Era of Exploding Mobile Apps is Here
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 19:55 IST
Printer Print Email Email
Bangalore: Mobile applications have changed the way we communicate, from day planners to business presentations. A report by Gartner reported that the global app downloads will increase from 8.2 billion downloads in 2010 to 17.7 billion in 2011. Now there are very strong chances if you have a smartphone, tablet, or other device that is mobile-app-enabled, then your devices are loaded with apps. Some apps come with devices, some can be downloaded and some are free. The massive increase in the demand of mobile apps has led to a windfall for the mobile application development companies. Mobile applications explode, who wins and who loses was the topic discussed at siliconindia Mobile Application Conference held on 14 October, 2011 in Bangalore. The panelist were Aakrit Vaish, Business Operations Director and Managing Director, India, Flurry, Vaideeswaran Sethuraman, Founder and CEO, Divum Corporate Services, Vijayramkumar, Vice President, Business Development, MyCityWay India Moderator and Ninad Chhaya, Chief Operating Officer, Playcaso. Answering the question about his perspective of mobile app market size globally, Aakrit said mobile app market is mostly occupied by iPhone and Android. These two are the dominant market for apps in U.S. Right now iPhone has 1.5 million app downloads and Android has 600 to 800 million downloads a month. In terms of revenue, by 2015, it will be $15 billion for overall world wide mobile application. In today's scenario, according to the download numbers in Indian market, the market is dominated by Nokia, Blackberry, Android and iOS. India is one of the fastest growing markets for mobile apps. But for every developer, it's very important to know how to market their apps. Building an app is like building your own business. Each user has different choice of apps and developers have to maintain such differences on every app. In India, people always prefer free apps than the paid ones. The panelist said that apps should be free so that people can opt for it. But from the business point of view, you also have to think that after giving all the apps for free, from where you can get the money. It all depends on the marketing, as the apps market is not shrinking but increasing. Android has the most number of free applications (57 percent free) and Nokia has the most paid apps (85 percent paid). Asia had the highest percentage of the download share; North America had the highest share of the apps revenue accounting for over 50 percent of the total revenue. The interesting fact about Nokia?s Ovi Store is that it generates more downloads per app than any other Application Delivery Platform that is 160 percent more than iOS. At the end, answering a question about the $35 tablet, Aakash, they said tablets are not worth without any apps in them.

siliconindia