Mobile Groove

As promised in my earlier post, I’m back with a sneak peek at the controversial findings of the Mobile Trends Survey 2010, conducted by Netsize, a Gemalto company and leading mobile communications and commerce enabler. Drawing from an online survey of over 1,000+ mobile professionals and practitioners, the survey found that the vast majority (87 percent) of respondents believe the Apple App Store will be the most successful app store in the mobile space.

Google’s Android Market is a distant second (60 percent), followed by Nokia’s Ovi Store (30 percent) and RIM’s BlackBerry App World (27 percent). Respondents could choose more than one answer – which is why the total exceeds 100 percent.

Surprisingly, applications stores run by mobile operators finished low in the list, indicating  that platform providers and handset makers may well dominate the space for a time to come.

When asked to rate the unique selling proposition of application stores over other software distribution and sales channels, 65 percent of respondents placed the advantage of having “everything in one place” at the top of the list. This was followed by compatibility “software applications specific to the device”), choice (“a long tail of thousands of applications to choose from”), and ease of payment (“operator billing, for example”).

My take: Brand is important – but it’s not decisive. Sure Apple leads the pack – but the credit for its competitive advantage goes to its keen focus on the ’4 C’s’ – Convenience, Compatibility, Choice and Charging. The good news: get that right and it’s possible to become a leading destination for software applications. The better news: operators have the capabilities mix to excel in charging (a core competence) and choice (stocking app shelves with lots of cool apps and making shopping a no-brainer through intelligent product placement and sophisticated content discovery). The game isn’t over yet….

Note: The complete mobile trends survey results – which cover topics related to mobile entertainment, mobile marketing, mobile commerce, mobile payments and mobile convergence — will be released as part of the Netsize Guide 2010, the comprehensive mobile industry analysis and almanac I have written on behalf of Netsize. Netsize will launch the Netsize Guide 2010 on February 16th at Mobile World Congress (MWC).
For an exclusive preview copy of the Netsize Guide 2010 and the Mobile Trends Survey results prior to their official launch on 16 February, please contact Alexander Vlasblom, Group Marketing Communications Director, Netsize.

Disclaimer: Netsize is an MSG supporter.