Mobile phones and mobile apps are more popular than ever before and the mobile application market is set to explode in 2011. Well, at least that is what market analysts expect to happen, anyway, and judging by trends in 2010, the analysts are more than likely right.
The Evolution of the Mobile Phone
As phones advance, so do the applications they use, making things that people could only do on computers easily done on mobile phones, and the smartphones of the future will only get better at doing so. Mobile apps are fast replacing the need for people having to use desktop software to complete their computing tasks, and some of the applications can easily replace Microsoft desktop software.
Like the PC before them, the devices being used today are evolving faster than the market can absorb. Some smartphones are even getting closer to being decent replacements for computers, and many people have already done this to some degree. In fact, the Atrix 4G, a new phone released by Motorola for AT&T, has a docking system that allows it to function almost as a laptop does.
The Transition
Revenue for mobile applications was $5.2 billion for 2010, and that number is expected to triple to $15 billion by the end of 2011. This means a lot of applications will be doing the things that were once reserved for desktop software. Programmers all over the world develop these mobile apps and a person no longer has to be part of a big software company to release an application that becomes viral.
Recently it was announced that for the first time more mobile phones were sold than computers. As mobile devices increase in power and the number of mobile apps continues to grow, more and more people will be turning to their mobile devices to do what they once used desktop computers for. Microsoft, Google, and others are definitely facing a serious threat from the growing mobile apps market.
Looking to the Future
Some experts say that the Microsoft software model is now dead. As mobile devices advance and network speeds grow, mobile applications are set to take over. Thanks to this growing mobile application market, even Facebookand Google are not safe from the effects that mobile apps will have on the technology industry. Experts are saying that the cloud-computing model is dead and while this may be surprising to some, if the market is set to triple this year, they may very well be right.
Mobile applications are allowing mobile devices to act as mini-desktop computers. People can now easily create and print documents from their smart phones. This was something that once required a desktop computer and software that might cost $100 or more to do. People can now take high definition video and, thanks to certain mobile applications, stream it effortlessly to their high definition television. Corporate employees can create high quality presentations for business meetings in a cab and again, this was something that was once reserved for desktop computing and expensive software. Mobile applications are clearly making an impact on the desktop computing market.
