Tag: mobile-applications

  • App Store Growth Risks Confusing Consumers

    INTERVIEW: Mark Newman, Chief Research Officer at analyst house Informa, talks about some of the latest trends affecting the mobile voice and data markets.

    Speaking in advance of his address to the Insights’09 conference next month in Lisbon, he discusses the impact of the iPhone, the rush to open app stores and carriers’ attitude to mobile VoIP.

    There is no doubt the phenomenal success of Apple’s App Store has been the spur for other handset makers and carriers to open similar ventures.

    The rush to download software to the iPhone has led to Nokia, Google, Microsoft, Palm and RIM, and operators like Vodafone, announcing their own versions of online mobile application stores.

    But while these will give consumers incredible choice Mark Newman, Chief Research Officer at analyst house Informa, said the proliferation of app stores might also lead to confusion.

    "It’s going to become a complete nightmare for the consumer," he said. "Already they have to make a decison about which device and which operating system, now they also have to decide which app store.

    "It’s unclear today if you buy a high-end Nokia device, with Vodafone as the operator and running the Symbian operating system, which app store you will first get access to."

    Newman said he believed there would be "massive fragmentation" since operators supporting hundreds of different handsets were not going to make all applications available on every handset.

    Mark Newman, Informa

    But he said mobile operators were keen to tap the lucrative app market because they realised that in the long-term new revenue-earning services are needed if they weren’t to become simply "dumb pipes".

    "Here we have a brand new market created by Apple. The operators are not going to allow Apple to secure that for themselves," he said.

    Newman is speaking at the Insights’09 conference next month in Lisbon, Portugal, an event covering a range of themes related to the global mobile market.

    He will be talking about the latest voice and data mobile trends on a global and regional scale.

    Mobile Has Become Indispensible

    In an interview with smartphone.biz-news, the analyst said there is no doubt that the mobile industry is being affected by the global recession.

    But he said that the financial results seen so far from the operators suggest that it is more robust than many other sectors.

    "The mobile phone is no longer a discretionary spend," he said. "It’s something we need for our everyday lives.

    "There are examples of people economising in their bills – but not as much as thought."

    Newman said a glance at any "high street" in any country around the world would reveal the dynamic and fast-changing nature of the mobile phone.

    He said this applied as much to the hardware – the handsets – as to the software and mobile applications.

    "In any country we will have 3-10 mobile operators, often fighting very aggressively to win market share," he said. "The winner tends to be the consumer."

    Newman said there had been two big new trends in mobile industry in the last couple of years.

    Mobile Broadband: Success and Challenge

    The first was mobile broadband, which allows laptops to be connected through the mobile network.

    He said that while the industry had been reasonably optimistic about the success of this service, operators have been surprised at how quickly it has grown.

    "Now it is a very big market and in many places is outselling fixed broadband," he said. "This brings new revenues for the operators but it also brings about major challenges for them as well.

    "Data services use up a lot more bandwidth than mobile voice services, so the operators are having to invest heavily to ensure support for data requirements."

    Newman said the evidence so far was that mobile broadband use was not dissimilar to that for fixed – with a lot of P2P traffic, which sucked up bandwidth.

    "What the mobile operators do not like is consumers paying a flat rate for services," he said. "They will think of ways around this."

    iPhone Sets the Pace

    Newman said the second big change to impact heavily on the mobile industry in the last couple of years has been the iPhone.

    He said the Apple handset’s success has had a profound effect – both on mobile operators and handset manufacturers.

    "If you look at its recent history – the last six months – it has moved from being an iconic handset in terms of its design, but it is the first example of a handheld device that people can use for basic internet connectivity," he said.

    "It is very exciting for a huge number of people and has opened up new services and possibilities."

    Newman said making internet connectivity mobile – and not just something you did from home – created the potential for a raft of features, not least the ability to use smartphones’ location capabilities to design new applications.

    While the iPhone is oriented towards the top end of the market, Newman said the fact it had been so succesful meant it was now being marketed to the broader consumer market.

    "It’s quite likely that Apple will introduce some low-priced offering," he said. "Which will be a threat to the likes of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung."

    Posturing For Position

    Apple has also shown its ability to generate revenue through its app store and when it came to consumers paying for mobile applications, Newman said this has been well managed through the iTunes Store.

    He said having billing capacity was one factor that operators have in their favour, but it was unclear what payment mechanism Nokia, for example, was intending to use.

    "Nokia would like people to buy a Nokia device and be billed by Nokia," he said. "But the operators want revenue share from Nokia."

    Newman said that as a result, the industry is currently experiencing the early stages of posturing between players to determine how this very lucrative new market is going to be handled and divided up.

    He didn’t expect the outcome of this to be known for two to three years.

    "It’s not clear who will win," he said. "In the short-term it will be confined to high-end devices.

    "But that’s going to start to change as handset makers bring down the price of phones with internet capability."

    Newman said the issue was much simpler with Apple, since it had one device and a strong brand in the market.

    He said this meant Apple was in the "enviable position" of having the leverage to more easily dictate the terms of deals with operators.
    "Apple will keep that advantage," he added.

    As for Apple’s competitors, Newman believes Android will be a force to be reckoned with even if the early devices supporting its OS have not been as attractive as hoped.

    He said RIM’s Blackberrys and Palm’s soon-to-be launched Pre will both see demand for applications but not on anything like the scale of the iPhone.

    Mobile VoIP Not in Carriers’ Interests

    One area where Newman doesn’t see operators backing down is on the issue of Voice-over-IP (VoIP).

    While carrier 3UK recently launched a SIM card that allows users to make Skype calls for free, it stands out among mobile operators who have largely sought to block VoIP use over their networks.

    He describes 3UK’s position as unique and doubts if any other operators will follow its lead.

    "3UK is a group that entered the European market quite recently," he said. "They have come into a crowded market as the fourth or fifth operator and have the disadvantage of adding spectrum at high frequencies.

    "It’s not desperation – that’s harsh. But 3 has to offer something that’s different. They are using Skype largely as a marketing strategy in order to win customers from their competitors."

    Newman said that if any other operator took this approach it would simply be to stand out in a crowded market.

    "I can not see why it would be in an operator’s interests to allow VoIP," he said. "Eighty per cent of their revenues are voice, so there is really little or no motivation to allow VoIP."

    In the future, however, Newman said the roll out of next-generation LTE and the fact they were going to be All IP Networks meant it would be more difficult for operators to stop subscribers using VoIP.

    "Because of that we are seeing a lot of operators investing in technology that allows them to see different types of VoIP applications," he said.

    Newman said this raises the possibility of operators charging by VoIP type, with users being able to pay for the "privilege" of using VoIP.

    New Entrants

    If the dynamic nature of the mobile industry is causing carriers to feel the heat, consider also the situation with handset manufacturers.

    Recently, a number of companies whose heritage is in the PC space have either entered, or shown a desire to enter, the smartphone market – most notably Acer, HP and Dell.

    Newman said this was significant because of their access to low-cost manufacturing bases in the Asia Pacific region and their ability to share components, such as screens, across devices and industries.

    Consequently some of the traditional handset makers will be put under pressure over the next three to five years.

    He said this would result in some leading brand names’ market position being seriously transformed in much the same way that Sony Ericsson has moved from a position of great strength to one of weakness.

    Mark Newman will be speaking at the Insights’09 conference being held on 8-10 June in Lisbon, Portugal
    Click here for more information.

  • i2Telecom Eyes New Opportunities As Berman Appointed CEO


    Telecomms veteran Andy Berman has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of i2Telecom International.

    The move follows a "transitional period" for the Atlanta-based company which has seen it shift priorities towards mobile applications and services.

    Berman, 50, replaces founder and current CEO Paul Arena, who will remain the chairman of the board, secretary and CFO.

    A director of i2Telecom since last April, Berman said i2Telecom had created a valuable intellectual property portfolio surrounding its Internet telephony and mobile applications technology.

    He said this provided it with an excellent platform from which to deliver end-to-end Internet telephony solutions and applications on an international scale.

    i2Telecom products and services include VoiceStick, MyGlobalTalk and Digital Portal communications and microgateway adapters for VoIP long-distance services.

    "Unlike many of its competitors, i2Telecom has successfully developed award-winning solutions and applications that are superior for the communications needs of users in many demographics," he said.

    "I hope to leverage my business and sales experience to assist i2Telecom in penetrating a variety of key strategic markets."

    Berman said the company was currently in negotiations regarding initiatives that should expand the market for, and revenues from, its products and services.

    "We believe that certain new products we have developed are ahead of the market curve and have the potential to drive powerful newly identified business relationships," he said.

    Among those are a new mobile VoIP solution being readied for launch that will allow users to make low-cost international calls from anywhere in the world using one SIM card.

    With over 27 years of industry experience, Berman has been involved in nearly all sectors of the technology and telecommunications industries and was instrumental in revolutionizing global Internet connectivity in the early 1990s.

    He has extensive experience in the disciplines of strategic alliance planning and business development, as well as sales and marketing, product development and distribution.

    Berman is the founder and owner of Virenta LLC, a consulting group of high-level executives specializing in strategic global alliances and business development for the technology and telecommunications industries.

  • Palm's App Catalog v. Apple's App Store. How Do They Compare?


    Mobile application stores are becoming ten-a-penny these days, what with Nokia’s Ovi Store set to launch within a month and Palm’s App Catalog expected with the eagerly-anticipated arrival of the Pre (next month?).

    But as the potential market for app developers expands, how do the six "stores" (iPhone App Store, Android App Market, BlackBerry App World, Windows Mobile Marketplace, Nokia Ovi Store and Palm App Catalog) compare?

    Gizmodo has done a good job on listing the pros and cons of each mobile OS’s offerings, including providing a point-by-point comparison table.

    While its review doesn’t come down in anyone’s favor, it does highlight some of the lesser known issues facing newcomers.

    So while information is still scare on Palm’s App Catalog, what is certain is that it will only be dishing out locally-stored web apps – not local natively running apps.

    As Gizmodo points out, this is likely to have strong influence on the nature and quality of the apps that are listed in the store.

    Just as influencial is Apple’s App store, which has just clocked up it’s billionth download.

    It remains the one to watch – and based on Gizmodo’s comparisions – copy.

    We’d be interested to hear your comments on how Apple’s rivals are faring in their bids to develop worthy competitor mobile app outlets.

  • iPhone As A Netbook?


    Predictions about Apple’s intentions for the upcoming Macworld Expo are ripe – with the latest being the launch of a netbook that works like an iPhone.

    Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil believes that as with the iPhone, users will download mobile applications for the netbook from Apple’s App Store.

    According to the analysts, Apple would benefit from allowing such a device access to its App Store, through which Apple reports iPhone users have downloaded more than 300 million apps since its launch in July.

    Gottheil claims Apple will announce its a netbook-like device at next month’s Macworld conference in San Francisco and will launch it in the middle of 2009.

    While Apple as always is giving nothing away, one thing is certain: this Macworld Expo will be Apple’s last appearance at the event.

    The company has announced that chief executive Steve Jobs will not be giving the keynote at the event that is traditionally Apple’s largest of the year.

    Instead, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of product marketing, is to give the keynote on Tuesday January 6, 2009.

    While the move will undoubtedly reignite speculation about Jobs’ health, successor and a myriad of other issues, the only explanation from Apple came in a statement saying: "Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris."

  • iPhone software is bold attempt to turn smartphones into PCs

    Free applications like vSNAX Videos make up 25% of the App Store’s offerings


    The opening of Apple’s online App Store to coincide with the launch of the new iPhone could herald seismic changes in the mobile phone market.
    At least that’s what Steve Jobs, the Apple founder, is hoping.

    He sees the online applications store as an attempt to do for mobile applications like games, reference guides and other software what Apple’s iTunes Store has done for music.

    If successful, it could fuel the transformation of mobile phones into something closer to personal computers – which many software developers and analysts believe Apple, with its talent for distributing applications coupled with the sophisticated capabilities of the iPhone, is well placed to do.

    While rivals may bristle at his comments, Jobs is clear about his goal.
    “There’s been nothing on a mobile phone a fraction as good as what’s on PCs,” he told The Wall Street Journal, as he explained how the iPhone represented a rare launch of a new computing platform.

    So what exactly does the App Store offer?
    Initially it will feature more than 500 applications, ranging from educational programmes, mobile commerce and business productivity tools to games (estimated to be about a third of the first-wave apps including Sega Corp’s Super Monkey Ball).

    While around 90 per cent of the premium apps are priced at US$9.99 or less, 25 per cent of the first 500 apps are free.
    Among them is vSNAX Videos, which promises to deliver mobile video clips to iPhone and iPod touch users from more than 20 premium media partners including AccuWeather.com, Ford Models, Ripe TV, and MTV Networks’ VH1, Spike and GameTrailers.

    Refreshed throughout the day it will offer the latest celebrity gossip, TV show highlights, breaking news, national weather forecasts, fashion and comedy clips.

    Jim Morris, chief product officer of Rhythm NewMedia, which developed vSNAX Videos, said the iPhone allows for “significant improvement” in the way customers experience and consume videos on their mobile devices.
    “vSNAX Videos brings mobile viewing to an entirely new level by using the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch user interface so, for the first time, iPhone owners are able to continue to watch their video clip while simultaneously swiping through thumbnails to pick their next selection,” he said.

    vSNAX Videos will be available exclusively in the US and can be downloaded for free from Apple’s App Store.