Reality Check: Business applications, you are clear to land

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
Greetings from Kansas City, home of the baseball team with the best batting average in the majors (and the saves leader, Joakim Soria). But does that help them out of 4th place? No. But I digress.
First, an update on Mobile Symmetry. Many of you have seen the Micro Directory product in action. We are in the final stretches of the first version of the database and hope to have it ready for Alpha next week. So if you signed up for the Alpha, look in your spam catcher for an e-mail. We are very excited by the reception we have received from customers and potential investors. Definitely have a long way to go, but the framework is there. Thanks again for the kind words of support and help.
In the process of analyzing competitors in the mobile app space, we do a fair amount of analysis on operating system stores, applications, etc. Many folks have taken an ecclesiastical approach to applications (specifically, to quote King Solomon in the ancient Hebrew text, “That which has been is what will be. That which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new?’ It has already been in ancient times before us”). There can be nothing new. Every map, flash card, social network, music network, broadcaster, doodle, Angry Bird, bodily sound, pop culture figure, telephone substitute, and adult subject has already been app-ed. It’s complete – a library of our culture. Finished. Done.
Not so fast. While we might feel overloaded in certain areas, there is one area where the runway is empty: business apps. Why has it taken so long for business applications to catch up with the rest of the world? Here are some thoughts:
1. Security: Business integrators like IBM Corp. stake their reputations on security. Until the recent iPad/AT&T Mobility breach, Apple Inc. seemed to have recovered from a wave of skepticism surrounding secure transmission of e-mails and other sensitive information. Those concerns are going to be heightened.
2. Multi-carrier/multi-handset applications integration: Most large businesses use more than one wireless carrier. With the exception of Apple (AT&T Mobility) and Nokia Corp. (one smart phone model, only on AT&T Mobility), multi-carrier carriage isn’t a barrier to successfully implementing a business apps strategy. Google Inc.’s Android Marketplace does not have a “business” section in their apps store, Research In Motion Ltd.’s Blackberry has about 300 in their “business” section, and Palm Inc. has just over 100. Google, Blackberry, Palm and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows face a different issue – variety and value.
3. Data speed consistency across carriers: Imagine having to design an application that ran consistently well across AT&T Mobility in New York, Sprint Nextel Corp. in Miami, Verizon Wireless in Nashville, and T-Mobile USA Inc. in Dallas. Outside of e-mail, it’s not easy to do. At a minimum, it would involve moving servers closer into the carrier network environment, or perhaps having a fiber cross-connect in more carrier hotels. Lots of engineering, but it’s still hard, and, in some respects, more dependent on the carriers than developing one application (Apple) for one carrier (AT&T Mobility).
4. Life cycle: Unlike post-World War II discoveries (e.g., microwaves, plastics, polymers, computers, optical drives), many of this century’s new technology developments have penetrated the business marketplace after they achieved mass market status. On mobile (or, perhaps more correctly defined as API-driven mobile) applications are no exception. This is driven by the factors above, particularly security and consistency.
5. Relevancy and momentum: As we show below, the probability of anyone hanging out in the business section of these app stores is slim (you will likely sell more if you classify it as a game than as business). The operating system staff and personnel follow the sales volumes. With 97% of iTunes apps being classified as something other than business, it’s hard to be found.
In the case of applications, we may have saved the best for last. There’s a lot of money that’s going to be spent in the next decade enabling more business information in the mobile device. But it’s going to take a lot of cooperation within and between the computing software, hardware and telecommunications industries, which hasn’t been easy to come by lately.
What’s the state of business applications today? According to the blog site 148apps.biz, there are 229,532 applications available for download in the iTunes app store. As of July 10, the iTunes store active count of business applications is 6,167 (3%). This compares to 41,000 “book” (18%) and 33,000 “game” (14%) apps. Some more facts:
–There are no business applications in the top 200 selling paid or free iTunes paid apps. More sales for Angry Birds, flashlights, Sponge Bob and Family Guy than business.
–There are two business applications, however, in the top 200 grossing iTunes apps: Documents to Go Premium (a $15 app) at No. 34, and Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite ($$) at No. 179.
–Top 10 selling business applications include three document/business card scanner applications, two that render computer documents on your iPhone, a scheduler, and a business ringtone app.
–While there are no “business brands” represented in the top 10 paid apps section, all of the package carriers (FedEx Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., and the United States Postal Service) are in the top 10 free business apps.
–The “new and noteworthy” business apps include U.S. and Canadian tractor, machinery, and commercial truck wholesalers, a boutique hair salon in Chicago, a psychic center, a dry cleaning finder, Don Ayres Honda, and Weber Chevrolet. There’s also an app on workers compensation, San Diego property search, and (seriously) iPARFUM which keeps you smelling good. This is what makes up “new and noteworthy” for business – at least Apple has a sense of humor.
I can’t make this stuff up – go look for yourself. No Hewlett-Packard Co., no Cisco Systems Inc.(or sub-brand), no Office Depot Inc. There is a Salesforce app (I am told it’s very good), and a decent Lotus Domino app. But that’s two in a sea of 230,000. And the stats above are iTunes store only – as mentioned earlier, the other operating system stores have mere hundreds of business applications, proliferated by one industry (real estate) and very elementary applications (tip calculators, currency converters, and mileage/ expense trackers).
There’s a lot of runway for business applications. It’s going to require solving the issues described above (hint to Apple – if you want to get serious about business apps, take the leadership role on multi-OS integration and beat Microsoft/Google/Motorola Inc./Nokia to the punch). But the runway is wide open and ready for a smooth and profitable landing.
Jim Patterson is CEO & co-founder of Mobile Symmetry, a start-up created for carriers to solve the problems of an increasingly mobile-only society. He was most recently President – Wholesale Services for Sprint and has a career that spans over eighteen years in telecom and technology. He welcomes your comments at jim@mobilesymmetry.com.