Why BlackBerry Secretly Moved Away From Consumer Apps

Question: If you eliminated every single app you’ve ever downloaded on your mobile device, what would you be left with? It’s a hypothetical query but it should make one consider where their device stands functionality wise without any apps. Enthusiasts from popular platforms typically boast how many applications exist within their particular ecosystem, as if apps somehow improve the value of a mobile device. But, if that is the case, then I must ask: “If you need apps to ‘better’ your mobile device and experience, what does that say about your mobile device?” If you have ever had the occasion to observe people using their smartphones, you’ve probably seen what appears to be, pages upon pages of countless grids, with colorful square icons, constantly being scrolled through in an effort to locate a particular application. BlackBerry has redefined this dated paradigm through its revolutionary OS with features such as the Hub and Peek and Flow, but for the majority of smartphone owners this superfluous activity underscores one much overlooked reality; their Smartphone has virtually become nothing more than a glorified app launcher dependent on their respective app store. Fortunately, this isn’t necessarily the case with BlackBerry 10, which I will explain in a bit. Apps are what keep an ecosystem alive because it’s a successful, self-reliant business model. Apples’ enormous app store generates profit for the company. The million plus apps in their store are a reflection of the wants and needs of the consumers and their iPhones. This is more or less the same for Google. These companies make money selling mobile devices to consumers and make more money from the same consumers via their app stores. Since iPhones and Android devices are so popular, developers from all over the globe flock to these ecosystems seeking to profit off of their popularity. However, there is something that the media and consumers are not aware of and that BlackBerry has brilliantly positioned themselves to respond to: The inevitability of the app bubble. The mobile app industry is a lucrative one. With millions of apps available and billions of downloads (and counting), only less than 1% of apps are financially successful according to the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, Gartner. In the 2014 Gartner press release, Ken Dulaney, vice president and analyst at Gartner stated, “There are so many applications that are free and that will never directly generate revenue.” Why is this? It’s simple. Consumers don’t want to pay for apps. According to the report by Gartner, 90% of paid applications make less than $1,250 a day in total profit. Considering that the average app costs between $1- $1.50 and that 94% of these paid apps eventually become free only after about a year, it makes one wonder where developers stand in all this. Portio Research projects that by 2017, 4.4 billion people will be using mobile apps . But with millions of apps already in existence, there will simply be too many apps for a consumer to realistically search through and discover, let alone want to pay for. In fact, a report from the app analytic firm Adjust says that nearly 80% of apps in the Apple App Store are currently dead. Which means these apps are just lying dormant; they haven’t been downloaded once since 2008 when the store first launched. That’s over 950,000 apps! Think about it. Considering that there are about 2,000 Flashlight apps alone in the App Store we can see why there is such an enormous amount of dead apps, but you’ll never hear Apple tout these realities at their keynote events. For the apps in the Google Play Store, I imagine the statistics are worse considering their lack of quality control and larger market share. CEO of Adeven, Christian Henschel, told GigaOM; “The reality is, there are only a couple of thousand apps that really make some kind of downloads. This is based on Apple’s closed system — it’s tough to discover those kinds of apps. You don’t have proper search, so the only way to discover new apps is through the top listing. If you’re not on those lists, it’s not sure that you’re being discovered by anyone else. The top 25 tend to be the same companies who spend millions of dollars to get to the top of those lists. If you’re an independent, small app publisher, then it’s really tough to be discovered.” So if developers aren’t making money from selling apps, how are they making revenue? Mobile ads. If you thought earning money as a developer was challenging, wait until you read about the mobile ad industry. A vast majority of apps are now littered with ads. Karsten Weide, an analyst with IDC, estimates between 60% and 75% of mobile ads are actually promoting other apps. Mobile ad company Fiksu stated that it’s up to 85%, depending on the time of year. Basic economics prove that the future of the app business is a bubble about to burst since a large portion of the advertising dollars originates from within the industry. Experts debate whether it will indeed burst or not, but these numbers cannot be ignored. While mobile apps dominate desktop Internet browsing as of this year, according to data from comScore and cited by research firm Enders Analysis, advertising dollars are still not reflecting consumer transition to mobile Internet usage. Gartner stated that U.S. spending on desktop ads will reach $37.5 billion this year while mobile ads spent only $2.8 billion worldwide. Google has seen its revenue per ad decreasing steadily in the past few quarters as Internet consumption moves to smartphones. “While app developers struggle with meager ad revenue, advertisers have difficulty establishing the value of in-app ad investments,” Gartner said in the report earlier this year. In addition, advertisers are working with small screens, not conducive to effective adverts. “With brand advertising, you want to tell a story, and the canvas on smartphones is so limited,” IDC’s Weide said. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the consumer end, people absolutely hate ads. I have no statistics on this but I’m going to assume that a very high percentage of ad clicks are done by accident. The reality is mobile ads have become the junk mail of our new age. It’s come to the point that advertisers have resorted to tricking costumers into clicking on their ads. One of my personal favorites is the ole ‘putting an “X” on the top corner and a small “close” somewhere else’ trick. People are so focused on eliminating the ghastly, annoying advert that they tap the “X” hoping it will close out the ad but instead, they are sent to an advertising page. The mobile Internet is surely becoming a laud yellow page advert, where low rent advertising lives. It will be interesting to see how the future unfolds for apps, developers, and advertisers. Especially as the experts and analysts debate the eventuality of the app bubble burst. So you’re probably asking ‘how does BlackBerry fit into all of this?’ They don’t. BlackBerry is focused on creating the best “out of box” mobile devices in the world… non-app reliant. Why would BlackBerry invest finances, resources, energy and time on developing an ecosystem just to compete in a lucrative declining business(consumer applications) when they can just by-pass the entire paradigm? Especially when you can just listen to what your clients and customers want and integrate those features directly into your OS in a secure innovative way. If you pick up a BlackBerry Passport right now and compare it to any leading market smartphone without any apps, the Passport is in a league of its own. BlackBerry offers a full suite of integrated native applications and services that render most apps virtually unnecessary… like Blend, Story Maker, Express and Remember. Never mind the fact they offer the Amazon app store, BlackBerry World and that all Android apps are able to run on BB10 devices (save for Google Play services, as of now). BlackBerrys “App-gap” problem exists only in the minds of ignorant consumers. Like the Passport, people are slowly beginning to look at things differently. Perhaps people should consider purchasing a mobile device that is not dependent on an ecosystem but that rather frees them from one. It’s time for smartphones to become smarter and evolve from being third party app reliant devices into ones that communicate with the world around them without technological prejudice. Project Ion, BES 12, BBM, Blend, and Android app compatibility are all signs that BlackBerry is on a path to freeing people limited by their mobile devices. Consumers shouldn’t criticize BlackBerry because they don’t have the latest mobile game or social network in BlackBerry World, they should be asking themselves if their smartphone is neutering their mobile productivity, communications, and experience. Edited by Sharon Mamolo Why BlackBerry Secretly Moved Away From Consumer Apps via BerryFlow.com.

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