There’s no denying that mobile devices are dominating the technology industry right now. And as smartphones become more and more in demand, so do the mobile applications that boost the popularity smartphones have achieved today. Mobile apps are the future of mobile communications and with the overflow of apps being developed, purchased and used, the market will only continue to expand in the years to come.
A recent In-Stat study, Mobile Applications & Services, predicts that by 2015, mobile application downloads will reach nearly 48 billion. Apple’s (News 
- Alert) App Store has already reached 350,000 app downloads in December 2010, with the Android App Market trailing behind with 80,000 downloads.
The results of the survey also show that that Apple and Android (News - Alert) users are significantly more likely to download mobile applications than BlackBerry. As a former BlackBerry customer, I have to agree, the company’s App World isn’t quite up to speed compared to Apple and Android. In fact, reports are now suggesting that the reason RIM is falling behind in the smartphone competition is not due to its phones, but rather its App World offerings.
As feature phones become a thing of the past, the majority of consumers have finally adapted to smartphones as their mobile device of choice. According to the report, 90 percent of the smartphones shipped in 2011 will be touchscreen enabled, a percentage that will increase to nearly 100 percent in the next several years. Will the feature phone become extinct?
“The prevalence of handset touchscreens is a significant development impacting the mobile applications market,” according to Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst. “The projected rapid penetration of touchscreen-enabled devices will allow more users to easily interact with mobile applications, thereby driving growth. Increased on-board memory capacity will also lead to a better user experience.”
As mobile video becomes an increasingly big component of mobile applications, we have to consider how much of an impact video will essentially have on the growth of mobile app downloads in the next five years.
“Thanks to YouTube (News - Alert) and Facebook and easy access to video cameras, customers are hungry for video services, either video-enabled classic services or totally new services. So it’s very likely that a large percentage of the 48 Billion downloads of mobile applications by 2015 will be video-related,” said Jim Machi, SVP of Marketing at Dialogic (News - Alert). “Dialogic helps enable the development of mobile video applications through our media processing, gateway and signaling products. We’re also at the forefront of video service development with video-enabled transition products, as well as video software that measures users’ Quality of Experience.”
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
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