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  • ”Big Seven” Smartphone Applications to Drive Future Hardware Designs

    Smartphone manufacturers need to accommodate seven core smartphone applications, the “Big Seven”, in their next generation handset designs, according to In-Stat.

    These big seven applications include email, games, social networking, instant messaging, mapping & directions, music & radio, and weather.

    Combined, the big seven will account for 7 billion downloads worldwide in 2014, says the research group.

    “In-Stat tracks 26 different categories of smartphone applications,” said Frank Dickson, VP of Research. “A designer can optimize a handset for any one of those application categories. However, it’s the big seven applications that phone designers need to accommodate in each and every device.”

    Recent research by In-Stat found that the three applications that have the highest compound annual growth rates through 2014 are micro blogging, mobile banking and VoIP.

    The report also says that the number of Android apps downloaded is growing at the fastest rate; however, Apple applications still dominate both free and paid downloads.

    “The tsunami of mobile applications has created a hyper-competitive market putting significant pressure on prices and margins,” said Dickson.

    According to In-Stat, productivity applications such as mapping, business and enterprise applications and phone tools & utilities generate 59% of all smartphone application revenue.

    Related articles
    Netsize Trends Survey Tracks Fast-Growth in Independent Application Stores
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    Gartner: Consumers Will Spend $6.2 Billion in Mobile Application Stores in 2010

  • West & Central African Com: Opportunity Abounds as Nigeria Faces "Revolution" in Broadband Deployment


    VIDEO INTERVIEW: Lanre Ajayi, managing director of PINET Informatics and president of the Nigerian Internet Group, was interviewed at the recent West & Central African Com conference held in Abuja, Nigeria.

    He talks about the changes coming in broadband and the need for businesses to position themselves for the opportunities they will bring.

    Ajayi said these will include opportunities in terms of applications, e-business, e-commerce and e-government.

  • Open-Source "Tidal Wave" Will Shift Power to Developers


    The number of smartphones shipped with open source operating systems (OS) will increase from 106 million this year to 223 million by 2014.

    That’s the prediciton of telecom consultants Juniper Research, who found that operating systems and applications are playing an increasingly important role in the differentiation of new smartphones.

    They also found that the OS plays a key factor in the choice of which handset to choose from by users.

    Juniper’s research mirrors recent figures from rival market watcher Strategy Analytics, which forecast that Android smartphone shipments will increase 900 per cent during 2009 over last year.

    The last three years has seen a revolution in the OS market, with market leader Symbian moving to open source and Apple leading the way in the distribution of apps through their innovative, but now widely copied, AppStore approach.

    The move to open-source OS has also encouraged developers to design new and attractive applications.

    With over 60 per cent of the OS market now based on open-source, and a sizeable pool of software design talent out there, there is a massive opportunity for innovation.

    However, Juniper said the real key is not whether the OS is open-source but whether it’s easy for a developer to design an application and make money from that effort.

    The combined changes of Apple’s open route to the market and LiMo, OHA and Symbian’s open-source OS approach have generated a tidal wave-like effect which even the economic downturn has been unable to reverse.

    The researchers said there is a clear warning for device manufacturers – the choice of OS is now critical and market share will, to a large extent, follow application development.

    They add that the unexpected side effect, however, will be a shift in the balance of power towards application developers and end users.

    Handset-makers beware.

  • HiT Barcelona: Android Marketplace To Overtake Apple's App Store?

    INTERVIEW: Florian Seiche, vice president of HTC Europe, spoke to smartphone.biz-news ahead of his keynote address at the HiT Barcelona World Innovation Summit.

    He talks about the potential for Android’s Market app store and the opportunities that open source platforms offer as the mobile internet "explodes".

    Android’s Market will be at least as successful as Apple’s hugely popular App Store – and could prove even more of a hit.

    That’s the view of Florian Seiche, vice president of HTC Europe, who believes app downloads for the open-source software platform developed by Google could well emulate Apple’s success.

    Off the back of the iPhone, that success has been phenomenal – in April the App Store clocked up one billion software downloads in the nine months since it opened.

    However, Strategy Analytics recently predicted global shipments of Android-based smartphones will grow 900 per cent this year and it expects it to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years.

    If that happens – with a range of Android-supporting handsets on the market – then Seiche’s forecast for Android apps will undoubtedly become a reality.

    He spoke to smartphone.biz-news before travelling to Spain for the HiT Barcelona World Innovation Summit,where he is making a keynote speech titled "The Application Explosion".

    He said the key to the whole mobile application ecosystem is to make it a really viable business for software developers.

    App Stores Vital

    One factor in this is for each open platform to have a central app store where consumers can discover what applications are available.

    "The iPhone has been extremely strong because it was the first to go out with a centralised market place," he said.

    "The Android Market will have at least the same impact, if not more. It combines a central marketplace but there is a much wider choice of devices being offered."

    Florian Seiche, vice president HTC Europe

    While the recent proliferation of app stores – LG is the latest to announce it will be launching one shortly – may cause consumers some confusion, Seiche said software had to reach consumers.

    "For the immediate future, the most important thing is to make applications as available as possible for the consumer," he said.

    "It’s a good thing for each open platform to have a central place where applications can be accessed."

    There’s no doubt HTC would benefit from Android becoming a global success story.

    Ties to Android

    The Taiwanese company was one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the first product of which was the Android mobile device platform.

    And the HTC Dream – also marketed as T-Mobile G1, Era G1 in Poland, Rogers Dream in Canada – was the first phone to the market using the Android platform.

    So HTC has been closely involved with Android from the beginning.

    However, Seiche said HTC’s role goes back further, to the late 1990s when it was founded.

    "We focused our entire vision and strategy on smartphone devices," he said.

    "We did this at a time when the mobile phone market was growing very strong across the world but it was still very much a voice-centric market with just the basic parts of the data world emerging in the form of text."

    Even then, Seiche said HTC had set its vision on a completely different kind of device – one that brought together what people were doing on PCs with mobile devices.

    He said being in at the infancy of smartphone development has helped HTC over the years to pioneer technology such as touchscreens.

    Evolve and Change

    His address on Friday at HiT Barcelona will look at HTC’s role in the smartphone evolution but also look at how the market will continue to evolve and change.

    The first of two big themes that Seiche will cover is how mobile devices will drive and revolutionise what’s happening on the Internet.

    The second is the open platform revolution, which is resulting in the proportion of handsets with open operating systems rising exponentially.

    Seiche said that with the help of industry collaboration, third party developers now had access to some very credible and powerful ways to distribute their applications.

    He said that was opening up a whole new market, as consumers saw how apps tailor-made for a mobile environment were improving the mobile experience.

    "That will continue to grow even stronger," he said. "At the end of the day, all of this should benefit the end user."

    However, Seiche said empowering the end user by enabling them to personalise smartphones was only possible in a world with open platforms – where users decide what apps are relevant and important.

    He said HTC’s role in this is to ensure it designed user interfaces that allowed users to quickly and intuitively access the mobile Internet, including connecting with services such as social networking.

    However, HTC has no plans to enter the app store arena, according to Seiche. Instead, he said the company sees its role as providing the "best possible framework" for the end user.

    "Then it is to arrange the world they create in an easy and compelling way," he said.

    HTC has also developed dedicated apps and widgets on its phones to allow users to access information ranging from stock movements to weather forecasts.

    Mobile Internet Boom

    If HTC is enthusiastic about Android, it is equally positive about Windows Mobile – the OS used in the majority of its smartphones.

    With Microsoft due to launch its own mobile software store shortly, the growing choice for consumers can only be good news for HTC.

    Seiche said the mobile Internet is about to "explode" with third party developers innovating strongly.

    "It’s a great opportunity for us," he said. "We see the main shift in the market towards open platforms.

    "We see opportunity in offering choice with different platforms, but always with great user experience at the top level no matter what the operating system."

    Smartphone.biz-news will be covering HiT Barcelona – please check our site for the latest news and interviews.

    HiT Barcelona: World Innovation Summit: June 17-19 FIRA Barcelona

  • HiT Barcelona: Can Mobile Operators' New Openness Change Lose-Lose to Win-Win?

    Mobile operators are finally ditching proprietary operator APIs – so-called "Walled Gardens" – and moving towards exposing network intelligence to third parties.

    Next week’s HiT Barcelona: World Innovation Summit in Barcelona will be discussing the need for open networks in order to engage with the growing community of application developers.

    Representatives from the developer, operator and Internet communities are taking part in a panel discussion to develop the most effective approach for the GSMA’s One API initiative.

    Among them is Michael Crossey, chief marketing officer at Aepona, who spoke to smartphone.biz-news about some of the issues that will be coming under the spotlight.

    Mobile network operators seem to have done their utmost to prevent developers from innovating on the mobile Web.

    They have created barriers by using proprietary APIs – and contractual differences have limited the creation of cross-operator web applications.

    Equally, developers have been barred from accessing rich network capabilities such as authentication, seamless charging, location assistance, push messaging and connection awareness.

    This has undoubtedly been a lose-lose situation for both operators and developers.

    That is changing and according to Michael Crossey, chief marketing officer at Aepona, the whole mobile industry theme has moved towards one of openness in the past year.

    He told smartphone.biz-news that the main catalyst for this has been Apple’s desire to make it easy for developers to create applications for the iPhone by providing them with tools and a route to market for their apps.

    Michael Crossey, CMO at Aepona

    "This has sparked off a flurry of activity in the industry, with a lot of operators and other handset manufacturers announcing open strategies to help them tap into the activity of the developer community worldwide," he said.

    This is a marked change in tactic for carriers, whose expressions of interest in working with developers in the past have been superficial at best.

    "The reality has been that, while they welcomed creative thinking, they wanted to cherry-pick the best apps for themselves and bring them into their own networks to sell," said Crossey.

    This, obviously, hasn’t been in the best interests of developers and everyone from Google to the "two men in a garage" set-ups have found ways of getting around the networks.

    That realisation has finally hit operators, forcing them to "evolve their thinking", according to Crossey.

    Last Bastion Crumbling

    He said this has meant that the mobile operators "last bastion" – opening core network capabilities to developers – is crumbling.

    "Historically there has been a lot of resistance to that," he said. "But they are realising that unless they collaborate, they will get by-passed.

    "They look at the fixed-line world, where operators have lost the battle against over the top providers, and they are determined not to let that happen to them.

    "They realise that if they collaborate rather than close the networks, they can contribute to the process."

    It is widely accepted that one way to do this is to standardise API’s and interfaces within and across operator networks.

    The GSMA is leading the charge to adopt this approach – principally through its One API initiative, phase 2 of which has just been launched.

    Crossey said this strategy is seen as necessary because even if every operator opens its network, developers will still have problems because of the different approaches each carrier adopts.

    This would be both on the technical side and on the commercial one, because every operator’s interface is different – be that with regard to terms and conditions, payment methods, business models etc.

    Huge Breakthrough

    By creating a cross-operator API, Crossey said it is hoped the fragmentation that would otherwise exist between operators will be reduced.

    The GSMA is also proposing a common commercial framework to give developers a market for their apps.

    "The operator can be assured that if it complies with One API, this will be portable between operators – this is a huge breakthrough for operators and developers," he said.

    "If there is fragmentation, the whole ecosystem does not reach critical mass and the addressable market is not big enough.

    "If there is a single set of APIs, the internet model has shown that the developer community is huge."

    Operators may, understandably, be reluctant to embrace One API because of concerns that it would restrict them from differentiating their services from a competitor’s.

    However, Crossey said the technology means that it is possible to do both – have an API model for "commonplace" services such as messaging while still being able to differentiate on, say, video and multi-media capabilities because a particular operator has invested heavily in IMS technology.

    Crossey said that Aepona, as a specialist SDP (service delivery platform) provider, enables the operators make their network capabilities – communications, information and intelligence – available to developers.

    The Web Services-based APIs can then be used to telecom-enable both enterprise business processes and web-based consumer services.

    "We provide a technical platform that allows these capabilities to be exposed to developers in a way that they are familiar with on the internet," he said.

    On the web, developers use APIs to create apps that, for example, use Google maps and mash-up with PayPal or Amazon storage services.

    Crossey said that after preaching the message of openness to operators for a number of years, there has undoubtedly been a definite shift in operators’ willingness to embrace the concept.

    The Belfast, Northern Ireland headquatered company’s products have already been deployed by Tier 1 operators such as France Telecom/Orange, Sprint, Vimpelcom, Bharti Airtel, TELUS, TDC, BT and KPN.

    "We are having many other conversations now about operators using our technology," he said.

    Opening Up Potential

    Aepona is also working with developers to help them bring apps they have created to its operator clients.

    This involves showing developers how they can use network capabilities to greatly enhance their apps for use on the platforms Aepona has installed with operators.

    Crossey said a simple example is explaining that, rather than just relying on GPS data from high-end handsets for an app, developers can be shown that operator networks can provide location data for every handset.

    "So we can increase the addressable market to a huge degree," he said. "But very often the developer is not aware of what can be done."

    A shift towards openness has also to include ensuring developers feel they are sufficiently rewarded for their applications.

    If revenue-share models fail to do this developers will keep finding workarounds and alternatives to leveraging network capabilities.

    For more information on the HiT Barcelona: World Innovation Summit: June 17-19 FIRA Barcelona, click HERE

  • Vodafone Plans App Store For 289m Customers


    Vodafone is joining the increasingly busy application store game by launching its own venture in a number of European markets later this year.

    The mobile operator will take a 30 per cent share of all app revenue – mirroring Apple’s App Store.

    Interestingly for developers, Vodafone is to supply a program that allows software to run on any Vodafone device.

    Previously, developers had to configure their apps to each handset – a lengthy process and one that restricted uptake.

    The new program will simplify that and give apps access to the operator’s 289 million customer base.

    Vodafone is to handle the billing for the apps that will be charged directly to a customer’s telephone bill.

    This could be a major advantage for the operator. Earlier this month, Nokia announced that it would have to drop operator billing from its US Ovi Store – a set-back for the venture.

    Vodafone will also provide developers and partners with access to "network capabilities," including location awareness.

    This will allow them to create apps that take into account a user’s current position.

    What is certain is that consumers will soon be spoilt for choice – although there may also be confusion over where to go first for apps.

    Vodafone has, however, said that a user with a Nokia phones on its network can chose which app store they want to use.

    The success of the venture will also hinge on the quality of the apps – and that will be influenced by whether developers feel drawn to Vodafone – and are willing to hand over a 30 per cent share of their revenues.

    The first apps are to roll out at the end of the year in the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Greece, Portugal and Ireland with more territories added later.

  • Mobile App Revenues To Reach $25bn By 2014


    Mobile app revenues are expected to climb to more than USD $25bn by 2014 – fuelled by the launch of a raft of new application stores.

    But while one-off downloads currently account for the majority of revenues, that will change with the increasing utilization of in-app billing, according to Juniper Research.

    Its Mobile Applications & Apps Stores report suggests that rising revenues from additional mobile content will see value-added services (VAS) providing the dominant revenue stream by 2011.

    It also notes that many Tier 1 operators will seek to deploy their own app stores in a bid to maintain content revenue share.

    However, the report’s author, Dr Windsor Holden, said that in the longer term, the greatest benefits to operators would be derived from data revenues associated with app usage rather than from the retail price of apps and content.

    She said this was providing that the operators rejected the walled garden approach.

    "Data revenue growth is dependent upon operators embracing policies which enable open access – a policy which also involves facilitating app stores which compete with their on-portal offerings," she said.

    The report also noted that, given the fact that app stores currently cater exclusively for smartphones, then operators, developers and content providers would be unwise to ignore opportunities from traditional app and content distribution and monetization channels.

    Other findings from the Juniper report include:

    • Games will remain the largest category in terms of overall app downloads and revenues, although Multimedia & Entertainment apps will attract the greatest share of VAS revenues from 2009 onwards
    • App stores present a significant challenge to traditional content aggregators who may be obliged both to expand the range of their content portfolios and to amend their business models to remain viable

  • Verizon's Hub To Get App Store – And Multi-touch Controls


    Verizon is creating an application store for its Hub home phone service as part of plans to broaden its market.

    The move follows the trend among mobile makers such as Apple, RIM and Palm to open up to third-party apps.

    It comes less than three months after the launch of the product – which offers connectivity through any broadband connection and provides unlimited VoIP calling for USD $35 per month.

    Prototype Screen for Verizon’s Hub

    A further development to widen the appeal of the Hub will see Verizon removing the condition that Hub buyers have to be Verizon Wireless customers.

    The application store will launch later this year, although no specific date has been given.

    Initially targeted at families looking to use a phone and access limited Internet services on their kitchen counter, the Hub attempts to close the gap between wireless and wireline services.

    Verizon sees the applications market attracting new types of customers with an array of software suited to their own interests, such as Internet radio.

    A prototype of a smaller, sleeker Hub product – similar in looks to a digital picture frame – has been developed. It comes with a much skinnier cordless phone handset.

    The company is also working on multi-touch controls for future devices, another trend popularized by Apple’s iPhone.

    All these developments are moving the Hub in the right direction.

    Whether consumers will be convinced enough to pay USD $199 for the Hub and $34.99 a month in service fees is another matter.

  • Android Market Reaches 40 Million Downloads


    T-Mobile G1 customers have downloaded on average more than 40 applications from Android Market.

    With one million G1s sold that adds up to 40 million downloads in total since the first Android handset was launched six months ago.

    The stats, which come from an interview T-Mobile gave to mocoNews, also show that among T-Mobile customers who’ve purchased a G1 around half traded up from a basic handset.

    Other details include:

    • Approximately 80 per cent of T-Mobile G1 users browse the web on a daily basis
    • The majority of T-Mobile G1 owners use Facebook and Youtube at least once a day and access Wi-Fi on a daily basis
    • Four out of five G1 customers download applications at least once a week

    While the figures pall when compared to the iPhones 500 million plus downloads, but it’s early days for the G1.

  • FutureDial's Mobile Content Solution Can Have "Huge Impact" On Operators' Revenue Potential

    INTERVIEW: Sanjiv Parikh, vice president of marketing for FutureDial, talks to smartphone-biz.news about its mobile content management service and its potential to generate revenue for operators and retailers.

    Apple has shown how its App Store can be a lucrative earner – and has inspired similar ventures from the likes of Google’s Android, Blackberry, Nokia and even the as-yet-unlaunched Palm Pre.

    But how can wireless operators and even retailers ensure they maximise their earnings from the lucrative mobile content market?

    Software company FutureDial believes it has the answer.

    Sanjiv Parikh, vice president of marketing for FutureDial, said its Retail Management Solution (RMS) 4.0 allows mobile content to be directly loaded to handsets at store counters – an industry first.

    He said the "Buy Content" feature enables retailers to sell user-selected content from an integrated online content site at a store counter.

    "Online content is still very difficult to access using phone browsers. It’s still not very user friendly," he said.

    "So when someone is buying a new phone, the store would ask if they want the content transferred from their old phone, but also if they are interested in games, applications, music files and so on for their new phone.

    "It’s an additional up-selling opportunity."

    Parikh said initial feedback suggested this new feature was having a "huge impact" on clients’ business.

    He said the idea was to provide operators or retailers with complete flexibility when it came to providing their own content.

    With this in mind, FutureDial also offers a solution to clients that have their own music or content portal.

    Main Markets

    RMS is supported on over 1000 handsets and this number is continually being added to – at a rate of 50 new handsets a month, if necessary.

    FutureDial’s main markets are the US and Europe, with a major UK carrier deal expected to be announced "shortly".

    Parikh said the latest version of RMS – launched at MWC in Barcelona last month – helps stores to close the sale on new phone purchases, maximize customer acquisition and retention, and increase ARPU.

    As well as allowing content downloads, RMS also offers users phone-to-phone content transfer, backup and restoration services across thousands of handset models at the store counter.

    The mobile content transfer service handles personal address books, pictures, calendars, messages, and audio/video files.

    A major addition in RMS 4.0 is an operation from a tablet-sized touch-screen online terminal called Talisman for "mobile personalization" services, either for use by store staff or as a customer self-service kiosk.

    Solution Aids Content Management

    Parikh said the content transfer, back-up and restore features of  RMS essentially address the issue of how consumers manage old phone content when switching handsets.

    He said it helps consumers move personal content – and to protect it by offering a backup and restore function.

    These aspects of the solution work in two ways.

    Firstly, with operators and equipment retail stores so that when a consumer switches phone, content can be transferred and backed-up at the store counter.

    He said that the more tech-savvy user was happy to do this themself at home – and FutureDial provides a product that connects mobiles to PCs to back-up and download content.

    Backing-up: "Complex & Tedious"

    But he said for many people it was a complex and tedious process.

    "What we found based on our home back-up offering is that many customers didn’t like to do this themselves," he said.

    "They would rather have someone do it for them and they are willing to pay for the service.

    "This has turned into a major opportunity for service providers."

    Around 70 per cent of stores using RMS charge for the service.

    Parikh said a fear of losing content and data – which often involves a huge investment of time and effort – also put many people off changing their handsets.

    But he said that even if they overcame that fear, simply by changing to a new phone could result in lost revenue for operators.

    "When users start with a new phone it can take up to 18 weeks before they come back to the original usage levels of the old phone," he said. "That’s a lot of user revenue lost."

    That wasn’t the case with RMS because content is instantly transferred onto a new handset – enabling usage to continue as before.

    Loyalty Has Rewards

    Parikh said RMS’s second function is to create loyalty in users by ensuring they return to stores for future back-ups – and so creating the potential for sales of sleeves, cover and other accessories.

    He said one US operator using RMS in hundreds of its stores had seen a marked upturn in user loyalty.

    "This loyalty element really helps operators avoid churn and sell more," he said. "It’s a revenue opportunity but it also give consumers the feeling that the service provider is taking care of them.

    "That’s a major element in such a fiercely competitive market."

    Please let us have your comments on RMS – will in-store content delivery and back-up appeal to the mass market?