The third category of content providers in our Wireless Value Web includes application developers. We are calling out this group although one could easily make the case for including these software programmers in the content creator category. Yet, if we look at the type of content produced by developers, it becomes clear that these individuals or companies operate in a league of their own. What separates applications from content such as a news story, an image, or a physical product available for sale on a Web site is the complexity of the application as measured in the time it takes to develop the content combined with the breadth of functionality the enduser receives by interacting with the application using the mobile device.

Application developers, then, write software programs that the end-user directly interacts with on the cell phone or PDA. In this definition, application developers create computer programs that are geared towards the consumer, as for example, entertainment software, educational software, or personal information management applications. Similarly, this category of content providers develops business software. These applications are used in the corporate environment to allow direct access into a company’s back-end system, pulling and/or pushing financial data, inventory levels, customer information, or other operations-related data onto a mobile device. Vertical applications appear on the market at an accelerating pace, including solutions for customer relationship management, sales force automation and effectiveness, field service, warehousing, transportation and logistics, and IT management, for example. Horizontal applications, as the name suggests, cover a broad spectrum of business functionality such as personal information management (PIM), time and expense reporting, calendaring, or appointment scheduling across multiple sectors.

Taken From : Enterprise Guide to Gaining Business Value from Mobile Technologies

Filed under: Generate Money

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