Category Archives: Business Analysis

Business Analysts are the people who interact with the clients directly and are the face of development team for clients. Being a Business Analyst is a job to communicate with the client where our actions and approaches directly affect the client’s decisions and perspective towards the company. It is the core responsibility of a Business […]

Sadly, Systems Analysts are still perceived as nothing more than glorified programmers, a misconception that hasn’t changed in many years. This means people still have trouble differentiating between systems and software, the two are certainly not synonymous, yet one is often used to implement the other.

With dozens of smartphones spanning multiple manufacturers and all four major U.S. operator networks, it was inevitable that Android sales would surpass the iPhone sooner or later, and that time is now. Android represented 28 percent of first quarter s…

Four weeks after the U.S. retail release of Apple’s iPad, it’s clear the company has another hit on its hands. On Monday Apple announced sales of the tablet have already surpassed the 1 million benchmark–by comparison, the company needed 74 days to s…

Roughly a year after its initial launch, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World now features about 6,000 applications for BlackBerry devices–double the number available in October 2009–according to RIM senior vice president Jeff McDowell. In an in…

Smartphone shipments worldwide will increase to 390 million units by 2013–a compound annual growth rate of 20.9 percent over the 2009-2013 forecast period in question–according to research firm IDC. While IDC predicts the Symbian operating system will retain its global leadership position over that time thanks largely to Nokia’s dominance in markets outside of the U.S., Android is expected to experience faster growth than any of its rivals, leaping from 2008 shipments of 690,000 to 68 million units by 2013, a CAGR of 150.4 percent. IDC adds Android will benefit from the growing footprint of handset vendors supporting the platform, and will finish second to Symbian in shipments by 2013.

On the flipside, IDC forecasts Linux and Palm’s webOS shipments will struggle throughout the forecast period. Shipments of Linux-powered devices are expected to trend down due to greater emphasis on the Android platform, although some vendors will continue to support the platform–as for webOS, IDC believes the operating system will grow steadily, but will ultimately capture only narrow market share as a result of limited deployment and operator availability.

For more on the IDC forecast:
– read this release

Related articles:
Android explodes into the consumer consciousness
Over half of Android developers dissatisfied with app profits

Consumers worldwide will download about 4.51 billion mobile applications in 2010 according to a new forecast issued by research firm Gartner, increasing from 2.51 billion downloads last year–that translates to app store revenues close to $6.8 billion, up from $4.2 billion in 2009. Gartner anticipates that free applications will represent 82 percent of app store downloads in 2010, a number that will grow to 87 percent of downloads in 2013 even as expected revenues jump to $29.5 billion: Gartner estimates corresponding mobile advertising revenues will leap from $600 million per year in 2009 to about $7 billion in 2013 as developers embrace a host of mechanisms to subsidize their efforts. Gartner contends that developers have little choice but to pin their hopes on mobile advertising, arguing that as smartphones continue to come down in price, the new wave of mass-market users will be reluctant to pay for mobile software. “Growth in smartphone sales will not necessarily mean that consumers will spend more money, but it will widen the addressable market for an offering that will be advertising-funded,” Gartner research director Stephanie Baghdassarian said in a prepared statement. “The value chain of the application stores will evolve as rules are set and broken in an attempt to find the most profitable business model for all parties involved.”

But some experts question whether existing mobile advertising concepts and approaches are on the right track. The doubters are said to include Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who believes “mobile ads suck” according to BusinessWeek, citing a source familiar with Jobs’ thinking. So Apple reportedly is exploring new approaches to mobile advertising in the wake of its recent agreement to acquire mobile ad network Quattro Wireless, plotting ways to exploit consumer data to better serve mobile advertisements. Insiders say Apple’s efforts seek to make ads more relevant to consumers, factoring into the equation data like purchases and downloads from iTunes and the App Store as well as geo-location. “[Apple] could also use the iPhone’s capabilities in creative ways–say, having someone shake the device to win a rebate the same way they do to roll dice in games,” the report notes.

Despite Gartner’s app store revenue projections for the year ahead, more than half of developers are pessimistic about their immediate financial outlook. A new Mobile Entertainment Forum study examining the state of the U.S. mobile content value chain reports that among 100 respondents from 80 companies spanning across the mobile entertainment landscape, 42 percent said they expect at least a 20 percent revenue increase in 2009, and 58 percent anticipate comparable revenue growth in 2010–app developers are less optimistic than any other industry segment the MEF polled, with only 48 percent believing revenues will increase 20 percent or more this year. MEF Americas chairman Jim Beddows theorizes developers have serious doubts about the longterm viability of current marketplace conditions: “The explosion of app stores and applications continues to feed consumer demand, but it’s still not proven whether there’s a sustainable revenue model,” he said in an interview with FierceDeveloper. Nor is it proven that mobile advertising is the solution to those concerns, but if not, then what is? –Jason

If 2009 was the year that manufacturers and developers fully embraced Google’s Android mobile operating system, then 2010 is already shaping up as the year consumers follow suit. According to new data published by research firm ChangeWave, 4 percent of smartphone owners surveyed in mid-December say they’re currently using Android, up three points over September totals; more significantly, 21 percent of respondents planning to purchase a smartphone in the next 90 days say they’d prefer the device run on the Android OS–a 15 point jump in just three months. ChangeWave notes that as of September 2009, Android was tied for dead last in consumer preference among the major operating systems–now, it’s in second place among future buyers, behind only the iPhone OS X at 28 percent, down 4 percentage points in the last three months. Android’s rise also comes at the expense of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Palm’s webOS–6 percent of consumers say they plan to purchase a WinMo device, down from 9 percent in September, while webOS slipped from 6 percent to 3 percent quarter-over-quarter. Only Research In Motion’s BlackBerry OS held relatively steady between September and December, increasing from 17 percent to 18 percent among prospective smartphone buyers.

ChangeWave forecasts that Motorola’s Droid stands to benefit most from consumer demand for Android devices–in fact, 13 percent of shoppers say they plan to purchase a Motorola smartphone in the next three months, a 12-point jump over September 2009 and the handset maker’s first increase in a ChangeWave consumer smartphone survey in three years. In addition, 9 percent of prospective smartphone buyers are now eyeing HTC devices, up from 5 percent in the previous survey, corresponding with the November release of the Droid Eris. Word of mouth is also working in Android’s favor, with 72 percent of current Android users telling ChangeWave they’re very satisfied with their smartphone, behind iPhone users at 77 percent but well ahead of BlackBerry (41 percent), Palm OS/webOS (33 percent) and Windows Mobile (25 percent).

Not all Android purchases are looming in the immediate future–it appears that a large number of consumers received Android devices over the holidays as well. Mobile application analytics provider Flurry reports Android Market app downloads increased 22 percent between November and December, with downloads to Droid units up 93 percent on Christmas Day over previous Fridays last month. In all, the Droid now accounts for 49 percent of all Android Market downloads, followed by the myTouch 3G at 18 percent, the HTC Hero at 17 percent and the G1 at 16 percent. Flurry adds that Apple’s App Store download volume is still more than 13 times greater than Android Market–regardless, Android has made enormous strides over the past year, and that trend will continue in 2010. –Jason

Application downloads via iPod touch devices eclipsed iPhone downloads by 172 percent on Christmas Day 2009, according to data compiled by mobile application analytics provider Flurry. Total iPod Touch download volumes grew by nearly 1,000 percent on Dec. 25 compared to the average of all previous Fridays during the month– Flurry speculates that in addition to new iPod touch 3G models received as gifts, iTunes gift cards also drove downloads across earlier generation iPod touch devices. In addition, iPod touch download volumes topped iPhone downloads by 104 percent on Dec. 26. Cumulative App Store downloads increased by 51 percent in December 2009 compared to November totals, Flurry reports.

In early December, Flurry reported the iPod touch accounts for about 40 percent of all iPhone OS-based devices sold worldwide–moreover, the firm contends that the portable media player may boast even greater long-term strategic value than its smartphone sibling, because it’s building a loyal consumer base among teens and pre-teens representing the next generation of iPhone users. “When today’s young iPod touch users age by five years, they will already have iTunes accounts, saved personal contacts to their iPod touch devices, purchased hundreds of apps and songs, and mastered the iPhone OS user interface,” Flurry notes. “This translates into loyalty and switching costs, allowing Apple to seamlessly ‘graduate’ young users from the iPod touch to the iPhone.” As of June 2009, the iPhone accounted for 57 percent of application user sessions tracked by Flurry–the iPod touch represented 31 percent, and Android devices were responsible for 10 percent. As of late November, total user sessions increased across all three devices, with the iPhone accounting for just 50 percent of sessions on average–the iPod touch’s share of user sessions grew to 35 percent, followed by Android at 14 percent.

For more on the App Store’s December growth spurt:
– read this Flurry blog entry

Related articles:
Study says iPod touch users slower to upgrade mobile OS
AdMob: iPod touch ad requests triple

While 94.4 percent of iPhone users have upgraded their smartphones to run on iPhone OS 3.0, only 52.24 percent of iPod touch users have made the switch according to a new study released by online advertising network Chitika. The iPhone OS 3.0 software update, issued in mid-June, is free to iPhone owners, but iPod touch users must pay between $5 and $10, depending on when they purchased their device–iPod touch units shipped within the last six months arrive with iPhone OS 3.0 preinstalled.

“What’s it all mean?” Chitika asks. “Well, despite its hype, iPhone OS 3.0 had very little to offer iPod Touch users. Push notifications? MMS? Tethering? Essentially useless on a device that relies on WiFi for a connection. iPod Touch users are essentially asked to pay for copy/paste, in-app purchases, and the ability to buy a segment of the latest apps from the app store.”

For more on Apple mobile OS usage:
– check out the Chitika website

Related articles:
Youth movement driving iPod touch app usage
AdMob: iPod touch ad requests triple