Handango Inc., the leading provider of smartphone content globally, today announced the results of its bi-annual Handango Yardstick, a proprietary global trend index offering unique insight into the smartphone content industry. For the first time ever, BlackBerry displaced Windows Mobile to become the dominant platform within the Handango smartphone content catalog, constituting 44% of all apps sold in the first half of 2009, up from its 31% share in 2008.
In the first half of 2009, Handango added an impressive 550 content partners to its network with almost 7,000 new applications across all categories ranging from Games, Personal Information Management (PIM), Personalization, News and Media, Education, Travel and Messaging.
HANDANGO’S TOP TEN – Best Sellers List (Across Platforms) January-June 2009
1. SPB Mobile Shell 3
2. MobiTV
3. Ringtone Megaplex
4. Aces Texas Hold'em
5. The Weather Channel
6. SPB Weather
7. Bejeweled
8. Alltel TV
9. Aces Solitaire Pack
10. SPB Backuup
HANDANGO’ S TOP TEN GAMES (Across Platforms) January-June 2009
1. Aces Texas Hold'em
2. Bejeweled
3. Aces Solitaire Pack
4. Tetris
5. The Sims 2
6. Guitar Hero 3 Mobile
7. Monopoly Here & Now
8. Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 09
9. Jewelrumble 2
10. Sudoku Puzzle Pack
Games continue to grow in popularity
Games represented 25% of all apps sold in the Handango category up 6% from 2008. Year-over-year, games grew 19% (H1 08 vs H1 09). EA Mobile was the best-selling game developer for the first half of 2009. Among the notable and popular titles added to the Handango catalog are Hell’s Kitchen and The Sims 3. A special edition mid-year report on Handango’s Games category is available at http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H_Games.pdf [1] <http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H_Games.pdf [1]> .
DEVELOPER HIGHLIGHTS
SPB Software stood out from the crowd again as Handango’s top performing software developer based on both the popularity of its apps and its sales figures. Voice control software also made a big splash in the first half of 2009, with the addition of Vlingo to the Handango catalog.
Leading the way for SPB Software in the first half this year was the launch of SPB Mobile Shell 3. SPB Software has been a dominant player in the smartphone content space for many years due to SPB Mobile Shell’s runaway success. In the past 12 months, the development house has been actively cross-marketing its broader suite of products by using Handango merchandising tools, upgrade campaigns, and cultivating user loyatly via e-mail and user-generated content.
Even with the explosive growth of BlackBerry, SPB Software chief Sebastian-Justus Schmidt remains extremely bullish about Windows Mobile as a platform and the strong future for those creating and distributing the type of quality, powerful mobile apps for which SPB Software and Handango are both known. “Handango is the most important distribution partner for SPB Software,” said Schmidt recently. “They do a great job supplying the best choice of software to end-users worldwide. Handango is by far the most well known site for Windows Mobile software and is always growing the market share and availability of apps for new Windows Mobile devices.”
In the first half of 2009, Vlingo emerged as Handango’s hottest newcomer. Vlingo offers voice control software for BlackBerry, Symbian (beta), and Windows Mobile (beta). With only one quarter of sales under its belt with Handango, Vlingo jumped into the top 20 most popular apps in the first half of 2009.
Commenting on Vlingo’s remarkable growth, Handango CEO Alex Bloom advises developers and publishers to continue focusing on building apps that solve problems and needs of substance in the mobile user experience. “A lot of press has been given to the low price-point app market… And while there’s definitely a place for low price-point apps, I believe there’s an even bigger opportunity in the mobile media market for quality apps that are built to augment personal and professional productivity, to provide rich forms of entertainment, and to help mobile users get organized, keep fit and stay safe”, said Bloom.
PLATFORM OVERVIEW
The Handango Yardstick is the leading Index of trends in smartphone content based on Handango’s position as the largest third party smartphone application retailer with multiple distribution channels including: a consumer website, Handango.com, a market leading on-device client, Handango® InHand™, more than 50 channel partners including Microsoft, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, AT&T, and AOL among others and operates over 1,000 content partner storefronts. The Handango Yardstick compiles and analyzes consumer activity from each of these channels creating a unique industry index of smartphone content trends across leading platforms, most major devices and top distribution points. A full version of the Handango Yardstick is available at http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H.pdf [2] <http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H.pdf [2]>
RIM (BlackBerry)®
The top-five best-selling applications for BlackBerry January-June 2009 were:
1. Ringtone Megaplex
2. Alltel TV
3. Aces Texas Hold'em® - No Limit 4. Aces Solitaire Pack
5. The Weather Channel
As the new dominant player on the Handango network, the BlackBerry platform added 229 new content partners and almost 3,000 new apps in the first half of 2009. BlackBerry accounted for 44% of all apps sold and represented four of the top ten devices adding software by both units sold and revenue. The Games category was the strongest with 36% of Handango’s BlackBerry sales while PIM came in second with a 19% share. Energized by its highly popular app, eMobile Today Professional, eMobile Software Inc. emerged as the top developer on the BlackBerry operating system and was Handango’s second highest revenue producer. eMobile Software Inc. offers an array of Personalization, PIM phone tools, and Entertainment/Information apps for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian devices. As the new dominant platform on Handango, BlackBerry now has a special mid-year report available at http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H_BB.pdf [3] <http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H_BB.pdf [3]> .
Windows Mobile®
The top-five best-selling applications for WM Professional January-June 2009 were:
1. Spb Mobile Shell 3
2. MobiTV
3. Spb Weather 2
4. Spb Backup 2
5. Spb Wireless Monitor 3
The top-five best-selling applications for WM Standard in January-June 2009 were:
1. MobiTV
2. Ringtone Megaplex
3. Guitar Hero 3 Mobile
4. HandiTV: Watch TV from mobile devices!
5. Aces Texas Hold'em® - No Limit
Despite the remarkable growth of BlackBerry downloads in the first half of 2009, Windows Mobile still remains Handango’s top revenue earner due to Windows Mobile Professional’s high Average Order Value of more than $20.00. Accounting for 23% of sales, Personalization surpassed PIM -- the 2008 top category -- to become the top category for WM paid downloads.
Palm® OS
The top-five best-selling applications for Palm OS in January-June 2009 were:
1. Ringtone Megaplex
2. PocketMirror Standard
3. Agendus
4. Diet & Exercise Assistant
5. SplashID
The top 5 Palm paid app searches were for free products, ringtones, backup apps, games, and mobile email apps. Despite having no new Palm platform phone launches in the first half of 2009, Palm sustained a healthy volume of app downloads (paid and free).
Symbian®
The top-five best-selling applications for Symbian January-June 2009 were:
1. ProfiMail
2. X-plore
3. Handy Weather
4. Handy Safe Pro
5. Spb Wallet 2
ProfMail remains the top selling app on the Symbian platform for the first half of 2009. The top 5 Symbian paid searches were for themes, GPS apps, dictionaries and PDF viewers. Handango added 1330 new Symbian titles to its catalog along with 162 new Symbian developers.
Android
The top-five best-selling applications for Android January-June 2009 were:
1. Texas Hold'Em
2. SimCity Metropolis
3. MONOPOLY Here & Now
4. SplashID
5. Bejeweled
Handango nearly tripled its Android paid app downloads for the first half of 2009 over its year-end 2008 downloads. In Handango’s Android catalog, the Games category figures as a higher percentage of sales than it does in its other smartphone catalogs.
About Handango
Handango is the leading provider of smartphone applications globally for the BlackBerry®, Palm®, Windows Mobile®, Symbian OS®, and Android™ platforms. Leveraging its 140,000+ apps, network of 23,000+ content partners, and vast distribution network, Handango delivers top-selling mobile applications including games, business and entertainment apps and productivity tools to millions of consumers. Applications can be downloaded via http://www.handango.com [4] <http://www.handango.com/ [4]> , partner Web sites, SD cards and Handango's proprietary on-device catalog, Handango® InHand™, the industry's leading content delivery platform that allows consumers to purchase mobile apps directly from their smartphone and download them over the air. Handango's unparalleled content expertise has attracted numerous mobile industry partners including Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, Nokia, Research In Motion, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, AOL and The Carphone Warehouse. For more information, visit http://corp.handango.com [5] <http://corp.handango.com/ [5]> .
Handango is a registered trademark of Handango, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Links:
[1] http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H_Games.pdf
[2] http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H.pdf
[3] http://www.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2009_1H_BB.pdf
[4] http://www.handango.com/
[5] http://corp.handango.com/