The number of smartphone in use will be more than 6 billion by 2020 with a revenue of $355 billion from 4 billion in 2016, according to IHS Markit.
Messaging and communications apps such as Line and Whatsapp will grow to 7.5 billion by 2020 from 5 billion users in 2016.
Revenues for smartphones shipped in 2020 will total $355 billion.
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“Mobile innovations, new business models and mobile technologies are transforming every adjacent market as the mobile industry diversifies from the maturing smartphone market,” said Ian Fogg, director at IHS Technology.
Smartphones and tablets account for more than 60 percent of smart connected consumer devices against around 17 percent in 2008. Smartphones and tablets make up more than 80 percent of connected devices in Africa and the Middle East.
Consumer will be spending $74 billion on mobile apps by 2020 against $54 billion in 2016. Africa, the Middle East and Latin America will be the fastest-growing regions for mobile app spend. Africa and the Middle East will grow at an average rate of 18 percent each year to 2020.
There are many opportunities for new apps, mobile payments and mobile money services. Asia will continue to play the number one role in the global apps market – accounting for more than 50 percent of consumers’ spending.
There were more than 120 million active mobile money accounts in emerging markets in 2016, according to the IHS Technology analysis. The number of addressable smartphones for device based payment services will increase to more than 5 billion by 2020 from 2.7 billion in 2016.
Mobile money services are looking to complement or disrupt traditional payments and financial services through the launch of app-only banking services, device-based payments from services such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, and payment integration via social media and messaging apps.
In 2017, leading technology players will focus on the integration of payments and commerce as part of their wider mobile platforms and technology ecosystems.
Messaging apps offering free or low cost communications have disrupted traditional telecom business models and their transition into providing wider service, commerce and device platforms threatens further disruption.
Over The Top messaging and communications apps such as Line and WhatsApp will grow their active user accounts to almost 7.5 billion by 2020 from more than 5 billion in 2016. Africa and the Middle East will be the fastest-growing region for OTT apps at an average rate of 10 percent to 2020, ahead of the global average 8 percent rate.
editor@telecomlead.com
