Evaluation of leading mobile apps storefronts & market forecast.
Wireless Expertise forecasts the number of smartphones sold per annum will increase from around 165.2 million in 2009, to 422.96 million in 2013, with the total number of smartphone users approaching 1.6 billion. Wireless Expertise expects smartphone growth to have a positive impact on the number of application downloads in the short- to mid-term, with strong revenues expected to come from low-end mass market smartphones and mid-to high-end featurephones in the mid- to long-term as operators and handset manufacturers take app stores to the mass market.
In 2009 Wireless Expertise forecasts that the global mobile app market – including games – will be worth $4.66 billion rising to $16.60 billion in 2013. Wireless Expertise believes mobile operators have to adopt a dual app store strategy, using the now widely-accepted app store model in conjunction with a browser-based widget store, to provide the greatest potential for a mass-market proposition. Operators releasing a mobile Internet API would address the issue of fragmentation, and help create a multichannel app services and content retail environment coupled with integrated billing and payment mechanisms. Based on the emergence of operator’s multichannel app store strategies, Wireless Expertise expects Apple to face increasing competition from global service providers in the next 18-24 months from alternative app store providers, each vying to become the global app-store leader. |
