Smartphone Content Market (the Handango Yardstick)
>> Smartphone Content Sales Statistics for 2006
Cellular News
27th February 2007
The smartphone software retailer, Handango has released special 2006 year end editions of the Handango Yardstick, a global report on the state of the smartphone content industry. More than 11,000 new software titles were added to the Handango catalog in 2006, with 1,231 new mobile content providers joining the Handango Content Partner Program. Although currently one of the smaller catalogs, BlackBerry had the fastest growing content library with an 81% increase over last year in the number of new applications added. The Pocket PC platform saw the highest number of content titles added at 3,627.
Average selling price is increasing. The 2006 Yardstick reported an overall increase in ASP, up from US $20.03 in 2005 to US $21.16 in 2006. Medical applications netted the highest average selling price at US $49.26. Medical professionals are increasingly relying on mobile software to enhance productivity, giving content providers an opportunity to create more robust software in this category. The second highest ASP was seen for Development Tools ($43.62), with Recognition & Languages ($31.23), Translation ($26.91) and Business & Professional ($26.58) rounding out the top five.
Consumers utilize their smartphones for both personal and professional use:
The Business & Professional category of software had the highest overall sales, followed by Productivity, Entertainment, Games, Travel, Utilities, Communications and Multimedia. The best selling applications reflect a combination of entertainment, personal productivity and business software, which indicates that consumers are using smartphones for both personal and professional use. Some titles that made the best sellers lists on multiple platforms include travel guide WorldMate, mobile instant messenger IM+ and poker game Aces Texas Hold'em.
Entertainment remains popular and streaming media content is introduced. Building on last year's surge in multimedia content, 2006 saw a rise in demand for streaming media applications, with MobiTV, HandiTV and PocketStreamer Deluxe topping the best selling lists. Entertainment content ranked third in overall sales by category, while search terms "ringtones", "games" and "MP3/music" made the top five in overall searches.
Casual games remain strong in both searches and sales. Games ranked fourth in sales by category and third in searches, further demonstrating that smartphone owners use their devices for entertainment purposes. Solitaire, sudoku, poker and Tetris were the most commonly downloaded games across all platforms with Palm OS and Pocket PC being the most popular platforms supporting games.
Palm Treo 650 remains top device adding software. The Palm Treo 650 topped the list of devices adding software in both 2005 and 2006. Also seen in the top ten this year were device models across a range of platforms including the Cingular 8125, Motorola Q, BlackBerry 8700c and Palm TX. Not reflected in the platform Yardstick are devices released later in the year that are quickly rising in the amount of downloaded content. These devices include the BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Treo 700p, Samsung BlackJack, T-Mobile Dash and Nokia N73.
BlackBerry
The Handango Yardstick reported another significant year for BlackBerry with an 81 percent increase over last year in new applications and an 87 percent increase in new content providers. BlackBerry continues to be popular with workers as Business & Professional software was the top category for this platform based on revenue. This category also represented the highest ASP at $39.87. The top BlackBerry devices adding content in 2006 were the BlackBerry 8700c, BlackBerry 7100i, Blackberry 8700g, BlackBerry 7130e and BlackBerry 7290.
The top 10 best-selling applications for BlackBerry in 2006 were:
1. Ringtone Megaplex
2. Ringphonic Lite*
3. VoiceControl*
4. eSpell*
5. IM+
6. WorldMate Professional Edition*
7. Ringphonic*
8. Aces Texas Hold'em - No Limit
9. RepliGo Professional*
10. Ascendo Photos
Palm OS
Although the growth rate of the Palm OS content catalog slowed in 2006, the overall ASP of Palm OS content increased by 17.7 percent, from $19.32 to $22.74. Medical had the highest ASP of all categories at $62.33, which was more than double the next category, Productivity at $27.91.
Productivity titles contributed the greatest percentage of revenue for the Palm OS platform two years in a row, up from 21 percent in 2005 to 35 percent in 2006. Games and Entertainment rose to the number 2 and number 3 positions, respectively, further supporting the trend that Treo devices are used commonly for entertainment in 2006. Ringtones accounted for the largest number of searches for the Palm OS platform making up 18 percent of the top 100 search terms.
Following the Palm Treo 650, the models rounding out the top five devices adding software in 2006 were the Palm TX, Palm Treo 700p, Palm LifeDrive and Palm Tungsten E2.
The top 10 best-selling applications for Palm OS in 2006 were:
1. Agendus Professional Edition
2. Treo Voice Dialing
3. PocketMirror Standard
4. RingoPro
5. AOL for Treo 650
6. PocketCopy*
7. SplashID
8. Diet & Exercise Assistant
9. Agendus Standard Edition
10. mRing for Treo*
Windows Mobile Smartphone
The overall ASP for Windows Mobile Smartphone content increased by more than 15 percent, from $13.59 in 2005 to $15.70 in 2006. The Business & Professional category ranked the highest in ASP at $24.58, while Hobbies (the highest ASP in 2005) did not appear in the top 10 in 2006. More than 1,200 new Windows Mobile Smartphone content titles were added to Handango's catalog in 2006, and 130 new content providers created applications for this platform.
Entertainment content represented the largest contribution to Smartphone revenue in 2006, closely followed by Utilities. The Multimedia, Productivity, and Business & Professional categories rounded out the top five. Streaming media applications MobiTV and PocketStreamer DELUXE were the top two sellers for Smartphone in 2006.
Ringtones accounted for the largest number of searches for the Smartphone platform in 2006, making up 20 percent of the top 100 search terms, a large increase from last year. The list of devices adding the most content in 2006 included newer models such as the Motorola Q, T-Mobile Dash and Samsung BlackJack, as well as more mature models like the Cingular 2125, Motorola i930 and Qtek 8310.
The top 10 best-selling applications for Windows Mobile Smartphone in 2006 were:
1. MobiTV*
2. PocketStreamer DELUXE*
3. SBSH Fa?e*
4. SmartphoneNotes
5. IM+*
6. Photo Contacts
7. SBSH Papyrus
8. Aces Texas Hold'em - No Limit*
9. HandiTV*
10. Jeyo Mobile Extender
Symbian OS
The 2006 Yardstick reported that more than 3,000 new content titles were added to the Handango library for the Symbian OS platform, which is 14 percent higher than the number added last year. There was also a notable rise in new content providers (258) for the Symbian platform in 2006.
Productivity software accounted for the greatest percentage of Symbian OS sales, followed by Utilities and Communications. Video player SmartMovie, email client ProfiMail and weather monitor Handy Weather came in as the top three best selling applications. Symbian saw an increase in overall ASP of 5 percent, from $19.36 in 2005 to $20.35 in 2006. The Medical and Document Management categories reported the highest ASP at $32.44 (down from $57.81) and $30.46 (up from $30.24), respectively.
The best-selling Symbian OS applications in 2006 include:
1. SmartMovie
2. ProfiMail*
3. Handy Weather S60*
4. WorldMate Professional Edition
5. Media Studio for Nokia*
6. Handy Safe S60
7. Advanced Call Manager S60 Third Edition*
8. WorldMate S60*
9. IM+ S60*
10. Media Studio for Sony Ericsson*
* New to the top 10 list in 2006 ###
- Eric - |
