Mobile Applications Revenue to Reach $32 Billion in 2015

Juniper Research’s latest report says that the revenue generated from mobile applications is set to increase sharply in the next few years. The report predicts that the revenue generated from in-app advertising, pay-per-download, and value added services will rise from $10 billion in 2009 to $32 billion in 2015.

The report sheds some light on Apple app store, the most popular name when it comes to mobile applications. As some of you might be aware of, Apple’s mobile app portal registered its 4 billionth download in April 2010, which is a remarkable feat. While ‘4 billion’ sounds like a huge number, the fact that most of these downloads were free makes us look at the statistics in a completely different manner. In fact, the number of paid-for applications is somewhere in the range of 5% to 15% of the total number of apps downloaded. So, the report says that the number of downloads and the amount of revenue generated are not directly proportional and hence an increase in the number of downloads does not necessarily mean an increase in industry revenues.

One of the main points that the report raises is the importance of developing mobile applications that can be accessed using a wide range of handsets. While platform-specific applications can be downloaded and used only by a particular set of mobile users, these generic applications can be downloaded and used by anyone who has a mobile phone. This move can be particularly effective in developing markets where the use of high end mobile phones and smartphones is very rare as most of the people still use low end phones.

The report also discusses in detail a number of topics including the need for scale, the need to monetize the mass market, app store overload, and content legacy. You can find more details here.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Applications.

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Get ready for mobile coupons

A recent survey from Juniper Research says that mobile coupons will become very popular in a few years and retailers would send around 3 billion mobile coupons by 2011.

Mobile coupons, in my opinion, are a brilliant way for a retailer to connect to his customers directly. It is way more effective than the coupons you find in newspapers and magazines. Most people, including yours truly, often forget to make use of the coupon clips within the required timescale. I, for one, collect various coupons from newspapers and magazines but hardly make use of them because most of the times I forget to take them when I go shopping. With mobile coupons, there is no such problem. You get a coupon in your text message and all you have to do is show it to the retailer/shop owner the next time you shop for something. Since we always have our mobile phone with us, it becomes easier.

QR codes can be a good idea, but then you can’t expect everyone to have a mobile phone with camera facility to scan the ads. But still, it’s a very good technology that can be used effectively.

We’ve already seen some examples where mobile coupon campaigns have been quite successful and I think it will continue to be so. Like I’ve always said, the most important thing is to provide value to people. If you do so, you’ll always find takers.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Is Blyk the next big thing in mobile advertising?

Experts predict that mobile marketing will give conventional marketing methods a run for their money, Juniper Research and various other research firms predict that mobile advertising will be worth more than $13 billion in 2013, and Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are trying hard to take over the mobile market by storm. However, in the midst of all this, one company has been making strides quietly. It’s Blyk.

Blyk’s offer of 217 free text messages and 43 minutes of talk time to mobile users has become very popular and it’s evident from its growing user base. The response from their target segment, 16-24 year olds, has been phenomenal so far. When it started out in the UK, Blyk announced that getting 100,000 customers in the first year will be its target. However, the actual number will be a lot bigger than that, thanks to its overwhelming popularity.

Blyk has also taken a leaf out of Gmail and has come up with the idea of invites. From now on, Blyk users will be able to invite a number of friends to join the network.

One of the most important things about Blyk is that it is able to target its customers with the right kind of ads. Its mobile advertising campaigns are targeted at the right segment of users and so it almost always gets a good response from them. This is also the reason why experts consider Blyk a media agency which also happens to be an operator, instead of a mobile operator that sells advertising.

If mobile advertising industry were to grow at the rate experts have predicted, Blyk would be in an enviable position a few years from now. As of now, Blyk has a loyal customer base of 16-24 year olds which keeps growing steadily. In 2013, when mobile advertising is expected to grow real big, Blyk will have a loyal user base of 24-30 year olds which is open to mobile advertising with larger disposable incomes. What more can you ask for?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Blyk.

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Mobile TV to rake in the moolah

A recent report from Juniper Research says that mobile TV will be the biggest revenue generator in the mobile advertising industry in 2010. I’ve already blogged about the importance of mobile TV and the kind of impact it can have. Now, this report from Juniper Research reaffirms it.

The total spending on mobile TV in 2008 is just around $335 million. However, it will reach a whopping $2.5 billion in 2013, says the report. The personal nature of the mobile phone, the availability of popular mobile video content, and the ability to target certain key demographics are considered the plus points of mobile TV.

However, the most important point that caught my attention was this statement from the report.

‘People are accustomed to advertisements in video and are thus less irritated by it than other forms of advertising, especially compared to SMS.’

For your information, this has been my stand on mobile TV for quite some time now and I’ve already blogged about the advantage of mobile TV over other forms of mobile advertising.

On one hand, we have people who are getting ready to watch Olympics in mobile TV and on the other hand, we have advertisers who are gearing up to adapt themselves to the phenomenon that is mobile TV. However, they need to remember one thing. Mobile TV is not just about replicating the TV service with simulcast. The content, the package, and the ad format should be interactive enough to keep the viewer engaged or else the whole idea might backfire big time.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile TV.

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