Smartphones: native apps continue to gain ground
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

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A study released last autumn by Zokem, a firm specialising in mobile audience measurement, found that fully half of data volume consumed on smartphones accrues to use of data applications such as social networking, multimedia and maps. In the study, Zokem analysed a dataset of more than 10,000 smartphone users, including 6.5 million distinct smartphone application usage sessions in 16 countries during 2009 and 2010.

While mobile web browsing continued to hold a slight edge in the amount of time spent by smartphone users with their device - 300 minutes per month, on a par with the amount of time spent actually using the phone to make voice calls - the fact that data traffic stemming from applications represents such a significant volume of overall usage provides powerful evidence that the native app model is gaining ground on the web-based app model.

There are a number of likely factors influencing the rapid adoption of the app model - more powerful smartphone technologies that enable vendors to offer rich, interactive user experiences optimised for the smartphone screen, and a maturing of pricing structures as vendors learn from experience what revenue models will be embraced by their users.

So news that the UK's Mail Online iPhone app, which previously required a paid subscription, is now offering a free alternative, can be taken as evidence of publishers tinkering with their models to capture that enticing mobile app market share. paidContent UK's Robert Andrews reported in his coverage yesterday  that "new readers could read in-app stories free for 60 days before having to pay either £4.99 for four months or £8.99 for 12 months". Under the new model, users will have the option to continue free access indefinitely, in exchange for agreeing to have ads served alongside their news content.

As Andrews points out, this could be interpreted in a few different ways - confidence in a recovering ad sales market, or a sign that subscription revenues aren't quite filling the bill. It could also be an end-run around Apple's newly announced subscription plan, which I wrote about last month, requiring publishers to pay Apple 30% of any subscription revenue purchased on their mobile devices.

Regardless, with the thirst for native data apps that Zokem points to with their study, it's clear that the voice capabilities of smartphones may soon pale in comparison with their importance as mobile computing centres.

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