Our partner AWT , Agence Wallonne de Télécom, has made an excellent work in sumarising the past event on mobile music on its website.  If you were not there, or want to view the past presentations, it's all up on the site.

Wireless Expertise has today released its latest report “The future of mobile application storefronts” and a free download from www.wirelessexpertise.com     

Smartphone sales 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. This figure indicates smartphone penetration will be approaching approximately 28-30% of the total mobile market in 2013. Wireless Expertise expects this growth to come from the increasing number of mid to low end mass market smartphones being launched in the market by incumbent handset vendors and new market entrants.  

Mobile Application downloads to generate $16.60 billion by 2013

We expect smartphone growth to have a positive impact on the number of application downloads in the short- to mid-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 in 2009 rising to $16.60 billion in 2013.

The market opportunity

With mobile phones outnumbering PCs around the world by 4:1, mobile applications represent a bigger opportunity for the mobile industry than the fixed-line perceived the Internet a decade ago. With over 4 billion mobile users around the world compared to approximately 1 billion PCs, mobile will become the idealistic channel for businesses to reach their consumers.

Apple sets the benchmarks while others follow

The report points out that complacency from existing handset vendors and mobile operators had virtually killed the mobile content market. Mobile Applications have reignited the demand for multimedia content and applications. Wireless Expertise credits Apple for growing and revolutionalising the applications market.

According to the report, Apple has not only invigorated what was rapidly becoming a stagnant mobile content and services market, its App Store has paved the way for professional content developers and publishers to stand side-by-side with the new breed of garage developers introducing innovative, exciting and also functional apps into the world of mobile applications. However, Wireless Expertise expects Apple to face tough competition from mobile operators, independent service providers and competing vendor application portals in the next 18-24 months.

Mobile Operators need to follow a dual app and browser based strategy

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. However, operators must be involved in the delivery and payment of the service with their own platforms giving improved revenue shares as high as 90% if they want to compete in this market.

Nokia stepping up its efforts

The Wireless Expertise report suggests that Nokia will be very active in the smartphone market and Nokia’s biggest advantage over Apple is its ability to offer Ovi on a wide range of handsets, ranging from the high-end to the mainstream. And the fact that Nokia is pushing its app store to a mass market is very encouraging.

Tough competition ahead

The report forecasts that diverse and competing mobile operating systems from other vendors such as Symbian, Google Android, Microsoft Windows and Research in Motion will help in growing the market. Wireless Expertise also predicts the emergence of independent mobile application stores which specialize in niche content such as games and location based services.

Download the Wireless Expertise market report 
 
“The Future of Mobile Application Storefronts” market report has been published by Wireless Expertise Ltd and can be downloaded free of charge from www.wirelessexpertise.com.

Navteq Global LBS Challenge opened: submit your mobile application.
Registration for all five regions is now open! EMEA, India, S. America, N. America and APAC.

First launched in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is focused on driving the development and visibility of innovative location-based solutions (LBS) for wireless devices. The Global LBS Challenge has become the premier event in the wireless industry and a global symbol of LBS innovation and opportunity. From business applications to sports, travel and security, integrating the accuracy and richness of NAVTEQ digital map data facilitates the discovery of the next wave of LBS using dynamic positioning technology.

Advertising and branding are very complicated and very unpredictable fields, and success can be measured according to any number of metrics. Modernista, the ad agency behind the soft-talking-lady ads that only occasionally seem to be talking about phones, seem to be measuring success based on attention. Of course, the attention is almost entirely negative, but that doesn’t faze them.