troubleshooting	10 days	Fri 27-04-18	Thu 10-05-18
Improvements in UI and Minor Tweaks	5 days	Fri 11-05-18	Thu 17-05-18
Launch of Full Version in App Store	15 days	Fri 18-05-18	Thu 07-06-18
Project Closing Phase	42 days	Fri 08-06-18	Mon 06-08-18
Preparation of Project Report	10 days	Fri 08-06-18	Thu 21-06-18
Documentation of Initial Response	30 days	Fri 22-06-18	Thu 02-08-18
Sign Off	2 days	Fri 03-08-18	Mon 06-08-18

Conclusion

In this report, a launch readiness plan for a mobile app has been suggested. The mobile app is expected to address domestic security issues and the plan has been prepared using design thinking tools. Based on the analysis above, it has been decided for this project that in order to execute design thinking for addressing the chosen domestic security problems, the mobile platform is probably the best choice. Hence, a project plan for the development of mobile app (supported by Android and iOS) has been presented that is aimed to address domestic security issues discussed in the report.

Based on the analysis of the project plan, the following recommendations can be suggested.

Avoid Fraud – As found in analysis, there are many fraud apps in the store. Hence, it must be ensured that the app provides services as promised and not come out to be fraud like others.

Build Client Based Market – Since the app is entirely directed towards addressing a serious problem, the market should be developed based on the clients’ requirements instead of just another commercial app.

Platform Support and Understandable UI – The app is recommended to be developed for both Android and iOS and the UI should be such that it is easily understandable by all the users. 

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