Mobile Application Stores are the latest essential accessory for a modern network operator or mobile platform provider.
Everyone has to be seen to either have an application store, or be seen to have an application store strategy. In all this flurry of activity around application stores the "old style" way of delivering content to mobile phones - the web page has been around for years, but without the hype or perceived success of the latest batch of App Stores
A question I'm asked sometimes is Which will win? Mobile Web or Mobile Applications? Now your definition of "win" may vary based on the metrics you are trying to achieve - but if we define win as has the greater share of overall revenue & profit (a draw would be smaller revenue, but greater profit) then in the long term I believe that Applications will win.
Why?
A common mistake in mobile is to assume that the key attribute of mobile phones is that the are mobile. The mistake here, as operators know, is that most of the time mobile phones are not actually mobile. Nielsen research in 2008 showed that over 50% of mobile internet usage was in the users own home. This mirrors the usage of mobiles for voice calls - where most calls are made from the user's own home, or workplace. Both locations where there is access to an existing landline phone.
So mobile is not about mobile - it's actually about convenience. It is more convenient to use your mobile phone to make a phone call as it has an integrated address book with people's phone numbers included. It's more convenient to use your mobile phone to access the internet than use your PC as you don't have to get off the sofa to walk to your PC.
So which is going to be more convenient a mobile web page, or a mobile application?
A mobile application has large advantages here - it can take over the full screen, it doesn't have to give space to "browser" controls, and can take advantage of local services like accelerometers, graphic acceleration and location. Historically mobile applications have suffered from being too hard to install, but the focus on usability in application stores that Apple are leading is leading to a rapid improvement in what usability of application stores.
So if you want to use a mobile phone to quickly check email, cricket scores, ebay listings, find out about inflation then an application is available - and is more convenient to use than a browser.
Today it's still hard to find out about applications for mobile phones - but as mobile applications become more successful, and more companies innovate in how to recommend, search and market them we will continue to see growth in the success of mobile applications - at the expense of the less convenient mobile web.
The strategic advantages that mobile applications have - of being local to the device, and being able to access local device features give them a long term advantage - the challenge is that the mobile application ecosystem is not yet as mature as the mobile web ecosystem, and far less mature than the desktop web ecosystem. There is a great opportunity for innovators bringing the successes from the web to mobile applications.
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