Mobile search and applications markets are dominated by a handful of key players, regular research by cloud services provider Citrix reveals.
Numbers for the second quarter to date show a 25% rise in mobile search per subscriber since February, however the same stats show that apps from Google, Yahoo! and Bing generate 97% of all mobile search.
Citrix’ figures also show that four apps – Media Player, Safari, App Store, and Facebook - generate 82% of mobile data volume on iOS devices, with Google Maps the dominant navigation choice on the units.
Chris Koopmans, vice president and general manager of Service Provider Platforms at Citrix, notes YouTube dominates in mobile video, generating 82% of traffic, but voices concern that operators “typically make little or no revenue from this traffic beyond that associated with data usage.”
Citrix’ report also shows that mobile audio is emerging as a category, particularly internet radio services. The sector generated 12% of mobile data volume in North America during 2Q13, and 4% of traffic in other regions.