Top 10 consumer mobile apps for 2012 identified

Top 10 consumer mobile apps for 2012 identified

Although it’s two years away from now, tech analyst firm Gartner has identified the top 10 consumer mobile applications for 2012. It listed applications based on their impact on consumers and industry players, considering revenue, loyalty, business model, consumer value and estimated market penetration.

“Consumer mobile applications and services are no longer the prerogative of mobile carriers,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “The increasing consumer interest in smartphones, the participation of Internet players in the mobile space, and the emergence of application stores and cross-industry services are reducing the dominance of mobile carriers.”

“We predict that most users will use no more than five mobile applications at a time and most future opportunities will come from niche market ‘killer applications’,” Shen said.

The top 10 consumer mobile applications in 2012 will include:

1. Money Transfer — This service allows people to send money to others using Short Message Service (SMS). Its lower costs, faster speed, and convenience compared with traditional transfer services have strong appeal to users in developing markets, and most services signed up several million users within their first year.

2. Location-Based Services — Location-based services (LBS) form part of context-aware services, a service that Gartner expects will be one of the most disruptive in the next few years.

3. Mobile Search — Consumers will stay loyal to some search services, but instead of sticking to one or two search providers on the Internet, Gartner expects loyalty on the mobile phone to be shared between a few search providers that have unique technologies for mobile search.

4. Mobile Browsing — Mobile Web systems have the potential to offer a good return on investment. They involve much lower development costs than native code, reuse many existing skills and tools, and can be agile — both delivered and updated quickly.

5. Mobile Health Monitoring — Mobile health monitoring is the use of IT and mobile telecommunications to monitor patients remotely, and could help governments, care delivery organizations (CDOs) and healthcare payers reduce costs related to chronic diseases and improve the quality of life of their patients.

6. Mobile Payment — Mobile payment usually serves three purposes. First, it is a way of making payment when few alternatives are available. Second, it is an extension of online payment for easy access and convenience. Third, it is an additional factor of authentication for enhanced security.

7. Near Field Communication Services (NFC) – NFC services allow contactless data transfer between compatible devices by placing them close to each other, within ten centimeters. The technology can be used, for example, for retail purchases, transportation, personal identification
and loyalty cards.

8. Mobile Advertising — Mobile advertising in all regions is continuing to grow through the economic downturn, driven by interest from advertisers in this new opportunity and by the increased use of smartphones and the wireless Internet.

9. Mobile Instant Messaging — Mobile IM presents an opportunity for mobile advertising and social networking, which have been built into some of the more advanced mobile IM clients.

10. Mobile Music — Mobile music so far has been disappointing — except for ring tones and ring-back tones, which have turned into a multibillion-dollar service. On the other hand, it is unfair to dismiss the value of mobile music, as consumers want music on their phones and to carry it around.

By MELVIN G. CALIMAG
January 10, 2010, 3:31pm

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/237787/top-10-consumer-mobile-apps-2012-identified