Mobile apps are becoming a huge business. According to analysts Juniper, apps will be a $25 billion market by 2014. Blackberry opened an apps store in March; Microsoft is said to be about to follow suit. Last week saw the one billionth download from the Apple apps store.
Although mobile network operators would die to have significant apps stores, they'd be much better off relying on the extra revenue generated from apps rather than trying to create their own. Operators have not been good at creating apps and the revenue stream from app usage is going to be bigger than revenue stream from apps sales.
Dr Windsor Holden, who wrote the Juniper report, reckons: "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."
In other words, forget trying to create proprietary apps stores, you'd be better off allowing all the phones on your network to access all the apps stores they can.
Games are the largest category in terms of overall app downloads and revenues although, says Juniper, multimedia and entertainment apps will attract the greatest share of value-added service revenues from 2009 onwards.
The most famous apps store, Apple's, has over 35,000 apps in it. 800,000 developers have downloaded the software needed to create iPhone apps. Developers get 70 per cent of the revenues generated by an app, and Apple is said to approve 96% of the apps submitted for approval and 98% of those are approved within seven days of being submitted.
TOMORROW MORNING: Tthe Top Ten Semiconductor Companies In 1985
Five of the top ten companies were Japanese. Japan had over half the world semiconductor market. Was the US semiconductor industry doomed? Could Charlie Sporck and Bob Noyce come along with an idea to save the US chip industry? Back in 1985, no one knew. . . .
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