Mobile Applications for Smartphones like BlackBerry and iPhone will drive industry growth

Mobile Applications, Smartphones will drive industry growth; AppStore “miles ahead” of its rivals

Despite the economic downturn, it is expected that the latest mobile applications for smartphones like BlackBerry and iPhone will drive industry growth in the coming years, providing alternate sources of revenue for operators.

A new report by Juniper Research forecasts that smartphones will account for 23% of all new handsets sold by 2013 (Cellular News). Another report by Informa forecasts 35 percent growth in sold smartphones in 2009 and according to The Washington Post, Gartner expects smartphone sales to jump in 2009.

The common element in these reports is the potential that innovative devices and applications have to promote mobile data consumption. This has industry players scrambling to secure their place in the value chain, including content providers, handset vendors and application developers.
Handset vendors need to diversify into high-value content to offset falling margins on handset sales. On the side of content providers, Facebook is reported to be in talks with a number of mobile phone manufacturers to more tightly embed access to its services within the phone menus. RIM, who is launching BlackBerry App World later this month; Microsoft announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the launch of Windows Mobile marketplace, which will allow developers to build and sell Windows Mobile applications. Both will compete head to head with Apple’s AppStore

Read the full write up by Raul Castanon here.

There is a tremendous potential for developing such content and  applications for the Arab world.

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Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of UAE bans YouTube content

The content on the popular video sharing website came under the scanner when a cartoon hurting religious and nationalistic sentiments uploaded on the site resulted in heated public debates and discussion across the country.
The cartoon in question shows two young Muslim characters who are constantly coerced by elders to become suicide bombers. It has Hebrew and English subtitles.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) justified the part ban imposed on YouTube content in an official statement released yesterday.

Earlier in February, the TRA banned access to the cartoon clip, citing breach of prohibited content categories stipulated by them.

“The Internet Access Management (IAM) policy, published by the TRA clearly identifies prohibited content categories, which both UAE Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have published on their websites. Therefore, no content on the internet is blocked unless it breaches IAM policy”, reads the statement.

“As for YouTube, the TRA has instructed to block “part of its content” that breaches the prohibited content categories of the IAM policy. However, there are clear and specific procedures to that, and both ISPs are compliant to these procedures”, the statement said.

An official said: “It happens that some things can escape the proxy, especially clips with tags like a cartoon which in normal cases do not need to be blocked. But when the authority receives comments or feedback on a particular case, necessary action is taken promptly.”

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Bango’s report : U.S. now accounts for 29% of mobile web browsing

The U.S. now leads the world in mobile web browsing, accounting for 29 percent of global traffic, according to new data issued by mobile web solutions provider Bango. In all, Bango’s February 2009 data identifies mobile web users spanning 208 different countries and 1,811 different handsets. While Bango cites the publicity surrounding Apple’s iPhone as a catalyst behind mobile web uptake in markets like the U.S. and the U.K., the firm credits the absence of fixed-line broadband and PCs for growth in regions such as India, South Africa, Indonesia and Egypt, where mobile devices are often users’ sole point of access to the Internet.

Bango adds that the growth of mobile web traffic is matched by an increase in users paying for premium mobile content, adding that the U.S. now represents 57 percent of mobile payments worldwide. However, the data indicates that despite a growing appetite for mobile web browsing in markets like India and Indonesia, web traffic doesn’t always translate to purchases–only five countries in the Top 10 browsing chart (the U.S., the U.K., Portugal, South Africa and Spain) also landed on the Top 10 payments list. According to Bango, browsing rates are only converted into high purchase rates in markets where users enjoy significant disposable income and can pay for premium content via their phone bills.

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Mobile internet users on the rise in the Middle East

A rising number of Middle East business people are using mobile devices to access the internet, while fewer are using computers, according to a new survey released recently. The survey, presented to the Digital Marketing Conference in Dubai by the Dubai-based research company Real Opinions, said computers were still by far the main way to connect to the internet.

However, the percentage who regularly logged in to the web with their mobiles increased from 33.5% in February 2007 to 40% last month. The number of people using desktops to log in decreased from 63.50% to 58.93%, while those using laptops slid from 82.80% to 81.35%, reported The National newspaper.

But for mobile internet to do well in this region, the operator’s will have to bring down the usage cost and encourage adoption. Currently prices are quite high and if you see the recent release from Bango on the browsing behavior of user’s, middle east countries are no where.

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