Mobile application testing solution market

Mobile applications are at a stage where organizations consider them to be a vital part of the business. The adoption of mobile application testing solutions is increasing rapidly in IT markets worldwide. Furthermore, mobile application testing facilitates building applications that are accessible and scalable across various platforms. It is a process to build application software by testing it for its functionality, consistency, and usability. This can be done by automation and manual testing.

The global mobile application testing solution market is estimated to be valued at US$ 5,222.9 million in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 20.9% over the forecast period (2021-2028).

Recent Developments:

• In March 2020, Microsoft announced the release of the popular code repository app Github both for android and iOS devices. This app primarily allows the developers to remotely manage their projects while been away from PC task such as merging a pull request, organizing task, giving feedback on issues can be performed via the app.
• In February 2016, Smart Software acquired a mobile testing platform named pCloudy, which is an analytics-driven platform for manual and automated testing of apps on real devices
• In May 2020, Sauce Labs Inc. announced the launch of a failure analysis solution that leverages advanced technologies such as machine learning to showcase users' pass/fail data to list a set of common reasons behind the failure of the test. This solution allows developers, QA manager insightful information to improve their test quality.

Asia Pacific (Region) held highest growth in the global mobile application testing solution market in 2020, accounting for 23.0% share in terms of value, followed by Western Europe and North America, respectively. Supported by increasing investments made in the development of new technologies and the vast demand for reliable recovery and backup systems support the growth of the Asia Pacific market.

Figure 1. Global Mobile Application Testing Solution Market Value (US$ Mn), by Region, 2020

Market Dynamics- Drivers

Increasing need for immediate regression testing is expected to drive growth of the global mobile application testing solution market during the forecast period

Consumers are seeking quick updates and bug fixes for their mobile applications. However, each time when app is updated, it is required to undergo thorough testing. This is due to the fact that any small change in an application can have an impact on the behavior of even those functions that are not directly connected. Regression testing validates the performance of an app after updates are introduced to it. By employing automated testing, immediate regression testing can be executed. Enterprises are adopting automated testing to accelerate time-to-market. Thus, these factors are expected to drive growth of the global application testing solution market during the forecast period. For instance, Infosys Limited focuses on enhancing the performance of mobile apps while reducing the number of test cases with regression testing services.

Growing popularity of m-Commerce boosting need for rigorous testing process is expected to propel the global mobile application testing solution market during the forecast period

Rising number of users are adopting online wallet features, which in turn, is expected to boost the utilization of m-Commerce channel. Many enterprises are adopting advanced testing processes, in order to provide apps with a low possibility of security breaches. For instance, Apple Inc. provides its customers with the option of online payment on iPhones with Apple Pay application. Thus, these factors are exempted drive growth of the market during the forecast period.

Market Opportunities

Emergence of connected and smart devices can present lucrative growth opportunities

Smart wearable devices and smart devices based on Internet of Things (IoT) are expected to provide significant opportunities in the market. When these devices are synced with smartphones will support the advent of various other apps, which will require more skilled testers to deliver high-quality apps.

Combining various testing tools to achieve better performance can provide major business opportunities

Parallel testing is being deployed widely by many enterprises, however, the number of devices that can be tested at once is limited. Combining parallel testing with cloud testing enables engineers to test more devices at a given time. Moreover, securing the information on the cloud will not be an issue as testing has no critical data. Executing load testing and network virtualization on the cloud will further enhance the debugging process.

Market Trends

Trends by Device

Recent trends indicate that majority of users owning both tablets and smartphones are more likely to be using smartphones at home and outdoors, and limit the usage of tablets to home settings. Smartphones require thorough testing for different networks, which include Wi-Fi and various mobile networks. Tablets are mostly used on Wi-Fi settings at home and testers can focus on testing app performance on Wi-Fi networks. Some tablet manufacturers such as Apple Inc. offer tablet devices that work only with Wi-Fi, thereby reducing the complexity of app testing.

Trends by Type

Applications with new concepts and exciting features gain popularity rapidly. When the number of users on the app increases, the overall performance of the app decreases. As a result, enterprises are introducing load testing in the debugging process. Load testing helps testers understand how the app will respond when the number of users operating the app or a particular function at the same time increases. For instance, Microsoft Corporation’s Visual Studio solution offers cloud-based load testing for the performance of apps.

Figure 2. Global Mobile Application Testing Solution Market Share, By Platform, 2020

Key Takeaways of the Graph:

• Among Platform, the Android held dominant position in the market and accounted for 44.9% share in the global mobile application testing solution market in 2020. The segment is expected to grow at highest CAGR in the forecast period owing to the fact that the Android based consumers are increasing day by day.
• Among Device, the Smartphone held dominant position in the market and accounted for 79.6% share in the global mobile application testing solution market in 2020. The segment is expected to reach US$ 15,732.05 million in 2028. The growth of smartphone devices is supported by many commercial businesses use mobile phones to improve productivity, safety, and mobility to help their employees to improve customer service while working remotely by staying in touch with customers and suppliers. This has resulted increases the number of mobile phone users.

Market Dynamics- Restraints

Rising agile mobile environment is expected to restrain growth of the global mobile testing solution market during the forecast period

The dynamic nature of mobile phones is increasing the complexity of testing engineers. Introducing new features to hardware or software of the mobile device also requires the testing engineer to update the app accordingly. Furthermore, testing engineers are required to keep a track of changes in the network services such as bandwidth changes that would alter the performance of the mobile app. The different combinations a testing engineer has to debug an app against are significant, thus making it almost impossible to deliver the perfect app. Thus, these factors are expected to restrain growth of the market in the near future.

Fast release cycles are expected to hinder the global mobile application testing solution market growth over the forecast period

Many apps often fail to comply with high standards of quality due to improper debugging. Increasing diversity in networks and devices leads to emergence of more bugs. An app has to be tested, keeping in mind various factors such as other apps running in the background, which could affect app performance. With increasing number of apps, the release cycles for apps are getting shorter. The testing engineer ultimately has no choice, but to release the app without thorough debugging. Hence, these factors are expected to hinder the market growth in the near future.

Competitive Section

Major companies involved in the global mobile application testing solution market are CA Technologies, Symantec Corporation, Cognizant Technology Solution Corporation, SAS Institute, Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, SAP SE, IBM Corporation, Oracle Corporation, and Microsoft Corporation.

Key Developments

Major companies in the market are focused on mergers and acquisitions, in order to enhance the market presence. For instance, in January 2017, CA Technologies, a software corporation, acquired BlazeMeter, an Israel-based mobile performance testing solutions platform developer, for US$ 90 million.

Key players in the market are involved in mergers and acquisitions, in order to gain a competitive edge in the market. For instance, in November 2018, Symantec Corporation acquired Appthority, a provider of mobile application security analysis.