Challenges of Consumer-Facing Mobile Apps

It seems today that many vendors are enticed by the perceived ’sexiness’ of mobile applications.

“A mini-program I can access on-the-go, and it only costs $4.00? Sign me up!”

Or perhaps vendors are lured not by the app’s sexiness, instead drawn to the mobile platform after hearing consumer raves like the one above. Sadly, while the ‘quote’ may indeed reflect the way most Americans approach their cell phone, the facts don’t lie; and the facts are telling us that mobile apps have a market reach of 13%.

You’ll get no argument from me that mobile apps are appealing and convenient. But getting your ducks in a row to facilitate access to such applications is the hardest part and the reason why their market relevance is so dad-burned small.

Smart phone sales are on the rise, fueled by iPhone’s upcoming 3.0 release and BlackBerry’s constant innovation, most recently the inclusion of a BB app store. That said, smart phone users only account for 12-14% of the United State’s mobile subscribers. To put this in perspective, SMS capability is activated and actively used by over 80.3% of U.S. subscribers. One can easily deduce from here that mobile apps still have quite a ways to go before they will be as effective as SMS marketing in terms of market relevance.

Beyond possible market reach, another hindrance in the way of mobile app relevance is the cost involved. Smart phones themselves cost a pretty penny, discounts being leveraged only when consumers sign or renew their carrier contract. To use most apps, one must also enable his smart phone to access the mobile web, most often a $40.00/month fee. After that, a lot of home search apps require GPS functionality, an additional $10.00/month fee. Some carriers include unlimited data sharing allowances in the mobile web upgrade; others do not, an additional $5-10.00/month. On top of all that, of course, there is the cost of the actual mobile application to consider. Most people I talk to with this sort of plan setup are paying a monthly cell phone bill of approximately $150.00 - $170.00/month. Personally, I pay just $75.00/month for my LG Chocolate, equipped with Mobile Web and unlimited data sharing. Even when I neglect my bill for a month or two and wait for Financial Services to call me, I still don’t pay as much as a smart phone subscriber.

Pinch Media syndicated an interesting set of statistics a couple months ago. In light of the ‘app store’ innovations as of late, it has been shown that only 20% of users return to an application the day after downloading it. This stat holds true for both paid and free apps, and sheds light on the sad state of mobile app relevance. It’s no secret that the timing is just not right for widespread mobile app adoption. Perhaps a few years down the road things will change; but until then SMS remains the medium of choice by today’s homebuyers.