MobileBizBuzz

June 30, 2010

To Develop, Or Not Too Develop…That Is The Question

Filed under: Mobile App Dev,Mobile Apps — Tags: , , , — Mike @ 8:53 am

It’s generally recognized that part of Apple’s success with the iPhone is due to their focus on applications. The App Store was the first of a kind, and is still a leader in mobile phone applications with over 225,000 apps available.  Android has been coming on strong, but is still a distant second place with over 50,000 apps. No other smartphone platform even comes close to this type of application availability, including Microsoft and BlackBerry.

I’m sure most of the people who read this blog are not developers…that’s not our intended audience. But I think it’s instructive to understand what developers are thinking.  Recently a company called Appcelerator published a survey of developers and their view of the various platforms.  I’d recommend you at least read the overview.  They also have a pdf to download if you want more detail. As you read it, just remember that Appcelerator makes a cross platform development tool called Titanium. So they have a specific point of view that influences the questions they ask. They also have a specific type of developer that uses their tool. Regardless, the information is interesting.

The chart to the left is one of the most interesting segments of the survey. What it shows is a very focused interest in Apple and Android. Everything else is waning.  Pretty interesting stuff given BlackBerry is still the leading smartphone seller by far. However, they have lagged and continue to lag in the application development game. They also have not done much with novel handset delivery.

For those in the industry, we should pay attention to what the huge development community is doing. While developer acceptance has helped to boost Apple, lack of developer acceptance played at least some role in the demise of Palm.  Developers are not the only barometer of trends in the mobile industry, but they are one of the key metrics we should all be paying attention to.

June 11, 2010

The Times They Are a-Changin’

Filed under: Mobile Apps,Mobile Devices,Mobile in SMB — Tags: , , , , , , — Mike @ 10:12 am

Roughly two months after the launch of the first iPad, we now know that Apple has sold about 2 million of the devices.  That in and of itself is something noteworthy in the mobile industry, but this morning I’d like to dig a little deeper. My premise for this post is that tablets in general are going to experience rapid growth as a tool for businesses.

Turn the clock back to April 9th, and you’ll find that I made my first post about the Apple iPad and it’s potential usefulness for business. At that point in time the iPad was really the first of a kind device. So what’s happened since then that bears revisiting the topic only two months later? Well, since you asked:

  • As a company we have since completed and delivered our first business app for the iPad.
  • The App Store now boasts thousands of apps designed specifically for the iPad.
  • HP has purchased Palm, and stated they will deliver a WebOS based tablet by October.
  • Dell announced the Streak; a new Android based tablet shipping in the UK in June, and in the US later this summer.

All of these things point to the fact that tablets in general, and the iPad specifically, are gaining rapid traction in the market. But I saw another interesting statistic recently that shows the iPad, and I think other tablets, are going to catch fire in the business environment. Citrix recently conducted a survey that showed 84% of companies surveyed intend to support personal iPads purchased and used for work purposes by employees. The survey also said that 50% of businesses surveyed plan to purchase iPads for their employees. One caveat on this is the survey itself is not scientific, so it does need to be taken with a grain of salt.

If the only data I saw was this survey, I would not give it a lot of attention. However, what we are seeing in the market is backing this up. As I said, we just completed our first iPad app, which is for business use. I know a few other companies in the industry who are developing business apps for the platform as well. I also know several companies in a variety of businesses who are using them as sales and marketing tools already. Add to that the attention tablets are getting from HP, Dell, and others who have traditionally focused on the business market, and I can definitely see a rapidly growing movement toward the use of tablets for business apps.

Tablets aren’t new, so what’s fueling this. I for one think it has a lot to do with the form factor being married with a new user interface approach and new operating systems. These new tablets don’t run Windows. They run gesture based smartphone operating systems. The new hardware, combined with the new user interface and creative applications are going to make all the difference in the world to how rapidly this platform is expanded into the business market.

We are seeing real value in using these new tablets in the business world, and I’m betting you will begin seeing and experiencing it yourself over the next year to eighteen months.

May 19, 2010

Global Handset Sales Above Forecast – Apps?

Filed under: Mobile Devices — Tags: , , — Clint @ 8:05 am

Today’s Wall Street Journal article  reports on the rapid growth in the 1Q2010 mobile handset market, throttled by an increase of 49% in smartphone unit sales, totalling 54.3M devices.  RIM and Apple have now vaulted to the  #5 and #7 global handset volume list, where they continue to nibble away at Nokia’s massive market share.

Are apps driving the demand for these devices or are they more affordable or both?  Apple is setting the pace with approximately 200,000 apps available.  Meanwhile, RIM is lagging in this category with only 6,000 apps, but has the best mobile email in the industry.

RIM is up 1% while Apple is slightly down in their respective exchanges this morning.

May 4, 2010

The End of an Era

Filed under: Mobile Apps — Tags: , , , — Mike @ 9:15 am

Last week witnessed the end of an era as Hewlett Packard announced its intent to purchase the beleaguered Palm. Engadget did a story with their take on the new Palm logo (seen at the right). I think there are three primary lessons the industry can learn from the demise of Palm.

The first lesson is nobody is big enough to not fail. Unlike in the financial sector, in the mobile handset environment no company, no matter what success they have had in the past is safe. It’s hard to realize at this point in time that Palm essentially invented what we all know as the smartphone today. Few in the industry would argue that point, but here we are 5-6 years later and Palm has been experiencing a descent into the depths for the past 3 years.  In 2004 it would have been as unimaginable to think Palm would fail, as it would be to think Apple would fail today, and yet here we are. Nobody is safe in this world.

The second lesson is to innovate or die. Palm, was once on the top of the heap with the most sophisticated, and yet easy to use, handsets on the market. They had a smaller, but no less enthusiastic following than Apple has today. I’m not sure why it happened, but somewhere around 2007 Palm quit innovating. Oh, I imagine in the labs they were working on new ideas, but they weren’t seeing the light of day. From the time they came out with the Treo 600, clear up through the Centro, there was nothing really new with the Palm handsets…a little more memory here, a smaller form factor there, and a few bells and whistles, but nothing significant to speak of. Unlike Palm, Apple just recently announced a completely new mobile device with the iPad. On the surface it might seem like a giant iPhone, but in fact at MacroSolve are already starting to develop entirely new business applications for the iPad. There’s no rest for the weary in the mobile handset market.

The final lesson is that applications are key to success. While Apple may have introduced the App Store concept, it is no longer unique to Apple.  Android already has over 30,000 applications on Android Market, and it’s market share is rapidly climbing. BlackBerry is struggling to get much traction with applications. Last I saw there were under 5000 apps in BlackBerry App World. That’s not much for an app store that has been in existence for just over a year. Interestingly, while BlackBerry is the clear leader in smartphone market share, their market share has been slipping over the last several months. While there are many variables that play into  market share in this market, I’d suggest the number and quality of applications available is one key variable.

So, if you’re a smartphone maker three things are worth focusing on:

  1. Don’t grow complacent no matter how great the accolades,
  2. Continue to innovate on new device ideas and capabilities, and
  3. Whatever you do, make sure you have a healthy, happy, and growing  developer community.

August 12, 2009

iPhone Apps Driving Sales

Filed under: Mobile Apps — Tags: , — Mike @ 8:37 am

iphone-pizzaiPhone Apps are no longer just driving sales for Apple and application developers.  They are now starting to drive revenue for products other than the software itself.  Take a look at this article to see more about this interesting trend.

One of the specific applications discussed is an application being distributed by Pizza Hut.  Their application allows mobile ordering, and has already been downloaded 150,000 times since July 15th.  The move to mobile business applications is gaining momentum.

June 12, 2009

Smartphone Shootout

Filed under: Industry News,Mobile App Dev,Mobile Apps,Mobile Devices — Tags: , , , , , , — Chris @ 11:43 am

pre-and-iphoneWell, it’s finally here.  Palm launched the Pre last Saturday, and they are now finally in direct competition with Apple and the iPhone.  So which one’s better?  For me, I think the verdict is still out.

By now, unless you live under a rock somewhere, I’m sure you know how successful the iPhone has been.  They have sold millions of devices in the two years the phone has been out, and users have downloaded over 1 billion applications in the year since the App Store was available.  Apple also broke a lot of long standing rules in the cellular industry by having the phone activated through iTunes instead of directly with AT&T, and also by funneling users through iTunes for content instead of through AT&T.  The iPhone was also ground breaking in that it introduced the concept of using gestures via a touch screen to interact with the device.  What they have accomplished is truly amazing.

Don’t count out Palm just yet.  Palm has traditionally been very strong with “prosumers”.  This is a term they coined to talk about their sweet spot in terms of users.  The demographic Palm originally catered to with the Treo was professional people who purchased their own devices and used it both for work and personal purposes.  Add to that the fact that they pioneered the whole smartphone segment 5 years ago, and you have a pretty accomplished competitor for Apple.  The new Pre has a slick little physical keyboard, a very nice touch screen, and a gesture base user interface.  Sprint says the Pre broke all of their sales records for new devices.  Sounds kind of like the iPhone, doesn’t it?

I think the real battle is still to come.  WebOS has some very interesting capabilities with it’s application platform.  It allows applications to integrate with the web, on device information, and across applications.  Of course there aren’t many applications on the device yet.  It will be interesting to see what developers come up with on the Pre.  Part of what has made the iPhone successful is the slew of applications that have been introduced by developers outside of Apple.  I’ll be curious to see how many, and what types of applications get introduced for the Pre.

April 23, 2009

Apple App Store Hits 1 Billion Downloads!

Filed under: Mobile Apps — Tags: , , — Chris @ 3:15 pm

iphone-app-storeThat’s right, about 20 minutes ago Apple’s App Store crossed an amazing threshold.  They have now had over 1 billion applications downloaded in their first nine months of existence.  This is a phenomenal feat for any company, even one with the marketing prowess of Apple.  While mobile applications have been in existence for well over a decade, nobody else has generated the interest in applications that Apple and the iPhone have.

If you want a little more information on them reaching the 1 billion mark, check out this web site.  There are links on that page for the top 20 paid apps, and the top 20 free apps of all time.  Some of the ones that made the list are almost as amazing as the record itself.  Hang on tight now.  This whole “application thing” is just getting started.  Congratulations, Apple!

March 3, 2009

App Store Analysis

Filed under: Mobile Apps,Mobile in SMB — Tags: , , , , , , , — Mike @ 3:37 pm

Global Intelligence Alliance Group has just released an analysis of several app stores for mobile applications.  By this time we are all very familiar with the iPhone App Store, and the fact we are so familiar with it is pretty amazing.  It was launched only eight months ago, but currently boasts over 15,000 applications and surpassed 500 million downloads back in January of this year.  About all you can say is “Wow!”  But since that isn’t very enlightening, I’ll try to provide some observations on app stores in general. 

app-storeFirst of all it’s important to remember that only two app stores actually exist.  These are the iPhone App Store and the Android Marketplace.  All the others you may have heard about like Ovi from Nokia, Skymarket from Microsoft, BlackBerry Apps Storefront, and the webOS Software Store from Palm are all just announcements right now.  That’s right.  You can buy any software you want from an app store as long as your smartphone is an iPhone or the G1 phone.  That’s it.  There are not any other choices right now today.

So why all the noise about what are essentially download sites for only two devices?  Because until the iPhone App Store, if you wanted a mobile application for your smartphone, you had to either go through a carrier storefront (which tend to be limited and difficult to navigate) or hunt around the Internet for software to download from sites that may or may not be legitimate.  So being able to go one trusted place for software for your device is a big deal.  Add to that the fact that one of the devices has sold like no other mobile device before and you see why app stores are getting so much press.

But for all the positive press, and it is certainly well-deserved positive press, there are still some issues that need to be addressed to really free users.  In no particular order some of the biggest issues are:

  1. Searching has to be improved – In some cases even if you know the name of the application it can be difficult to find in the iPhone App Store.  This problem will only get worse as the number of applications grows, and as business applications begin to populate the store.
  2. Many more devices must be supported – With the announcement of several new app stores this problem should improve over time.  I still wonder how useful it will be if you are a small business and have to go to the iPhone App Store for one person, the BlackBerry Apps Storefront for another, and the webOS Software Store for another.  That’s not a very effective way for a small business user to find what they need for their business.  And that brings me to the third point.
  3. Business applications have to be supported – Right now all of the app stores that exist, and the ones that are coming all cater to consumer applications.  There is nothing wrong with providing consumer applications, but who is going to provide applications for small and medium business personnel?  After all, there are over 120,000,000 of them in the US alone.

We are early on in this new world of app stores, and we are off to a great start.  But to really unlock the potential of mobility for business users, the app store landscape will need to change to address these and other issues.

February 26, 2009

No Microsoft Smartphone Coming

Filed under: Industry News,Mobile App Dev,Mobile Devices — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Chris @ 2:24 pm
2009 Mobile World Congress

Steve Ballmer

After months of speculation and rumors about a new Microsoft smartphone, and months of Microsoft denying said speculation and rumors, Steve Ballmer finally made it clear that Microsoft will not release a smartphone.

Seems like a smart move as I really don’t hear a lot of people clamoring for one. Even so, many analysts and bloggers expected a 2009 release to compete with RIM/BlackBerry and Apple/iPhone.

Apple still has the device to beat and Ballmer seems to be happy to let them keep the current “mojo” in the consumer market. Ballmer’s strategy is to continue to build upon the Windows Mobile (actually now Windows Phones) platform and make it as compatible with as many devices as possible. Though not unique, this strategy is very different from Apple’s and RIM’s, whereby they both have a proprietary device and proprietary operating system. Stirring it up even more, Palm recently announced the Pre as well as a new mobile platform called webOS.

Historically, the proprietary device/OS strategy has worked for many mobile phone providers, but I believe this may be changing. From a business user’s perspective (me), the real value in “smartdevices” comes from the business applications (increasing productivity and reducing costs) that run on it. Highly restrictive access to the OS or having to develop across an endless sea of proprietary platforms makes it difficult for mobile application companies to create solutions that can run on every device. 

I would personally like to see a handful of the best OS platforms be able to run across all the devices – and carrier networks. But I won’t hold my breath just yet.

February 23, 2009

Applications are King

Filed under: Industry News,Mobile Apps — Tags: , — Mike @ 9:48 am

chinamobileApple has continued to push the iPhone outside of the US.  Here in America we see the iPhone as a seminal device, changing many of the rules that had been in place between device makers and carriers for many years.  AT&T has been rewarded for breaking the mold with Apple.  About 40% of iPhone-based subscribers are switching to AT&T from other carriers. 

However, the stakes are high.  Everyone is now chasing applications, and the “ownership” of who presents those applications to the user is key.  In a recent article in FierceDeveloper it was revealed that talks broke down between Apple and China Mobile over who would own the interface to users for sharing applications.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“The third and final round of negotiations ended after Apple demanded it retain control over iPhone application sales, insisting consumers purchase apps directly from the App Store.”

China Mobile has to know how wildly successful the iPhone has been and continues to be.  Having the talks break down over this point reveals just how important providers think controlling access to applications is.

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