The mobile world is overflowing with plethora of mobile applications as Apple’ s iPhone store with its over billion applications revolutionized the mobile ecosystem. With an application developed for almost everything, their increasing trends and demands have well acknowledged the boundless creativity and expertise of the mobile developer community. As smartphones have now deeply woven into the fabric of modern life, their demand may be well speculated to rise incalculably in the coming modern era of ‘click and get on the go’.
Well as shifting trends divert user’s choice with time, it is always initiated by a forecast studying the initial state of affairs of the market. Following the drift, IT research and advisory firm Gartner with its technology insight has laid down some predictions for the top mobile applications for the year 2012. Gartner listed applications based on their impact on consumers and industry players, considering revenue, loyalty, business model, consumer value and estimated market penetration. The list reads as follows:
- Money Transfer
- Location-Based Services
- Mobile Search
- Mobile Browsing
- Mobile Health Monitoring
- Mobile Payment
- Near Field Communication Services
- Mobile Advertising
- Mobile Instant Messaging
10. Mobile Music
The application topping the chart is Money transfer for its low cost, speed and convenience compared to traditional transfer services. Location-Based Services ( LBS) is ranked No. 2 in Gartner’s top 10 because of its perceived high user value and its influence on user loyalty. This forms part of context-aware services; a service that can grow the LBS user base globally from 96 million in 2009 to more than 526 million in 2012. Mobile search and mobile browsing are following the list winning the 3rd and fourth position. Mobile search is ranked No3 because of its high impact on technology innovation and industry revenue while for the latter, Gartner says that Mobile Browsing has a broad appeal to all its business with potential return on investment. The health sector, according to Gartner, will also tap the potential of the mobile and is thus placed at 5th rank.
The mobile payment is wobbling at 6th position as Gartner explains saying ” Because of the many choices of technologies and business models, as well as regulatory requirements and local conditions, mobile payment will be a highly fragmented market. There will not be standard practices of deployment, so parties will need to find a working solution on a case-by-case basis.” Near field communication (NFC) is ranked No. 7 in top ten as Gartner says it will increase user loyalty for all service providers, and foresees its big impact on carriers’ business models. Mobile advertising bagged 8th place as it continues to increase with a steady pace monetizing the content on the mobile Internet, offering free applications and services to end users. Gartner reports that the total spending on mobile advertising in 2008 was $530.2 million, and is expected to grow to $7.5 billion in 2012.
Quite surprisingly, Mobile Instant messaging and Mobile music are consecutively placed at last two positions. As music stores await customers as online music and mobile music applications take a stride, Gartner’s calculations may leave few bewildered. However they explain in their words saying “Mobile music so far has been disappointing — except for ring tones and ring-back tones.” Also much occupied chat rooms and messengers getting the second last place is little hard to digest too.
“Consumer mobile applications and services are no longer the prerogative of mobile carriers,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “The increasing consumer interest in smartphones, the participation of Internet players in the mobile space, and the emergence of application stores and cross-industry services are reducing the dominance of mobile carriers. Each player will influence how the application is delivered and experienced by consumers, who ultimately vote with their attention and spending power.”
Quite rightly said as the the smartphone market is continuing to face tough antagonism with nascent applications and devices gaining much attention as consumer expectations are on a rise. The assumptions made are purely based on facts and scientific calculations and in a long period of 3 years, the mobile application industry may witness considerable alterations. With market upheavals as well the changing consumer preferences within the extended time the industry can be expected to bloom with novelty.
Source: Gartner Press Release.
Google will reportedly sell its phone directly to customers as well as through retailers. That suggests the search giant may not have a network partner on board, and would sell unsubsidized phones instead. Phones sold outside of the carrier system means the Google phone could cost as much as $500, and would have to run on a SIM-friendly GSM networks such as AT&T and T-Mobile.
Beyond the ambiguity surrounding the patent application, it’s come out recently that Apple did indeed talk to AdMob about a possible acquisition before it was snapped up by Google. Sources close to the company have revealed that it wasn’t only AdMob that Apple had its sights set on, but that it’s “talking to everyone” in mobile advertising about potential deals.
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Developers who sell applications through the Windows Marketplace for Mobile receive 70% of the revenue, with the other 30% going to Microsoft. Third-party developers are able to set the price for their applications in each market, and can also choose to distribute their products for free.
