The year 2011 was marked with more innovations and developments in the mobile space than ever before. With healthy growth rates recorded in 2011 and optimistic predictions for the coming years, 2012 looks like the year of even more exciting mobile developments.
A wide range of factors contributed to the global growth in mobile application (app) adoption in 2011. These included advancing network technologies, lower mobile data usage costs, increased use of mobile phones applications, restructuring of revenue sharing patterns, and significantly increased full or partial subsidization of apps through mobile advertising options.
According to Mobile Stats and Facts 2011, of the 4 billion mobile phones in use in the world, around 1.1 billion were smartphones. In the first quarter of 2011, the global mobile phone market exploded with a year-on-year growth rate of 19.8% due to a significant increase in smartphone shipments. According to estimates from IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, carriers shipped 371.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011 compared to 310.5 million units in the first quarter of 2010. In North America, the mobile phone market Mobile phones remained front and center with Apple’s iPhone and HTC Thunderbolt, while in Western Europe it was mainly driven by new devices from HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Globally, Nokia held the leading position in terms of shipping volumes and market share (although the latter fell from 34.7% to 29.2% year-over-year), followed by Samsung. Apple maintained its #4 spot on IDC’s list of the Top 5 Mobile Vendors.
The breaking news of 2011 was the launch of the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft in an attempt to catch up on lost ground to the iPhone and Android-based devices. The new strategy means that Symbian and MeeGo, Nokia’s existing smartphone operating systems, will gradually be phased out. Symbian is currently transforming into a “franchise platform,” while “MeeGo will place greater emphasis on long-term market exploration of next-generation devices,” according to the company statement. However, Nokia still expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in the future.
Looking at overall mobile usage patterns for 2011, 61% of people reported using their mobile devices for gaming, 50% for web search, 49% for accessing social media, 36% to read news and 33% for general entertainment purposes.
In 2011, more than a third of Facebook’s user base of 600 million used Facebook mobile apps, 50% of Twitter’s user base of 165 million used Twitter Mobile, and more than 200 million YouTube views were produced. on mobile devices every day. Overall, 30% of all smartphone owners accessed their social media accounts through mobile browsers in 2011.
In 2011, many big brands began to combine mobile technologies with their business goals to increase their presence in at least one major app store. This has opened up new horizons for the already booming mobile app markets and created new venues for further market development. On the other hand, most of these brands were not looking to monetize their apps and only used them as an addition to their brand value. Last year, Apple’s App Store continued to be the overall leader and “store of choice” for both brands and users. On the other hand, Android Market has gained substantial ground with 50% of global brands preferring to publish their apps on it during 2011. The newly introduced Amazon App Store has gained 14% of brand mobile app postings in just three months. to be around
The global mobile application market was estimated at $6.8 billion in 2011, according to Markets & Markets, a US-based research firm. It is expected to grow steadily to reach $25 billion in the next four years, and Apple’s App Store will account for 20.5% of total revenue.
According to iSuppli, an IHS-owned market research firm, the collective revenue from the app stores of Apple, Google, Nokia and Blackberry grew about 78% in 2011 from 2009 and is projected to reach $8.3 billion in 2014.
In 2011, Apple held the largest mobile app market share in terms of revenue generated.
However, in terms of mobile app downloads, Android surpassed Apple, according to ABI research data.
Eight trends that dominated the global mobile market in 2011
1. Near Field Communications (NFC) technology
In 2011, Sprint Nextel joined forces with a variety of mobile phone manufacturers and technology companies to implement NFC payment systems. Google used VeriFone Systems and ViVOtech software to run the test service in five US cities. Google’s NFC-enabled services allowed consumers with specially equipped phones running Google’s Android operating system to pay for products and redeem coupons with their phones at NFC-equipped cash registers.
2 iPhone 4S
Many expected Apple to unveil its next-generation iPhone 5 at the 2011 “Let’s Talk iPhone” event. Instead, Apple unveiled its iPhone 4S, the “smartest” smartphone ever. Equipped with an 8-megapixel camera, iCloud capabilities and access to the Sprint network, it comes with powerful voice recognition software and other innovative features. Apple reported selling more than 4 million of its iPhone 4S devices in just three days after the official launch.
3.QR codes
2011 was the year of massive use of two-dimensional quick response (QR) codes in print and digital marketing campaigns. When a code image is captured by a mobile device or tablet, the user gains immediate access to a wealth of brand/product information. With QR codes, businesses have a much better chance of reaching their target audience and interested parties faster and easier.
4. Rise of mobile games
Games were the most popular type of app among smartphone users in 2011. According to the latest Nielsen Report, last year many smartphone owners were willing to pay more for mobile games than they would for any other app. application category.
5. The cloud
In 2011, Apple introduced its much-anticipated iCloud service that lets you store music, photos, apps, and more and automatically send them to all of your devices via wireless technology. Google launched a similar cloud music service that allows users to upload their music libraries and stream them from mobile devices and PCs.
With these and other cloud services available, it is expected that more mobile applications will move to the cloud in the near future and will be accessed and run directly from the cloud through a mobile web browser interface. To facilitate this change, several technologies are already in use. For example, HTML5 is used to enable caching on the phone to prevent fluctuations in the delivery of network services.
Additionally, in 2011, some mobile solution providers offered integrated mobile browsers to allow direct access to apps from the publisher’s website and eliminate visits to app stores. It means that both app developers and publishers can now interact directly without getting involved/sharing the profits with third party app stores.
6. 4G technologies
In 2011, all mobile operators announced their plans to upgrade their networks to one of several faster mobile data technologies, such as HSDPA, HSPA+, and 3GPP LTE. Operators’ investment in higher speeds and better bandwidth will help the industry keep up with the growing demand for mobile Internet during 2012. The vast majority of mobile devices already shipped in 2012 are 4G-enabled, although they still connect to 3G and EDGE networks.
7. Augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) refers to the addition of a computer-aided layer of contextual information onto the real world, creating an enhanced or augmented reality. Although different forms of AR, such as head-mounted displays, have been around for over 30 years, in 2010 and 2011 AR evolved from being a cool device on the periphery of graphics and display technologies to a central player in the game. technology landscape due to increased bandwidth and smartphone adoption.
AR is rapidly proliferating in various fields, from education to tourism, travel, video production, etc. Many augmented reality apps, such as Layar, use GPS positioning and geotagging to annotate existing spaces with an overlay of information and 3D images and characters.
8. Mobile advertising
According to Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, “Mobile advertising is now recognized as an opportunity for brands, advertisers and publishers to engage with consumers in specific and contextual ways, improving returns.” In 2011, mobile advertising budgets increased dramatically across categories and regions. The global mobile ad market generated about $3.3 billion in 2011, more than double the $1.6 billion generated in 2010.
Mobile market expectations for 2012
In 2012 we will most likely see:
– Increased investment in NFC technology among mobile phone manufacturers and operators
– Improved in-app billing security
– More location-based mobile commerce solutions that allow users to sign in to a store to alert a retailer of their presence or add items to a shopping cart simply by taking their photo or barcode photo in-store physical.
– 4G LTE as mainstream technology in North America and Western Europe
– iPads and tablets that continue to replace PCs as a business tool of choice
– Apple iPad 3 and the long-awaited iPhone 5 with enhanced features that accommodate high-speed LTE network and NFC technology
– Improved social sharing as a result of the rise of smartphones
– Expanded mobile search to allow consumers to interact with results like placing an order directly from their mobile phone, booking a ticket or making a hotel reservation
– Gamification as the best way to engage a new generation of users focused on turning their daily experiences into activities similar to games.
– More Object Recognition (OR) applications that allow users to scan their surroundings for specific objects of interest
– More unified communication (UC) clients for mobile instant messaging provided by over-the-top service providers like Skype
– More powerful mobile email solutions through a series of technology enhancements that enable low-cost mobile extensions to existing email services (Gartner expects mobile email users to account for 10.6% of the global base of mobile users for 2014)
– More organizations developing a strategic approach to delivering and differentiating their mobile services (smartphones vs. tablets)
– Tablet commerce (T-commerce) and electronic wallet as two new buzzwords
– Strategic partnerships between mobile operators and popular video providers like YouTube or Vimeo to allow users to replicate their online behaviors on their mobile devices