The Mobile Content Industry Lives the Success of the Stores and Looks at the Opportunities of the Mobile Web, says Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The mobile content industry is experiencing a moment of a strong success thanks to the Apple App Store bringing into the marketplace a well functioning content delivery model. Market players, including mobile network operators, are trying to compete with established stores through the launch of storefronts and joining forces in open innovation initiatives. Developers are using the stores as a medium for publishing cutting edge services and solutions. Businesses like banks, newspapers or public services are exploiting the stores to engage with their audience and clientele. According to Frost & Sullivan, this success will bring in revenue growth and pace of innovation over the next three years.

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The recent Frost & Sullivan study "The Modes of Mobile Content Industry -- The Stores and the Web" explores the evolution of the applications stores and the rise of the mobile Web as the borderless and open platform for mobile content delivery.

"The Apple App Store success is undoubtable, its consequences are radical and the pace of innovation is tremendous" -- says Saverio Romeo, Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst for ICT practice. However, some challenges are already emerging. The proliferation of the number of stores is creating a fragmented environment of close islands. In order to reach the largest audience, developers have to fit different requirements and work on different platforms, which means additional costs and overheads. Developers are also experiencing serious difficulties in marketing their applications as a newly launched application is just a part of an enormous basket of applications already in store.

The level of competition is very high in terms of number of applications and developers. "All this is making developers enthusiastic and frustrated at the same time:  enthusiastic because the store gives a direct road to market and consumers for new and fresh ideas, and frustrated because the model seems to be difficult to sustain financially," adds Romeo.

These challenges are becoming the raison d'etre of Apple's competitors. The mobile Web companies are, for instance, claiming that the Web is the only open and universal accessible platform. Developers can produce Web-based applications that can be downloaded by any mobile Internet users. The next step is to identify additional forms of revenues. And the market players, including Apple with the recent launch of iAD platform, seem to have a consensus: the revenue stream per excellence is advertising.

The success of the stores will continue over the next three years, but the role of the mobile Web will become increasingly relevant giving endless opportunities to developers and other market players. The competition on mobile content applications and services will strongly intensify bringing prices down and opening the door to alternative revenue models, mainly advertising. "Success in mobile content will require a highly innovative ecosystem able to attract a large audience, offer them valuable ideas, engage with them and monetise this engagement," concludes Saverio Romeo.

If you would like to learn more about the Frost & Sullivan study "The Modes of Mobile Content Industry -- The Stores and the Web", please send an e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at [email protected], with your full name, company name, title, and contact details.

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan