(Yet More) Mobile Applications Coming To You Soon

Driven by the runaway success of the iPhone and the rapidly growing adoption of Google’s Android OS by handset vendors and mobile service providers, the number of mobile applications is exploding.  Consider that as recently as January ‘09, Apple claimed around 15,000 titles in its App Store.  As of early March, that number was up to over 27,000 and still growing.  Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace for Mobile boasts over 20,000 titles.  Nokia has announced plans to open its Ovi store front, with Acer, Samsung, and a host of other players following suit.  

While most of these apps are consumer-focused (Mobclix  reports that games comprise 23.1 percent of all iPhone App Store categories, followed by entertainment apps at 13.6 percent), this is going to change as developers start taking advantage of all the opportunities that open source platforms and attractive revenue sharing models (with typically 70-80% going to the developer) provide. Both consumer and business users of increasingly intelligent mobile devices and higher bandwidth networks will expect more than being able to play games.

Mobile users want to be able to maximize use of the personal and business social networks they create and nurture in Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites.  According to a recent Nielsen report, 19% percent of US mobile web users visited Facebook via handsets in 2008. Individuals as well as corporate managers also want to be able to personalize applications to suit their specific needs. They’ll soon get their wishes fulfilled. Last week Apple filed a US patent application that indicates its plans to introduce location-aware services through its App Store. Other vendors using competing OS have started or expressed similar plans.  Location tracking capabilities enable all sorts of potential business application opportunities.

Increasing numbers of mobile users also want content and applications that take into account their current location and activity, as well as those of their contacts.   An example of this type of application is Loopt, which connects you to your friends and the places around you.  It shows you where your friends are, what they’re doing, and lets you instantly share photos and comments.  Another is My Tracks , which enables you to record your GPS tracking data and view live statistics while hiking, biking, running or participating in other outdoor activities. Once recorded, you can share your tracks with friends, upload them to Google Spreadsheets, and visualize them on Google My Maps .

Sometimes you may actually want to avoid as many people as possible – say during your daily commute. Intellione’s io vector application provides real time traffic information on every street – not just major routes. It does so by aggregating and monitoring live movement data of all the phones in an area, so side streets are included.  Worldmate Live provides automatic, customized travel itineraries, alerts, bookings and social networking in a single mobile application.

Some of these applications have potential enterprise  value in addition their obvious consumer benefits, but expect the number of business-specific  mobile applications to mushroom over the next several months and years, driven by an increase in smart phones, network capabilities and developers taking advantage of the movement to open platforms.

David Patton is a Principal with NextGen Marketing Group and can be reached at david.patton@nextgenmktg.com.