Industry experts warn of confusion in the mobile app market

Microsoft, Nokia and Orange all launched mobile application stores at the GSM World Congress this week, but industry experts warned the rush to market could cause confusion for publishers and advertisers.
The launches join existing app stores from O2, Samsung and Google Android as the industry bids to drive usage of content services via mobile apps which offer consumers a much richer experience than can be achieved via a mobile website.
However, there is a risk that the emergence of a clutch of app stores with competing development requirements, marketing strategies and distribution methods will lead to confusion for app publishers.
Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of US operator giant AT&T, used his keynote speech to warn the industry about the dangers of creating a fragmented ecosystem. "We need to get apps to work across platforms, devices and operating systems. We should use a standard base API to allow developers to create mass market apps that are cross-platfrom."
Mike Wehrs, CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association, said brands should focus on stores which were generating the largest amount of traffic. "If there were one operating system it would be easier. At the moment there are only three that really matter in terms of volume - Nokia, Windows Mobile and iPhone."
Phil Northam, global marketing manager for Samsung, said publishers must consider which platform was likely to offer consumers the best experience. "What makes your app special and which platform brings the best out of it is the one that matters," said Northam.
Udo Szabo, senior manager for Ovi product strategy at Nokia, said it was likely many mobiles would feature two competing app stores. He added Nokia worked closely with existing partners and developers via its Forum Nokia mobile apps development initiative to let publishers take advantage of Nokia«s global reach. "We don't know how many app stores will be in each phone. We offer global reach and have put the store on high and low end phones," Szabo added.
Google is bidding to decrease its dependence on having to develop multiple versions of applications by taking advantage of increasingly powerful browser web kits. Its latest version of rich mapping tool Google Mobile Maps for Palm, will run using the phone's mobile browser, rather than as an application, for the first time.
Vic Gundoria, VP of engineering for Google, said developers should look to take advantage of web kits to build one service that works cross-device and platforms in order to reduce costs.
"You have the ability to build an application that spans devices if you use a modern browser," said Gundoria. "We're seeing the emergence of a platform that spans devices. We don't need to name it, it's called the web."

http://bluespotmedia.ning.com/