Mobidia Technology, Inc., a provider of mobile analytics, today released new insight into mobile usage of messaging and VOIP applications. Mobidia's data highlights the continued and growing importance of these applications to smartphone and tablet users and the opportunity for mobile operators and application vendors in the global, but very fragmented marketplace.
Over the past year, there has been a substantial increase in activity in the mobile messaging and VOIP space with upstarts such as WhatsApp making significant market share increases and disrupting the European texting business, and Facebook launching dedicated mobile messaging apps. Established apps and services such as China's Tencent and Microsoft's Skype continue to release new functionality and push into new markets. And many mobile operators, including T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Telefonica, announced, launched, or grew propriety and joyn-based solutions in the space. Options for subscribers will increase throughout 2013, yet the leading options will vary widely depending on country or geography.
An analysis of Mobidia's data on messaging and VOIP apps highlights the following trends:
Mobile messaging applications and VOIP applications are popular among smartphone users in established and developed countries. In many locations, penetration rates of 60 to 95 percent are common. The market for mobile messaging and VOIP is highly fragmented with hundreds of applications available and often 10 to 20 applications showing significant usage for a given geography or country.
"The mobile messaging and VOIP app market is going to see a lot of activity in the next 12 to 24 months as upstarts, traditional app vendors, and operators battle to drive their growth and work to establish or maintain their leadership in the space," said Chris Hill, Vice President of Marketing at Mobidia. "Mobidia's data can provide unique and valuable insight to companies that are building, launching, or investing in these specific applications."
For more information about Mobidia's mobile data, please visit Mobidia's website, where you will find detailed whitepapers, or Mobidia's Blog for periodic updates on data and analysis of mobile usage.
