There’s an app for that

The rapid growth of the mobile apps market has created new opportunities as well as new challenges, writes GARY SMITH from IFA in Berlin. Nevertheless, app download revenue is expected to reach $29bn by 2015.

The mobilenapplications market is growing rapidly and will continue to evolve in thencoming years, with the addition of new products, players, and business models.nWhile this growth has created new opportunities, it also presents newnchallenges. The market is flooded, and there is also significant pricingnpressure as well as a shift toward free applications, which will necessitatennew revenue models. Despite these and other potential hurdles, research companynIn-Stat is forecasting that mobile application download revenue will surpassn$29bn in 2015.

“Largely spurred bynthe launch of the iPhone, mobile applications have been a strong growth market overnthe past several years. Thennumber of applications available has exploded, which has sparked an increasingnrate of downloads,” says Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.

“As the market matures,ndevelopers and app stores must take innovative approaches and compete acrossnmultiple platforms to attract users. While the market will become more competitivenin the coming years, there is a broad base of interested parties with a vestedninterest in promoting continued market growth.”

While Apple’s iPadnis still dominating the market, Android and Windows Phone 7 are steadily catchingnup as broader adoption picks up pace, and expansion of their mobile OSninstalled bases continues to grow. The mobile app ecosystem and market model isnalso expected to volve with the increasing pool of smartphone and tablet users.
“Given the vastnnumber of choices available, app developers and app stores need to innovatencontinually in order to maintain consumers’ interest,” says ABI researchnanalyst Fei Feng Seet. “For example, an app called OfferedApp promises tonprovide a paid app each day in exchange for users completing a simple survey ornsigning up for an offer with advertisers. Some apps also offer virtual currencynor other premiums to consumers who download a featured app from the developer.nHowever these new marketing tactics are likely to face opposition as iTunesnstarts to clamp down on such incentivised promotions when they cut into Apple’snrevenue from in-app sales.”
iTunes is alsonrumoured to have made modification to its App Store ranking algorithm: the newnranking system takes into account qualitative information such as reviews, onntop of download statistics.
According to ABInPractice Director Neil Strother, “Appstorenbrowsing on devices has been an issue with users, who can face difficulty findingnan app of interest.
Having manyn‘misleading’ apps hogging the top of the charts for a week at a time does notnhelp either, so this could not be a better time for Apple to reform its app ecosystemnin an environment where competition and consumers’ heightened expectations arenincreasing the pressure.”
ABI Research’s MobilenApplications Market Data tracks mobile application downloads and revenuesnsegmented by mobile operating system platform. The database includes historicalndata and forecasts for application downloads for all major mobile OS’s. It alsonprovides mobile application revenue forecasts, and an overview of the majornmobile application storefronts.

·      nThisnarticle is reproduced in Gadget courtesy of IFA International, Official dailynnews source for international visitors at IFA

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