Mobile agency InfoMedia Services has issued a warning against what it called 'empty figures' promoted by hardware manufacturers and platform providers. The agency claims industry hype could damage big brand B2B investment in mobile application development and marketing.
What provoked the agency's ire was Apple recently claiming over 6.5 billion app downloads from its App Store; Android claiming a 43% increase in market share; and social networking site Facebook released stats on mobile access.
Argued Michael Tomlins, managing director, InfoMedia Services, "These stats from the various platform providers are essentially empty. What is the proportion of premium downloads? How much do end users spend "inside" the apps? How many apps are downloaded per customer? How long is an app held on a device before it is discarded? How many updates are downloaded? Without answers to these questions, developers and brands have no idea of the real reach and engagement of a mobile strategy."
"When it comes to the competition between operating systems and the associated hardware, the grandstanding of these numbers is not actually helping push mobile forward. We have already seen examples of big names postpone investment because they cannot get an accurate figure for the return and revenue that an app - or indeed an entire mobile strategy - might generate."
The agency specialises in the deployment of bespoke interactive mobile services for brands and organisations to develop a new communications channel with their customer. It warns that if the likes of Apple, Google, Blackberry and Nokia were serious about opening up apps to the B2B market, they will need to start adding some real substance to the figures they release to demonstrate the very real ROI that mobile can deliver.