Mobile Application Sales Dropping
There’s a very interesting article by Michael Mace asking why mobile application sales are dropping. Sales are dropping despite the fact that (Symbian) smartphone sales are increasing significantly. With Symbian set to sell hundreds rather than tens of millions of phones in the next few years, what can be done to narrow the smartphone to application sales gap?
I think this issue is related to my previous post on Series 60 marketing I think there is a ‘core’ million or so people worldwide who are the early adopters and have been for a very long time. These are the people who regularly buy the Pocket PC, UIQ and Series 80 devices (and software) and very few Series 60 devices. Most Series 60 owners don’t actually know what their devices can do and aren’t even interested.
There will need to be a marketing and application paradigm shift before the mass-market uses mobile applications. Paradigm shift? Think user-centred design. Think of applications (and phones) that second guess what you want to do. Think of applications that work ‘out of the box’ with no configuration. Think of affordable and more importantly, known data/service costs. Think of network operators actually aiding rather hindering usage. In fact, many of the issues discussed on my blog and at events like MEX need to be solved.
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