Prior to the age of Smartphones, mobile applications didn’t extend further than a built-in calculator and if you were really lucky, a pre-installed game or two. But you didn’t really mind because you only needed your phone to make calls, send text messages and maybe pick up your emails if you had a Blackberry. You had no idea what possibilities lay ahead for mobile devices.
Then something wonderful happened. Arguably one of the biggest technological developments of our generation exploded into the mainstream: Apple’s iPhone. The first generation iPhone came equipped with a web browsing, map, stock and email applications while incorporating the iPod. This was cutting-edge technology, or so we thought.
A year after the iPhone hit stores, Apple released their new flagship product, the iPhone 3G along with an upgraded version of their iOS operating system (OS), iOS 2.0.1.
So what was so special about iOS 2.0.1?
This new version of iOS included the App Store, the world’s first application distribution platform which opened the floodgates for mobile application development. The App store offered different applications in many different categories listed below.
Fast forward the timeline to January 7th, 2013 when Apple announced that the App Store topped 40 billion application downloads. The success of the App Store prompted several other operating system developers to create their own application distribution platforms like:
- Google Play
- Blackberry World
- Windows Phone Store
- Samsung Apps Store
- Nokia Store
- Amazon Appstore
Today, the Global Mobile Applications Market is worth more than US$ 14 billion and is expected to reach nearly US$ 50 billion by 2016, growing at a CAGR of over 36 percent for the 2012-2016 period.
Mobile applications put the world at the fingertips of a smartphone user. You can do your banking, check your Facebook, read a book, learn a language and play an infinite number of games.
Some mobile applications like Instagram, a popular photo sharing app is said to be responsible for social phenomena including “Throw Back Thursday” (#tbt) in which users share old photos of themselves, or “Foodies”, people who take photos of food.
Apps have also transformed the gaming world. Prior to mobile applications, mobile gaming consisted of classic games like Tetris or Snake, if you were lucky. Some mobile phones didn’t even come equipped with games. Now, games like Candy Crush, 4 Pictures 1 Word and Angry Birds dominate the mobile gaming market. Even celebrities have gotten into the mobile applications gaming market. Ellen Degeneres recently helped to develop and launch an app called Heads Up, a guessing game where one (or more) people act out a clue for someone to guess, and the best part is that it films the action to playback once you’re done.
If one thing is clear, it is that the possibilities for mobile applications are endless. With the rapid pace of technological development, there’s no telling what mobile application developers have in store for us in the future. It should be obvious by now how much mobile applications are engrained into today’s society. Apple’s App store alone offers over 1 billion different mobile applications which have become a vital part of our everyday lives. Don’t believe us? Just try to pry the smartphone out of a teenager’s hands.
For more information, view our 2012-2016 Global Mobile Application Market report.
