It is no secret that mobile is an exploding sector right now. And this Spring it has for sure been all about mobile for Boston’s leading market research firms. We looked at these companies’ market research reports from April and May to aggregate the latest mobile trends and numbers. From tablets to smartphones and the apps that run on top, these mobile data points are sure to make you do a double-take:
Tablets
Global tablet revenues will hit $49B by 2015. [SA]
Tablet revenues will exceed those of every consumer electronics category except TVs and PCs by 2015. [SA]
Nearly three-quarters of consumers in the UK and US are open to purchasing non-Apple tablets. [SA]
61% of US corporations report employee tablet use. [SA]
80% of the value of the tablet market in 2015 will reside in both high-tier and entry-tier models, as tablets address the opportunities in both developed and emerging markets. [SA]
Worldwide Media Tablet and eReader semiconductor revenues grew over 2,000% to $3.3B in 2010. These revenues are projected to grow 120% year-on-year in 2011. [IDC]
Smartphones
Worldwide mobile phone market grew nearly 20% in the first quarter. Vendors shipped 371.8M units in 1Q11 compared to 310.5M units in Q1 of 2010. [IDC]
The worldwide smartphone market grew 79.7% year over year in the first quarter of 2011. [IDC]
Smartphone vendors shipped 99.6M units in 1Q11, nearly double from the 55.4M units in the Q1 of 2010. [IDC]
Apple shipped a record 18.6M handsets in Q1 2011, capturing fourth place in global shipments and overtaking rival ZTE. [SA]
Apple became the world’s largest handset vendor by revenue, with its iPhone handset division standing at $11.9B in Q1 2011. Apple overtook Nokia for the first time, which recorded a lower $9.4B of wholesale handset revenues. [SA]
Mobile Apps
By 2015, worldwide app store revenues will hit $36B. [YG]
The app market was $2.2B in 2010 with a CAGR of 85% through 2015. [F]
A third of all apps downloaded in 2015 will be paid, with paid’s share growing from 27% in 2010 to 32% in 2015. [YG]
Games generate the most app revenue, accounting for $1.6B in 2010. Social networking apps will grow the fastest to 2015, with a CAGR of 50%. [YG]
The share of mobile app revenue billed by carriers will increase from 7% in 2010 to 25% in 2015. [YG]
While the US accounted for 94% of global app downloads in 2008, 3 years later it commands only a third — and Asia-Pacific generates nearly half. By 2015, Asia-Pacific will be the big generator, accounting for $16B, or nearly half of all mobile app revenue. [YG]
