"There is an application for that." The famous slogan of the App Store, the platform download applications from Apple, pretty much sums up the market. Of the approximately 400,000 micro-available software on different platform download, have found flashlights, GPS, games, newspapers and even a creator of ring tones or a repellent.
While 6.5 billion of applications have already been uploaded to the only Apple App Store, the market is just beginning. "It just begins to know that there's gold in there," said Drew Ianni, chairman of the conference which was held AppNation this week in San Francisco."We discovered the gold two years ago with Apple, and now is the rush!" He adds.
Huge potential for new users
The application concept is not new since the first day "organizers" Palm Pilot in the late 90s. But the use of dedicated software had remained confidential. In 2008, with the opening of the App Store from Apple, that their download has exploded.
And the potential for new users is still énorme.D according to a study by the Pew Research Center, 39% of American adults have applications on their mobile phones, but only 24% use. "In France, the growth potential is even more important," says Renaud Ménérat, president of the advertising agency UserADgents. Only 18% of the population owns a smartphone, so more than 80% of people simply do not have access to the market application. "In the U.S., a Nielsen study predicts that by 2011 the majority of phone owners will have smartphones.L increasing penetration of smart terminals in the population will enable application developers to reach many more increasingly important to users.
New areas to explore
The thousands of software already available do not prevent innovative opportunities to accompany a hearing more and more mobile. "In the professional field, applications are still weak, says Renaud Ménérat. Yet the issues related to mobility management are many, management of vehicle fleets of companies to access resources remotely.
Another possible development: geolocation coupled with social networking applications that respond to three questions: Who am I? Where am I? And with that I want to share this information?
Finally, augmented reality, which can be superimposed on our environment virtual elements in real time through a series of video sensors (see an example video here), has not really caught on in applications for smartphones.
An advertising market to create online payday loans.
10% of digital hearing from smartphones, but only 1% of advertising on the Internet through these terminals. For Renaud Ménérat, this report will logically change. "On the Internet, advertising is stagnant, while on the mobile, there is growth in two or three digits," he relates.
Advertising helps to monetize the hearing of applications.Apple, for example, earns a percentage on sales of micro-computer software from the App Store. But in 75% of cases, the "application" is free, and Apple does not win anything. "Hence the idea of staging an advertising offer based on the sale of advertising space within free applications," said President userADgents.
We now understand the interest of manufacturers of smartphones for advertising agencies. By late 2009, Google, which makes the operating system Android, was offered the platform for mobile advertising AdMob. A few days later, Apple acquired since renamed Quattro Wireless IAD.
In full swing, the application market has only just started.A few months ago, Getjar, which wants the second platform sales sector, predicted on his blog that it would represent $ 17.5 billion (13.4 billion euros) by 2012.
The most profitable applications
The most profitable applications are not necessarily the most downloaded. This is where the price multiplied by the number of downloads is the highest. The applications related to the road cut the lion's share. This selection is based on data from the App Store France between 13 and 17 September.
1. Radar detectors
These applications combine geolocation and sharing community. The first sees a radar warns users that follow the same route. The most profitable in France are Icoyote (1.59 euro) and Avertinoo (4.99 EUR)
Two.GPS
GPS is cost-effective implementation of choice since it fully exploits the idea of mobility and includes two useful tools, phone and GPS. Mappy GPS (4.99 euros), TomTom (from 49-79 euros depending on geographical area) or Navigon Mobile Navigator (89.99 euros) are those most relevant to their developer and platform download that hosts.
3. Games
Run time is surely one of the main uses of the smartphone. The entertainment applications are consistently among the most profitable even if they are less expensive than radar detection applications or GPS. Leading the way it is Monkey Island 2 (0.79 euro) replica of a 90s video game, then Virtualcity (2.39 euros) when it comes to developing a virtual city, whys and finally (0, 79 euro), a set of questions and answers.