SAN FRANCISCO—Directions and map services are proving to be popular among wireless users who download mobile applications, according to a new study from Telephia.
The report found MapQuest Mobile was the top revenue-generating downloadable mobile application during the first quarter with 21.9 percent of the total revenue share for mobile applications other than mobile games and mobile TV. The Weather Channel’s mobile downloadable service came in a distant second with 5.7 percent of the total revenue share, and Verizon Superpages 2.0 ranked third with 5.3 percent share.
Music applications Music Choice and Sirius Music each garnered 4.8 percent of the total revenue share to round out the top five, said Telephia.
“Local maps/directions and up-to-date weather are well-suited to delivery via mobile phones because they are information needs characterized by immediacy, location-specificity and time-sensitivity,” said Kanishka Agarwal, vice president of new products at Telephia. “Dowloadable mobile applications present a significant opportunity for higher ARPU, with more than 3.3 million mobile consumers downloading these applications during the first quarter of the year.”
In addition, the study found 61 percent of revenues from downloadable mobile applications came from repeat customers, and nearly 40 percent of recurring revenue from repeat purchases were driven by maps and directions applications. However, about one-third of first-time purchase revenues came from entertainment applications, particularly streaming music applications.
