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DIGITAL DIVIDE : FACTORS, DIGITAL DIVIDE IN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN COUNTRIES

What is Digital Divide?

The digital divide refers to the gap between people who have access to affordable, reliable internet service (and the skills and gadgets necessary to take advantage of that access) and those who lack it.This difference is often due to socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic factors.

For every country, the infrastructure needed for high-speed Internet is an economic investment, either by the government or by Internet carrier companies. Some countries or companies make investment, and others do not because of money. Not all countries have the budget to build Internet infrastructure.

These gaps in connectivity and skills reflect existing differences in wealth and access to education, as well as gender discrimination. The digital divide also exacerbates these same differences by barring many people from the information necessary to break out of their current living situation.

Digital inequality is evident between communities living in urban areas and those living in rural settlements; between socioeconomic groups; between less economically developed countries and more economically developed countries; between the educated and uneducated population.

Factors responsible for the Digital Divide

The digital divide dramatically also continues to persist at an alarming rate due to the following:

Education

Education is a significant investment in healing the digital divide. Low literacy levels are widening the digital inequality gap. College degree holders are perceived to be more likely to tap into the full potential of the internet compared to individuals with high school education or lower.

Income Levels

The income gap plays a considerable role in magnifying the digital divide. High-income earners are more likely to access the internet than low-income earners.For low-income population money is scarce. Their earnings are channeled towards basic needs. They view technology as a luxury.

Geographical Restrictions

More economically developed countries have access to a wide variety of technology and high-speed broadband connection because of the richness of their economies. Less economically developed countries lack the necessary technology and infrastructure to set up a high-speed internet connection.

In-country geographical restrictions also widen the digital divide. Urban regions are more likely to have access to 4G or fiber optic internet than rural or mountainous zones.

Digital Divide between Northern and Southern countries

The north-south divide is a term used to describe the social, economic and cultural disparities between the London and the south-east of England and the rest of the UK.

In the 1980s Brandt Line was developed as a way of showing how the world was geographically split into relatvely richer and poorer natons.

Richer countries are almost all located in the Northern Hemisphere, with the excepton of Australia and New Zealand.

Poorer countries are mostly located in tropical regions and in the Southern Hemisphere.

People in developed countries have easy access to the latest technological advancements, enjoy good healthcare, education, and other services, while people in developing countries may have some access to technology, and their healthcare, education, and other services are at a middle level.

Most people in underdeveloped countries, on the other hand, do not have access to education, healthcare or other services, and most do not have access to technology.

Rural areas face the risk of a“doubledigital divide”.On the supply side,they are still lagging behind in terms of the provision of Next generation access (NGA) infrastructure–so closing this gap has to be a continued investment priority. On the demand side,many rural areas lack the basic skills and knowledge of the potential of digital technology so that even if the ‘digital highways’ are in place, they may remain under-exploited in terms of service provision,business use,or customer takeup.

Many people in rural areas are still without adequate internet access, and still more lack the skills to take full advantage of the access they do have. The most accurate predictors of the digital divide are educational level and the urban-rural divide.

People living in rural areas are lagging behind the average in computer and Internet access, regardless of income level. At some income levels, those in urban areas are 50% more likely to have Internet access than those earning the same income in rural areas.

Households in rural areas are less likely to access the Internet than are households in urban areas or central cities. Households at certain income levels are also less likely to own computers than comparable households in urban areas or central cities. While telephone penetration is generally high in rural areas.

According to recent studies, people living in urban areas globally have roughly twice the level of internet access in their homes compared with those who live in rural areas.

According to a survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), there is a digital divide with just 4% of the rural households having access to computers as compared to 23% in urban areas.

The report also highlighted that while 15% surveyed population in the rural cluster has internet access, 42% of the surveyed students in the urban areas have access to the internet. Only 24% of the persons between age 15-29 years in rural areas are able to operate a computer as compared to 56% of their urban counterparts.

Some analysts fear that, instead of narrowing, the digital divide is getting wider. In addition, some questionable business practices appear to be widening the gap even within developed nations: The ongoing debates about net neutrality and versioning can be seen as issues about equitable access to the digital world.

In recent years, programs have been launched that aim to combat particular aspects of the digital divide. Many of these are being coordinated at the highest level, including within the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9, which allows individual countries to coordinate their activities toward ending digital discrimination.

Many countries now also run digital literacy programs aimed at teaching both adults and children the skills necessary to breach the digital divide.

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MISINFORMATION

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EDUCATION APP DEVELOPMENT: FEATURES, MARKET RESEARCH, COST

The recent trends in education have changed if look ten years back and now.

Actually not ten years, you don't need to go back so long, just imagine your life before the Covid pandemic. Everything was different as if we look now. Earlier we couldn't imagine our life, especially education virtually. But the situations turned out to be different and changed the way we used to live. Everything is now possible on our single device. Whether it's financing, bookings, food, payments, or cabs, these all are accessible through mobile phones.

During the Pandemic, every sector tried its best to grow and so the education and cooperate sector did. Earlier, the Education and Cooperate sector couldn't proceed further without the gatherings and meetings, and during the pandemic, it nearly stopped. But certain app development companies took it as an advantage to expand their market and they came out with the solutions of meetings apps like google meet, MS teams, zoom, and many more.

Well, this was all about the meetings apps that we have talked about till now. This article mainly deals with the development of the Education apps like Byjus, Topper, Khan Academy, and more along with their Market, Scope, and Cost of the development. So let's start with it now.

Nowadays, Education is no longer as unexciting as it used to be earlier. Well, Nowadays we can access education anytime from wherever we want. Education is becoming a platform for different niches and innovations. Many tech giants are investing in Smart education and E-learning apps.

If you want to know how E-learning will uplift the learning industry, check out the Future of E-Learning apps in the Education industry.

Currents statistics and trends

The current stats and reports say that E-learning is a dynamic industry that received unprecedented growth due to the pandemic. The research report "Education Apps Market - Forecast and Analysis Report 2021-2025" shows that the market is expected to have a YOY growth rate of 29.98% in 2021. However, the growth momentum is likely to decelerate at a CAGR of 27.49% between 2020 and 2025.

In 2019, the global ed-tech investments reached $18.66 Billion and with lockdown, the analysts expect that the overall market for online education is predicted to an extent $350 billion by 2025.

If we look at the figures, In the first quarter of 2020, the number of downloads of numerous educational apps increased by 30% as compared to the first quarter of 2019.

As the market is growing for online learning tools, the demand for new ed-tech tools amongst investors is also increasing. Investors are getting attracted by the Advanced technology-backed tools.

The statistics also show that E-learning is an excellent way of effective learning where participants learn five times more as compared to the regular classroom learning at the same time.

E-learning is more efficient, that's why about forty percent of the many companies use online learning training and all. E-learning doesn't ask the participant to stick to one place, instead, it supports mobile learning that enables the easy access to the participants.

Improvised and spontaneous learning processes are heading towards the introduction of microlearning, allowing professionals at work to catch up on topics fastly. Today, the corporates are choosing for applications providing fragile pointers on various issues of expertise.

Looking at the present scenario as well as the predictions for the future, mobile apps are likely to remain as the choice for developing most learning options.

The popularity of online education or e-learning is increasing day by day and parents nowadays, even allow their kids to avail smartphones or tablets to have an education-based app use to improve their learning habits.

Common Features

As we have talked out the market and Scope of the Education Apps, now it's time to discuss about the most crucial Features that an E-learning must have.

Login and User Profile

For every application Signup and login are the initial steps for successful installation of the application on your device which begin after the downloading of the App.

Setting up the user profile enables the participants to go through the dashboards and courses, and wander through the app. Additionally, they can also add some of the other details like age, subjects, courses, and other details.

Flexible Search

A search tool is an important tool to explore through the App and find out more details about courses, subjects, and other details about the application. The flexible search option is a key component of flexible learning.

Courses

To opt for the right course the students need to know about the courses that are being offered on the app and other details related to it like the course program, description, and prices at which are available to buy.

Attendance management

Taking the attendance register, calling out loud for the name, and after receiving 'yes', marking the present- Well this has really become a boring and time-consuming process and if we have come out with the solution for every problem in the education apps then why to lag in the attendance management feature. You should include this feature too for better management and less time consumption.

Quality content

Whenever we go to select a book we often look for the content table to let us know the quality of the book. So why to take risks with the education apps. The quality of the education apps is often determined by the content they have on these apps. This feature guarantees the most traffic for your apps. Therefore take time to plan and develop units, segments, and other materials that are important for the application. Make sure to include high-quality content along with pictures, videos, presentations, questions, and other interactive and presentable content.

Interactive

It is said that interactive communication is more effective than one-way communication. This statement goes well with the teaching also because it is also a form of communication in which knowledge is delivered to the learners. Interactive learning is also an important feature of an E-learning application. Many learning applications don't forget to highlight this feature while advertising. From here only you can get an idea about the importance of this feature.

Although these interactive sessions with educators are often considered as a bonus of some kind and therefore these are not omitted from educational apps. This bonus can act as a magnet to generate more revenue.

Progress test reports

Progress test reports always remain an integral part of the educational apps as they help to track the performance of the learners helping them to improve further.

These are also a part of the personal approach to education. Providing students mock tests, in their own space and that too from the comfort of their home is a positive way to take your students to a greater extent. These services surely enable you to personalize your learning apps as you want. So be ready and make sure that the progress test feature must be there in your app itself. It will enable your students to adjust their learning space, capacity, and materials according to the results of the progress report.

Cost for the Development of education apps

Determining the accurate cost for the development of the education apps depends on the features that are going to be included in them.

However, the estimated cost with some of the basic features can begin from $15,000 to $25,000+ depending upon the needs of your business and the team you hire for the development of the app.

But we still have a rough estimate for development hours of an education app below.

Benefits of Education Apps

While we began to discuss the benefits of the Education apps it is crucial to understand the benefits in both, academic as well as business learning. Although there are specific advantages to both components. Education App doesn't have the benefits for the Education sector only, but these are also extended to the businesses sector.

For Academics

These Apps decrease the gap and associates experts with learners across boundaries.

These also allow a flexible learning format for different types of requirements.

For Businesses

These Apps often track employee progress easily.

Plays an important role while training the employees.

Provides ready and easy access to solutions.

Improve productivity and efficiency.

Here, we enlist for you the most prominent benefits that strike a chord as to why eLearning app development is going to be the most widely accepted format. Let's have a look at them.

Mobile Learning

Mobile learning was one of the basic and prominent ideas behind developing the Education apps.

These apps enable the users to access the class materials at any time. With the development of the education apps, the learning is not limited to classrooms or homes only. Students can use them at their convenience.

Leisure time Utilization

In their spare time, most people especially children engage themselves in activities, such as watching TV, Internet surfing, or having conversations over the phone for long hours. By getting busy with these activities, they may get a sense of relief. But, these activities are not suitable for children's growth.

e-Learning on Smart devices is the best way to utilize children's time more effectively. They can take advantage of their leisure hours to learn new and creative things using a mobile app for education.

Quality interaction

According to a survey, E-Learning apps are assisting the students to enrich their interest in their studies. They are assisting the students to become a better version of themselves and more bothered about their education.

Education apps are also advantageous in boosting the interaction and conversation between teachers and parents. While using an app, a child gets the best time with the parents to engage with them and motivate them in the E-Learning process.

Easy Interaction

E-Learning apps are more cost-efficient instead of hiring teachers and these are often better engagement and productive solutions in the education sector. Using these apps you can save more time and money than you were spending on teachers.

These apps allow you to teach and interact with students easily. Not only this, but the students will also be more comfortable learning through these without any fear of being judged and punished. Most students are afraid of their teachers. And these apps will remove the conception of fear, punishments, etc.

One-click availability

Here is the next prominent advantage and the idea behind the Education apps ( i. e.) the

24x7 availability. Education institutions like Schools, colleges, and tuition centers are limited to certain periods. A learner can go with the material and clear the doubts only during the particular time slots of the institutions. But this is not with the E-learning applications because the students can clear their doubts anywhere at any time. The learners don't have to wait for long periods to get access to the materials and other activities, and they even don't need teachers.

Smooth and Systematic Learning

In E-learning Apps, two things walk hand in hand that is Smart and systematic learning. The whole content in an education App is arranged to well to increase the learning desires of the students in a systematic manner. These apps enable the students to follow an untroubled and logical flow without much effort.

Sustainability

The modern learning apps are more sustainable as compared to the traditional learning methods which comprise various materials like pencils, papers, pens, Boards, chalks, etc. They also allow the students to get notes and other class material by just clicking and downloading them. Completing the topics on learning is quicker and yet more effective.

Challenges and Conclusion

As we can observe that the market for Education apps is so promising and every year the market will reach new heights. Wearable technologies are improving communication between teachers and students by smoothing the path for a platform for distributing ideas, implementing processes, and receiving feedback. These smart devices are growing as a trend in the education apps market. These devices allow a user to install apps and learn subjects.

However, data security is a major concern for the education apps market. Now, the expansion of E-learning technology has increased security concerns.

The rising use of mobile apps for education in organizations and institutions is creating paths for hacking confidential information and making it more difficult for the Information and Technology (IT) department to regulate access to data on its backend systems.

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Music App Development, Features, Market Share and Cost Can anyone of us imagine our life without music? Actually, we can’t. We can't really imagine our life without music as it has been an inseparable part of our life.

Whether we are riding in the car headed to our destination or listening to muzak in an elevator, we are constantly surrounded by songs. Makeups, Breakups, hanging out with friends, parties, singing along with our children, or caroling a Christmas tune—music chases nearly every aspect of our life.

Music has evolved through the ages and so the way of listening has. Earlier, we used Big sized Cassettes, DVDs, and Radio to listen to the music. And now, in this digital world, we all have been shifted to a single multi-use device, and you all know what I am talking about. Yes, you got it right, it's our mobile phone.

If you ever need music to make you feel good, or you just want to go for a song, you will not prefer to wait until it gets downloaded. You will not waste your time in downloading that. Rather, you will wish to listen to it at that moment only.

Now, that is where Music Apps like Spotify come into action. As our life is getting busier nowadays, no one really has the time to download the tracks they want to listen to. But, it doesn’t mean that people skip listening to their favorite tunes.

We should be grateful to music streaming apps like Spotify, that fulfill our craving for music. The app has enabled easy access to the music. People are enjoying and listening as much as they want in their homes, workplaces, or whatever other areas where their mobiles can connect with the internet.

If you are planning to develop a music streaming app like Spotify, let us help you with the Scope, features, and other characteristics of the music app.

Let us begin with the Streaming App statistics and Usage.

The mobile app industry is thriving with over 6.3 billion Smartphones users across the world, and this penetration is still growing at a steady rate.

In the year 2020, music streaming revenue hit 13.4 billion U.S. dollars across the world which was more than 28 times the figure recorded a decade ago.

Music streaming is a vital income stream for artists around the globe, with the number of music streaming subscribers worldwide reaching 487 million in 2021. In 2021, music streaming is far ahead of other forms of music distribution.

Since its inception, revenue from music streaming has increased every year. Since 2014, it has grown at an average rate of 43.9% and become the primary revenue source for most music labels.

Now it's clear what the music streaming application market is and what its future is likely to be.

Music Apps Market Share

Before moving towards the development of the App, you must be aware of your competitors and dominating music apps in the Market.

‘Spotify has the highest music streaming audience ship with 31% of the market’, according to Midia Research music streaming platform statistics.

The research also suggests that there’s no risk of Spotify losing its leading position anytime soon.

Spotify is followed by Apple music(15%), Amazon music(13%), Tencent Music(13%) and Youtube music (8%).

Features

Before developing the App, you must know the features to be included in the app.Here is the list of must-have basic features that should be a part of the music streaming app for attracting users. Lets talk about these features one by one.

User Authentication

This is the initial stage right after downloading the app which includes registration, authentication, and user profile/ Account creation. Just downloading the app doesn't make it ready to access. It requires registration, authentication, and creation of the account to understand you and your music needs along with your choices. Music streaming apps like Spotify are connected to social media handles like Facebook and other social media networks so that users can sign up in a single click. In the same way, you will also have to unite the same feature in your app.

Initially, during the trial period, Apps like Spotify let the users access the content for free.

The user profile section of the App contains the essential information about the user like his name, age, gender, date of birth, music preferences, and so on. In this section, you should receive information from the user regarding preferences, and choices to envision and provide the content based on his/her desires.

It requires 15-20 hours on the front end and approximately 20-25 Hrs on the Back-End, to develop the onboarding feature.

Music streaming

A Music app is incomplete without the streaming feature. It is the most crucial characteristic of a Music app which let the user access ‘N’ number of songs. The streaming doesn’t require downloading the songs completely. Instead, it delivers the music in short packets with the help of network. Thus, you should ensure that the stream is consistent and continuous to hear the clear sound with no pauses.

Offline mode and Downloads

What if your network is not stable and worse if you don't have that? You will not let this interrupt your mood for music. The solution is here for your problem. Not only live streaming, apps like Spotify also offer you to download your favorite songs. You can download the songs that you want and can enjoy them where ever and whenever you want. This feature allows the user to listen to the songs without any internet connection and it uses the local storage of the device to cache the audio information. Development of Offline Mode takes somewhere around 60 to 70 hours.

Search Option

The main idea behind developing the music app was to provide the user with the songs that they desire to listen to with a single tap. Spotify provides you the search option to give the listeners the opportunity to search for the type of music they want to listen to as per their mood. You should also add this feature in your Music app so that the users can have the option to search for their preferred albums, music, picture tracks, and so on. Adding a Search option in the music streaming app services can take somewhere around 110 – 140 hours.

Playlists

Another best option is to avoid time consumption. Instead of going, again and again, to search for your favorite tracks every day, you can listen to them all under one category by creating a playlist.

The Playlist feature allows the users to create a list of all their preferred tracks at a single spot, classified according to their mood. Just add the songs to your playlist, relax and enjoy your favorite tracks. Now you don't need to search for your songs one after one.

Sharing Option

Now it's time to connect with people through songs. But we all are not good at singing, so instead of singing the song for your close one, you can dedicate it by sharing that with the help of sharing option. You can share the song through any social media handles like Whatsapp, Instagram, and many others.

The sharing option also acts as mouth publicity for your business model like Spotify. Doesn't it sound like Advertising and promoting your brand? Yes it's the same. It will reach the audience through your audience and significantly help in the development of your band value and market share.

It requires approximately 65 to 70 hours to develop the social sharing option in the mobile app.

Podcasts

Many of us love to listen to conversations, stories, dialogues, and motivational speeches. It's like cherry on the top of the cake if you can't get these along with your favorite music. The podcasts in the music apps offers a variety of choices from different artists, storytellers, and leaders.

This feature enables the users to get something different from Music and increase their knowledge and Vocabulary.

Listen using the web interface

The responsive web is another feature of the Music apps, which means you can access the applications through the internet on multiple devices like Laptops, Tablets, and Computers. If you are not allowed to install software on your work computer, no problem. Head to online access and you can listen without installing the Spotify desktop app (or relying on your phone).

Add music that isn't on Spotify

Are you missing any of the artists that is not on the Music app? Well, your app should have the feature for this as well. Spotify too offers the option to add artists that are absent from Spotify.

You can add them yourself by moving to 'Preferences' on the desktop app and clicking 'Add a Source'.

Payments

This feature relies upon your Spotify-like application’s business model.

If your application is providing free services, it is important to incorporate this feature in your application so that users can pay hassle-free for all that they want. This feature enables the users to have a better user experience and enjoy the services without any interruptions.

So far, we have looked into the present and future market trends and scope of the music streaming industry and the features that should be available in your Spotify like application alongside the development hours that would go behind the making of each, let’s find out the total cost of development of these must-have features:

Cost of Music Streaming App Development

Well, the answer to ‘How much does it cost to make a music app’ is dependent on the analysis of a number of factors like the features that are to be included in the music streaming applications, the platforms on which it is likely to be launched, and finally, the area where your music streaming app development company belongs to.

Later, these factors are divided into hours which are allocated to the development of every individual app feature. These all are then used to give a cost estimate of the complete development of music streaming app services.

The music streaming app with basic features for a single platform, whether it iOS or Android would cost you around $15,000 to $25,000.

Above, we have answered all your queries like scope, market, features and cost estimation of the Music app development.

After getting all the information about the music streaming mobile app development, it is evident that you must do a lot of research before stepping into this industry.

You need to observe your targeted user base and develop an app within your budget that can glaze out among all the existing players in the same industry. At the end, it will be all laudable of having a successful mobile app.