Is Google Play as Popular as the App Store?

For the past five years, Apple’s App Store has ruled the mobile market in terms of the variety of applications available and the number of users visiting the store for downloading the apps. Apple, known as the pioneer of the modern mobile application market, has been responsible for making smartphone apps popular among the masses and creating a whole new unit of the IT industry. But if the current market reports are to be believed, Apple may no longer be at the helm after the emergence of Google Play.

 

In a report published by Bloomberg Businessweek, it has been stated that Apple Inc is gradually losing its numero uno position and popularity to smartphone apps manufactured by Google Inc. The report says that while the sales of Android apps from Google Play doubled in this fourth quarter, the revenue generated by iOS app sales from the App Store climbed by only 20 percent.

 

But has Google been successful enough to surpass the popularity of even the App Store? According to most mobile analysts, the best mobile companies of the world and the most influential enterprises still prefer to use iOS mobile applications as opposed to Android apps. Though the revenue generated from software sales at the Google Play is rising steadily, it is considerably behind the mobile revolution started by Apple’s App Store. However, it would only be fair to say that the rate of growth of Android app usage has been so high that it has led to the rising popularity of Google Play in the app economy. At the last count taken in October 2012, both the App Store and Google Play hosted 700,000 apps that were also available for sale or download. With iOS mobile applications still generating at least 3.5 times more revenue when compared with Android apps, there is little doubt about the fact that Apple has its niche audience and Google Play is yet to catch up to the popularity of the App Store.

 

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Asia Dominates App Store and Google Play Revenue Charts

Asia is in love with iOS and Android mobile applications. According to the fiscal reports released by App Store and Google Play at the end of January, China, Japan, and Korea have defeated even the US in terms of app usage from the Android and iOS stores. While Japan featured at the top of the list among nations that contributed to the Google Play revenues, Korea followed shortly behind. China, on the other hand, is now among the top six countries to be featured on the revenue charts of the Apple App Store. This is indicative of a clear trend in the world mobile market; it means that Asia is the most dominating region when it comes to usage of tablet and smartphone application stores.

 

In a latest report, it has been stated that while the US was the clear winner among nations using software technology, Asia is emerging as its successor, if the current economics is to be taken into consideration.  The strength of Asia and its subcontinent in the mobile app market has also forced software developers and app publishers to alter their international strategy.

 

The report claims that Asians have a strong liking for gaming apps and therefore this type of software sells the highest from Google Play and App Store. Keeping in mind the ever increasing demand, 75 percent new cellular ideas will be sold in Asia in the near future.

The Future of Computing is Mobile, says Forrester

We have heard before that all enterprises big and small must make an effort to embrace mobile technology in order to be able to mobilize profits from their business. With more than one billion smartphone users worldwide, and the number rapidly rising, we are living in an era where mobile app development has taken on a new meaning. The flexible infrastructure that mobile applications provide, the DevOps, and the open source platforms have led to the creation of a compelling engagement system linking both systems of operation and systems of record within an enterprise.

 

In a report published by Forrester, the analysts have pointed at mobile as the future of computing. Whether it is the senior management at a company or its target user base, both have to abandon using desktops and laptops and replace them with mobile devices in order to be able to have complete access to an organization’s services and products and remain connected anytime anywhere. The report also makes an important point when it says that enterprises need to learn and take lessons from the web approach adopted by modern customers while preparing their mobile strategy. According to the Forrester analysis, if an organization ignores the web approach of its user base, it may lead to the formation of a business model that is devoid of any proper structure. The risk that enterprises may face in this case is that their ignorance may lead to the deployment of mobile applications which lack the modern features and functionality required for the effective functioning of a modern enterprise; it may also lead to deployment of software that is hard to use and maintain.

 

The report of Forrester is of the opinion that though the concept of mobile entered the enterprise a couple of years ago and since then the awareness generated around the software to be uploaded in mobile devices has risen comparatively, several mobile application development companies still fail to incorporate the basic requirements that enterprises and their customers expect from the software. There are a few mainstream application developers who are gradually adapting to their users’ app needs and expectations; but there is still a long way to go before the enterprise will successful deploy apps along with every element that leads to their successful performance. The best way to secure a strong mobile experience is to include the HTML5 technology, say experts at Forrester. Some other mobile solutions that modern enterprises need to adopt are as listed below:

 

• In memory database
• Asynchronous APIs that can be consumed over a number of channels
• An open source software
• Dynamic programming languages like Java, .NET, Django, PHP, and most importantly HTML5
• NoSQL and Shared SQL databases which can promote scale out architecture and commodity hardware
• Process communication frameworks such as nginx and node.js which are lightweight in nature and can promote reduced resource consumption besides several other advantages

 

As the mobile apps built these days come with more innovative and improved features, enterprises are increasingly on the lookout for mobile devices and operating systems that will support the more functional software. The Forrester researchers predict that the cost of mobile app development as well as deployment will rise with each passing day. The solution is to deploy the new apps as soon as they are launched.