The Google Brussels Technology User group is organising two meetups over the summer. See below the two dates.
Android Special on 29 July 2010 at Brussels, The Creative Stores, Jetselaan 120, 1090 Brussel
HTML5 Campout on 13 August 2010 to 15 August 2010 at ??!
Developing the best HTML5 application and compete with other GTUGs
Atos Origin, an international IT services company, today launched a new suite of smart mobility services designed to enable organisations to exploit and benefit from the latest advances in mobile technology, improved connectivity and the increase in availability of data. It also announced the creation of an incubator that will provide small, innovative companies with access to a technology platform so that they can offer their own smart mobility services alongside those of Atos Origin.
In the next three years, smart mobility is set to revolutionise how organizations operate and communicate with their employees, customers and stakeholders. It goes beyond the applications available today via the i-store, the android marketplace and Nokia Ovi to anticipate the needs of the user and provide information that is time, location and situation specific .Importantly, it must respect the individual’s right to privacy and ensure that it is the individual that decides which information about him or herself that is shared.
Thierry Breton, CEO and Chairman of Atos Origin, said: “With mobile internet services growing at around 25 per cent each year and with 50 per cent of internet usage predicted within five years to be from mobile devices, we have launched today a new suite of services. These will make it easy and cost effective for our clients to maximise new smart mobility technology to maintain and grow market share; improve customer relations and more effectively manage their operations.
M. Breton continued: “As a company that is committed to innovation, I am also delighted to announce the creation of the incubator. It will provide our smart mobility partners with the support and expertise plus the market opportunities associated to a leading player, while enabling them to retain their own identity and way of working. We believe that working in collaboration with smaller businesses and industry experts is key to delivering innovative solutions that add real business value to our clients and to us.”
The smart mobility services launched today by Atos Origin are focussed on four areas: customer, citizen, employee and community. All are focussed on anticipating the needs of the user and providing tailored information.
Customer services provide information to find, for example, the nearest / best / cheapest product, shop or restaurant. Citizen services enable more cost-effective communication and working between the citizen and the state whether it be reporting and assigning a team to fix a hole in the road or capturing evidence of a crime. Employee services can potentially provide every employee in an organisation with their own virtual personal assistant and could by knowing their location, send an alert to advise the next appointment that they are running late.
Community member services enable information, photos, reviews to be shared between friends, family and peers in their various social networks in such a way that you can read all relevant content together when required.
The demand among consumers for mobile apps will continue to rise in the next three years, during which time the number of smartphones in use will increase to one billion worldwide.
According to Booz & Co, the revenues related to application downloads will reach €17bn ($21bn; £14bn) across the globe by 2013, a figure that is likely to be topped up by advertising spend and the sale of games.
By this date, it is predicted there will be more than a billion web-enabled smartphones in circulation, with the surge in popularity of these handsets driving an annual growth rate of 73% in app purchases.
However, the direct distribution of applications is expected to be worth just €5.4bn by 2013, with the remainder of the total attributable to broader benefits resulting from greater brand loyalty and reduced churn.
"For mobile operators, the economic incentive of apps lies in improving the attractiveness of their own mobile offering ... winning new customers and higher customer retention," Klaus Hölbling, a partner at Booz & Co, said.
Apple is set to generate a turnover of €2.3bn from its App Store in 2010, and Booz & Co suggested it was imperative for its competitors to catch up before it is "too late".
The key factors that must be considered by telcos include making their own rival properties innovative, fun and appealing to developers, alongside providing low-cost data packages.
"There is no doubt that the app economy has become a sustainable trend," said Alex Koster, a telecoms expert at Booz & Co.
"The balance is shifting now to global companies. Telecommunications companies have to redefine their role and play to their strengths."
One recommended strategy adopting co-branded models with firms like Google, which has rolled out its Android operating system through alliances with corporations such as T-Mobile and China Mobile.
Data sourced from Booz & Co; additional content by Warc staff, 08 July 2010
A new report published by Juniper Research forecasts that, the combined revenues from apps funded by pay-per-download (PPD), value-added services (VAS, including freemium and subscription) and advertising is expected to rise from just under $10 billion in 2009 to $32 billion in 2015.
But while Apple’s App Store has achieved app downloads on an unprecedented scale – 4 billion by April 2010 – the report cautions brands and developers against ignoring users of other platforms/handsets. According to Juniper, such a move could be counterproductive, particularly in developing markets, where the user base of iPhones (and indeed smartphones per se) is extremely low.
“If the mobile industry wishes to introduce a model based on applications, then it must ensure that those applications are accessible by a wide range of handsets ranging from smartphones to mass market devices,” said report author, Dr Windsor Holden.
Furthermore, uplift in download volumes does not necessarily equate to an uplift in industry revenues. The majority of application downloads from the App Store are free; other storefronts launched in the wake of the App Store also report that comparatively small proportions of apps (typically 5-15%) are paid for. Thus, building a business model aimed at both maximizing consumer adoption of applications and at maximizing content revenues can be extremely problematic.
The mobile apps report finds that an app store-centric model presents a number of challenges, including:
• The Need for Scale
• Monetising the Mass Market
• App Store Overload
• The Content Legacy
(First Belgian) Windows Phone 7 Developer Hub 31 May
Learn about Windows Phone 7, Xbox LIVE service and the Zune experience to the mobile space, games for Windows Phone 7 using Silverlight and XNA. Sessions will provide an overview of the platform, how to develop applications using Silverlight and XNA and how to distribute and monetize them through the Windows Phone Marketplace. Sessions will be delivered by speakers from the Windows Phone product team joined by local speakers.
Wireless Expertise outlines strategy for brands to overcome challenges of mobile application marketing
May 05,2010
The good news is that thousands of mobile applications are on their way to the market for commercial launch in 2010.
Tesco, Financial Times, Ocado, Natwest, Nationwide and many mainstream brands have already launched their apps. This is an encouraging sign which indicates the resounding demand for apps on the high street and that the market is not just limited to early adopter techie brands.
However, as the market is flooded with good, bad and ugly applications it becomes difficult for application publishers to reach their target audience. Discovery of applications and adoption are the biggest challenges faced by brands over the next two years.
The branded app stores owned by handset vendors and mobile operators have limited capacity to accommodate the huge demand for preferred advertising slots and placements.
In our view there are many solutions to overcome these problems and we are listing some options which brands can follow.
1. Time to market / Be the first: You can be the first company in your designated vertical to launch an application in a particular App store supporting certain operating systems. This can give you a temporary early mover advantage but it becomes difficult in the long term when competitors join you with their me2 apps. This will require you to keep innovating and build different versions of your app for multiple handset formats or operator requirements.
2. Build Differentiated Apps: Building community specific services or unique product attributes will definitely help you in creating a market and retaining your customers.
3. PR & Viral Marketing: Well thought of PR and viral marketing campaigns can give your brand a big push which leaves a lasting impression in the consumers mind. However, there is no free lunch in the long term unless you are a viral marketing guru or you have invented something which can scale up to the level of Twitter or Facebook.
4. Mobile Advertising: There are specialist mobile advertising networks and application marketing hubs where you can reach a wider audience through a large network of mobile advertising channels.
5. Integrated Marketing Strategy: The best way forward is to use every trick in the book and integrate your marketing and advertising strategy. This includes below the line and above the line advertising which supports your brand as a whole. The recent campaign for the Natwest Mobile Banking application in the UK was supported by TV, Print, Internet and Mobile Advertising.
Whether you are in the stage of designing, developing or plain thinking about Mobile Applications. Wireless Expertise can help you in implementing a successful mobile application marketing strategy.
Placement of your app in the various operator and handset stores is just the first step, there are many more untapped marketing opportunities to exploit.
The major findings are:
- The number of applications in the Apple App Store for iPad has grown
to 4,870 since the release of the iPad on April 3rd. In the last
two weeks alone, the number of iPad applications has grown by 32.7%.
- The largest application category on the iPad is Games with 1
,577 titles (32%), followed by Entertainment and Books with 455
and 396 titles, respectively.
- Of the 186,414 applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone,
73% are paid, while 80% of the 4,870 applications in the Apple App
Store for iPad are paid.
- An application in the Apple App Store for iPhone costs $3.82 on
average, as opposed to $4.67 in the Apple App Store for iPad.
- On the Apple App Store for iPad, Medical and Finance applications
are the most expensive at $42.11 and $18.48 on average,
respectively. This is significantly more than the average price
for applications in these categories on the Apple App Store for
iPhone ($10.74 and $5.74).
The mobile telecom industry has recently entered a major area of uncertainty regarding its future performance. Operators have been squeezed in recent quarters by a dual challenge: a sharp decline in revenues due to the economic downturn combined with a surge in mobile data traffic suggesting a negative outlook for future CAPEX.
‘Mobile internet: blessing or curse?’ is the ninth edition of the annual Arthur D. Little – Exane BNP Paribas telecom report, which this year asks: can mobile telecom return to growth? At what cost? And what should operators do to benefit from the mobile data explosion?
The report was prepared based on in-depth interviews with 87 executives from the telecoms/media/technology sector operating across 12 countries, and backed with proprietary research & analysis. Its main conclusion is that mobile operators’ revenues could stabilize from late 2010 thanks to the accelerated take-up of new data services, driven in particular by the increased market penetration of smartphones. However, pushing smartphone adoption will lead to further pressure on telcos’ margins due to the necessary subsidization of new devices.
Additionally, the study assesses the impact of the expected explosion of data traffic and concludes that extensions of current technologies will be sufficient to absorb this surge until 2013. The report also forecasts that operators’ CAPEX should remain under control in the mid-term.
Growth in mobile data can stabilize telecom operators’ top-lines
In 2009, mobile data growth did not offset the decline in voice revenues - the European mobile industry witnessed a decline of -2% in total revenue, with a strong decline in voice only partially offset by growth in mobile data revenues.
The fast decline in voice was due to the economic downturn combined with structural issues such as competition pressure and MTR regulation. Voice revenues will continue to decline beyond the current recession.
However, the report predicts that overall industry revenues will stabilize thanks to the accelerated growth of mobile data (forecast at +25% yearly and generating a revenue lift of EUR4.5/month per capita in 2015 versus EUR1 today).
Didier Levy, Director at Arthur D. Little, comments: “About 80% of interviewees believe that voice revenues will continue to drop in the next years. However, a stabilization of total mobile revenue is highly likely considering the current pace of smartphone and mobile broadband growth in Europe.”
Higher competition in smartphone market required to ease pressure on operators’ margins
The study analyses the pressure on operators’ EBITDA margins due to the increasing subsidization of smartphones, and concludes that this investment will create value in the mid-term.
Subsidies are required to lift smartphone penetration to 60% by 2015, but will in turn enable the selling of more data plans, and thus increase revenues. To improve margins, operators need to stimulate competition in smartphones and push alternatives to the iPhone such as Android-based handsets as well as cheaper Asian-made smartphones.
Appstores: key for uptake, not for operator’s revenues
Appstores have become a prominent feature of the mobile internet, creating an increasingly crowded value chain. The report forecasts that the European mobile application market will be EUR4bn by 2012 i.e. only 3% of total mobile operators revenues. In effect, most mobile applications downloaded by smartphone users are free.
The report concludes that operators should adopt the position of smart pipe provider, where most of their revenues will be derived from selling data plans as well as some value-added features such as billing and authentication.
Franck Herbaux, Director at Arthur D. Little, notes: “To manage the risk of dis-intermediation by media players, telcos are launching their own appstores where they can leverage exclusive content deals and local partnerships.”
Mobile broadband increasingly positioned as a complement to fixed
Interviews across European markets have shown several common trends in the mobile broadband market segment e.g. dongles used to connect laptops on the go.
The report concludes that in only a few markets such as Austria and Sweden will mobile broadband be positioned as a replacement of ADSL and cable. In most other countries, to protect profitability, operators will market dongles as a complement designed for infrequent use through prepaid plans or segmented youth or mobile only offers.
Morsi Berguiga, Principal in Arthur D. Little’s Paris office, comments: “We have found that laptop and netbook subsidies could represent up to 40% of a customer’s lifetime value in some markets, which is unsustainable. Therefore, we expect subsidized laptops to represent only 15% of mobile broadband connections in the future.”
Despite huge traffic growth, CAPEX will remain under control in the mid-term
Operators will face an explosion in mobile data traffic - predicted to grow by a factor of x32 between 2009 and 2015 – driven by the growing penetration of mobile internet (smartphones) and mobile broadband (dongles, embedded laptops).
The authors have modeled the investment implications of several mobile data technologies: current 3G (HSPA), evolution of the current technology (HSPA+) and 4G (LTE Long Term Evolution).
They conclude that, unless mobile data usage accelerates even more than they forecast, upgrades to HSPA+ technologies complemented with traffic offload solutions (through WiFi and femtocells) will be sufficient to handle mobile data expansion. In most countries, operators will not need to invest strongly in new mobile networks before 2013 and their average CAPEX/sales will grow to only 12% by 2015e, from 10% today.
Antoine Pradayrol, Equity Analyst in charge of the European telecom operators sector at Exane BNP Paribas, highlights: “This is overall good news for the financial profile of telecom operators in Europe – in particular compared to the negative expectations of many investors. We also expect more network sharing, which will progressively allow challengers to compete head-to-head with larger telcos in mobile data”.
Mobilecamp Brussels is a barcamp: a low budget event where no entrance fee is required and where open, participatory workshops, demos and discussions are provided by the participants.
MobileCamp will be a Barcamp with a special focus on mobile.
Barcamps located in Belgian cities like Brussels, Ghent, Hasselt and Antwerp, addressing general topics as well as business, mobile or government topics, typically gather an audience from 100 to 200 people.
Mobile internet, location awareness, social networking and devices that have been evolving fast over the last years are dramatically changing the way we're using our mobile phones.
A mobile barcamp is the ideal meeting place for marketeers, developers, webdesigners, mobile influencers and enthusiasts in order to create interesting new connections and gain new insights.
When?
May 8th 2010
Where?
The Hub Brussels
Who?
Anyone with an interest in mobile technology willing to share their thoughts, experiences, ideas, developments,...
the creative stores
