Tag: mobile applications

Mobile commerce growing through in-app purchases

| April 15, 2013

Mobile Commerce GrowthMobile commerce finds strong growth in mobile applications

Mobile applications are beginning to play a major role in mobile commerce. These applications are starting to serve as adequate replacements for NFC technology, allowing more consumers to participate in mobile commerce than ever before. Canalys, a leading market research firm, has released a new report highlighting the growth of mobile applications and the role they are beginning to play in the adoption and expansion of mobile commerce. The report suggests that mobile commerce could come to replace traditional online shopping methods in the near future.

Report highlights performance of mobile applications

According to the report, downloads of mobile applications grew by 11% in the first quarter of 2013. Approximately 13 billion apps were downloaded during that quarter. Many of these applications offered mobile commerce services or some kind of in-app purchase opportunity. Together, these applications accounted for $2.2 billion in paid downloads and in-app purchases during the first quarter, a 9% increase over the previous quarter. The report suggests that the growing popularity of mobile applications, as well as their increasing value, is largely due to the convenience these applications offer, especially in regards to mobile commerce.

Mobile everything is becoming the favored solution for consumers

More consumers are showing favor for using their mobile devices for daily activities, such as online searches, shopping, and engaging in social networks. Mobile services typically offer consumers a range of opportunities to make in-app purchase, either by unlocking additional features for an application or simply purchasing a product through that application. Canalys estimates that the growing popularity of these applications will push the download mark to over 20 billion by the end of this year and that these applications will account for $3.1 billion in revenue.

Mobile commerce still facing several challenges

Canalys notes that the mobile commerce market is still immature and is difficult to measure accurately. There are several challenges that mobile commerce faces that could put a damper on the markets promising future. The most significant of these challenges is security, which is growing more important as consumers begin to understand how much their financial information could be at risk. The continued growth of mobile commerce will also be largely dependent on the social and economic impact it will have. A negative impact will cause the support for mobile commerce to all but evaporate, while a positive impact will encourage more consumers to get involved.

2013 to be the year of mobile commerce

| April 6, 2013

2013 Mobile CommerceMobile commerce companies will have an opportunity to prove themselves this year

This year is expected to determine whether mobile payments will become a widely accepted phenomenon or little more than a passing fancy. In 2013, several of the brands investing in mobile commerce solutions will have their platforms exit the testing phase, becoming widely available to consumers around the world. Those that can entice the interests of consumers are expected to thrive, whereas those that are not well received are likely to fail.

Consumers are becoming more mobile

Part of what makes this year so important for the mobile payments sector is the fact that smartphone and tablet saturation is reaching an all time high. More consumers have access to smartphones and tablets now than they ever have in the past. This makes them more susceptible to the allure of mobile commerce. Moreover, media consumption is beginning to favor the mobile space, meaning that more consumers are relying on their mobile devices for their daily content rather than other platforms. For mobile commerce companies, these trends are of vital importance.

Comprehensive mobile commerce services likely to find success

As more consumers begin to embrace the mobile world, large brands are beginning to invest more heavily into mobile commerce. Mobile startups are beginning to be put to the test and those that offer comprehensive and easy to use mobile payments services are expected to beat out their competitors. There is no shortage of competition, of course, as there are literally thousands of mobile applications that offer some form of mobile commerce service to consumers. The trick, however, is finding a business model that is able to capture the support of consumers.

Freemium model shows most promise

So far, the freemium model is among the most successful in the mobile commerce realm. Freemium refers to the practice of offering a free service with the absolute lowest level of features being offered to consumers. Consumers have the option to pay a fee to unlock new features or sign up for a subscription to access all the features that the platform has to offer.