Category Archives: Information Technology

App Store Sales

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We hear a lot about “apps” these days, or application programs. But what are they, really. These are computer programs designed as standalone software to run on a variety of devices, usually mobile devices. These apps are sold through online stores and usually have a well defined and somewhat limited purpose. They usually have a filename extension “.app” for use on mobile operating systems such as Android; iOS (Apple); Linux; MeeGo; Microsoft Mobile; RIM (BlackBerry); and Symbian.

Apps are a class of products whose market is based on volume. The average price of an app is around $2.50, (reached with a lot sold for 99¢ and a few sold for $9.00 plus) so a whole lot of apps had to sell in order to reach the market size presented below. There are 5 billion mobile device subscribers worldwide, according the the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Now, all mobile devices are not “smart” devices and thus are not equipped to run apps. Nonetheless, based on the fact that an estimated 10% of these 5 billion devices are smart we can calculate, very generally, that each one of these smart device owners bought just under two apps in 2010. There seems room for growth here…

As a side note, that figure of 5 billion mobile device subscribers is rather noteworthy given that the world population in 2010 was just shy of 7 billion. Food for thought.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2010
Market size: $2.15 billion
Source: Whitney, Lance, “Report: Apple Remains King of App Store Market,” CNET News, February 15, 2011, available online here. Also, press release from the ITU which is available online here.
Original source: IHS Screen Digest, February 2011

Online Sale of Computers—Hardware & Software

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Selling computers and software online seems pretty natural, after all, the buyer is using a computer to make the purchase. This may explain why the growth rate of online sales of this line of merchandise was not quite as robust between 2003 and 2008 as the growth rate for other lines of merchandise—clothes, sporting goods, food, beer and wine, and appliances to name a few lines, each with an online sales growth rate over 200%. Selling computers online has been underway since the 1990s whereas online sales of other lines of merchandise have only moved onto the Internet in a big way since the early 2000s.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2003 and 2008
Market size: Sales: $7.8 and $14.3 billion respectively, an increase of 84%.
Source: “Table 1055. Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses—Total and E-Commerce Sales by Merchandise Line,” Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011, U.S. Census Bureau, page 663, available online here in a spreadsheet format, and here as a PDF file.
One word of clarification to help prevent any confusion about just what is being presented here. The data in the source table are provided in two columns per year, the first one called “Total,” and the second is “E-Commerce”. The column headed “Total” refers to the total sales for the industry “Electronic Shopping and Mail-order Houses,” [NAICS 4541], and the second column is the e-commerce portion of that industry’s total. Do not confuse the “Total” column for a measure of total sales of the product line listed in that row. It is, rather, the total sales of that product line made electronically and through mail-order houses.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

By the way, for anyone not familiar with the Statistical Abstract of the United States, a wonderful compilation of a huge variety of important measures of the United States, learn about it here. It is a great place to start with any investigations about the U.S. economy, business climate, people, government, and many more things yet.

Mobile Advertising Market

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Mobile advertising is promotional activity designed to be delivered to cell phone, smartphone and other handheld device users. The market size presented here also includes Web-based search and display ads. As more consumers use smartphones and other handheld devices to access the Web, advertisers have devoted more money to mobile advertising. According to IDC, the mobile advertising market may double to $2 billion in 2011. Google had a 59 percent share of the market; Apple had less than a 10 percent share in 2010.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009 and 2010
Market size: $368 million and $877 million respectively
Source: Olga Kharif, “Google Gains Market Share in U.S. Mobile Ads,” Bloomberg Businessweek, December 3, 2010 and available online here.
Original source: IDC

Internet Users Worldwide

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The source for this market size is a poster offering a variety of interesting statistics about “our connected world.” Covered on the poster—a link to which is provided below—are statistics on the number of Internet users by country, broadband subscription rates by country, and numbers of people who have mobile only phone access by country. The data are presented graphically and we found it to be an interesting and useful presentation of the material.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2010
Market size: 1.734 billion users, 20.8% of whom are in China.
Source: “Our Connected World,” made available online by buzzhunt.co.uk here.
Original source: GigaOM, Cisco, and Internet World Stats.

IT Asset Recovery Market

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Information technology asset recovery includes data-wiping and refurbishment of computer equipment. It also includes dismantling the equipment, reusing the parts, and recycling what can’t be reused.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2006
Market size: $1.5 billion
Source: Scott Bekker, “Finding New Value in Old PCs and Servers,” Redmond Channel Partner, April 2010, pages 18-24