The past, present, and future of mobile apps, including branded apps, are depicted visually in an infographic from Neolane, which is shown below.
The Age of Apps infographic starts in 1993 when the first touchscreen phone debuted by IBM followed nine years later in 2002 with RIM’s first BlackBerry device. Fast forward just five years later to 2007 and Apple debuted the revolutionary iPhone. One year later in July 2008, Apple launched the App Store (followed in October 2008 by Google’s Android Market launch) and the worlds of mobile devices and mobile apps have never been the same.
By April 2009, over 1 billion apps had been downloaded from the Apple App Store, and exactly one year later, the iPad debuted. By August 2010, the Android Market reached over 1 billion apps downloaded. In 2012, Google Play (the new name launched this year for the Android Market) had reached over 15 billion app, and the Apple App Store exceeded 25 billion app downloads.
So what’s next for mobile apps? And why does it matter for brands? According to the infographic, some very important things will happen by 2016 that relate directly to brands:
- By 2016, 44 billion apps downloaded
- By 2016, app-to-person messaging will overtake text messaging
- By 2016, 70% of iPhone users will have downloaded apps from well-known brands
- By 2016, 60% of iPhone users will be interested in downloading apps from well-known brands
Check out the suggestions for creating branded apps based on the research presented in the infographic below. Hopefully, it will get your mobile creative juices flowing!
Image: Neolane
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
