The Future Of Application Stores

The application store market is still nascent, but it is evolving quickly. Apple reinvented the distribution of products and services on mobile phones, opening up direct-to-consumer opportunities for nontelecom companies. A plethora of new stores will try to replicate this success, adding more fragmentation to the market in the next two to three years. However, in the longer run, few will be able to offer brands and publishers the reach that they want — nor the reporting and merchandising tools that they need. Before succumbing to application hype and increasing costs by porting their services to many platforms, product strategists need to define their mobile road map. This means defining a mobile business model, anticipating technology evolution, and taking a step back before putting all their eggs in the downloadable app basket.