Just weeks after the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the largest mobile wireless expo, many vendors get ready to do a second act at the CTIA Wireless Association (Washington DC, www.ctia.org) show in Las Vegas, focusing on the US market. This year the message was clear, the growth engine for wireless going forward is in data (as opposed to voice). And these days, that translates into Apps. FYI - the Apple online Apps store is now on the cusp of reaching the 1 Billion (yes with a "B") download mark, with many other handset makers and even carriers now getting on the downloadable Apps bandwagon.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Here’s the CTIA numbers:
· Data revenues were $17B, up 38% year-to-year
· Data revenue was also up 19% from June-confirming this new major force in the wireless industry
· Voice revenues year-to-year were almost exactly flat based on post analysis done by JRPG Investment Group (see below)

Financial analyst Jamie Townsend, and Gerald Hallaren of JRPG Investment Research (Littleton, CO; www.jrpg.com) gave their take on wireless "data" dominating the segment. "Clearly data is where all the action is," quipped Townsend. "Data accounts for all of the revenue growth in the wireless world. (CTIA) didn’t provide a voice number, but I went and backed out what the voice revenues were and, according to my calculations, voice revenues year-to-year were almost exactly flat. I don’t think any of us were massively surprised to hear voice was flat, but we were thinking between 0 and 5%, as opposed to zero," concluded Townsend.

For wireless carriers, this data revenue figure usually translates into text messaging and Smartphone Internet access. Text has been growing dramatically, and as any parent of a teenager will tell you, if you want to talk to your kid, don’t call their cell, text them a message. But the trend (and revenue) portend something much bigger going on-the Internet. Yes, text messaging is on a dramatic rise, but downloading data (not just sending text) is what is really happening here driven by the recent apps phenomena that started with the Apple iPhone Apps store. Apple hitting the 1B download mark is a big milestone in that direction-validating the market segment.

The JPRG team agrees. Townsend said, "…the RIM booth was all about the applications. Applications were also the major theme at Nokia and Microsoft. The Ovi demonstration at the Nokia booth was phenomenal. I think App Stores are more than a check-the-box item. Applications are critical. It is a reason people would pick one phone over another." And for Apps, iPhone is king of the hill now with competition growing and targeting their dominant position.

Our take: The wireless apps phenomena didn’t just happen, it was created by visionary people at Apple, and display technology was a big part of that success. The group at Apple tied new innovation touch, and accelerometer sensor technology to create a user experience that empowered a whole new class of products, users and software (games in particular) that just keeps growing. Like the GUI / mouse interface a quarter century ago, which made computing "fun," Apple repeated its success in the iPhone (iTouch) and started yet another revolution of "computing for the rest of us" in a mobile handheld device. Just imagine what can be done with next generation flex displays, HD pico projectors and ultra thin OLED display screens. Can’t wait! - Steve Sechrist

Note: Read the expanded version of this article with review of new Mobile Apps stores from device makers and wireless carriers, in this month’s issue of Mobile Display Report.

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