The North American Mobile Market report, finds that despite the decline in mobile music as a result of the collapse of the ringtone market, there will be significant growth in emerging sectors in North American content and applications, such as mobile gambling and adult, as well as the more established, such as games, user generated content, and infotainment.
Meanwhile, US carriers are targeting the launch of 4G LTE networks combined with a return to tiered pricing in order to increase data revenues, while working together to make their app stores more appealing in the face of Apple’s App Store.
According to report author Daniel Ashdown: “Carriers are at last recognising what developers want; the ability to publish their application across a wide variety of platforms while making those applications far more accessible to the end users.”
Other findings from the report include: Competition in the Canadian wireless market is heating up as new carriers launch HSPA networks, with Juniper Research forecasting penetration will reach 100% in 2014; The future of mobile TV in North America is in streamed, rather than broadcast services, as consumers embrace on-demand viewing; Mobile banking total transaction value to rise as North American financial institutions promote additive banking on wireless devices.