CAGR of app users has been 251% over the last 5 years, outpacing the growth of the stationary internet users worldwide by an astonishing factor of 15! However, stationary internet user base is still more than two times bigger than mobile app user base, but its growth rate of 16% (CAGR) looks rather deplorable compared to mobile. There are 4 major implications every company has to deal with:
1. The number of mobile app users will overtake stationary web users
Eventually a great part of today’s 7 billion mobile subscribers will possess a capable device and will make use of apps. The biggest challenge will be to tap into the developing countries…
2. IT development will become mobile
If private and business users are mobile, IT solutions will have to follow. Mobile app development business has already become a multi-billion dollar business, but this is just the beginning. Enterprises will mobilize their IT solutions and hundreds of thousands of IT developers will have to be trained in mobile programming languages.
3. The mobile channel will become a key strategy element for every company
There is no industry that is not affected by the new mobile channel. It will be a challenging task to create, develop, maintain and manage hundreds of mobile services on an increasing number of platforms and for a diversity of internal and external user groups.
4. M&A will become hot
Because of the speed the market developments and the time it takes to implement changes within an organization, companies will open their pockets and start to buy apps and mobile service companies to keep up with the pace of the market.
Regardless of the time scale, this inevitability makes companies’ mobile/app and web strategy in the long run more important than their PC/web strategy… Additional details are available from research2guidance’s “Smartphone App Market Monitor; Data Package Vol. 10.“