Android – The Future of Mobile Applications?

On September 23rd last year the 2 billionth application, or app, was downloaded to an Apple iPhone, just over two years after it was first launched in June 2007 and one of over 100,000 apps now available – and counting.

2010 promises to be the year that the explosion in mobile application technology will move beyond the iPhone and be developed and supported across many more mobile platforms, including the likes of Blackberry and Symbian.

At the centre of this important shift is the development of Google’s Android, a new mobile operating system that will allow for the downloading of apps to any Android enabled phone or handheld.

One of the fundamental changes this will bring is that, unlike with the current generation of iPhones, people will be able to customise what is on their mobiles, both touch screens and keypads.

The market is now open to some of the biggest mobile manufacturers and network providers, who are now launching their own generation of Android phones.

By enabling customers to pick and choose the apps they download from third party publishers and developers, Android looks set to initiate a boom in the development of new and existing apps for a massively expanded market.

Even though not yet universally available here, all the indications are that Android enabled phones are beginning to capture the public imagination. Just this week 21% of would-be smartphone buyers polled in the US said they planned to buy an Android device in the next 90 days and by November last year almost 800 million people worldwide had requested information from phone manufacturers.

At Optix we believe advances such as Android will offer huge opportunities for customers to source new markets and enhance their brand by enabling them to produce their own tailor-made apps for mobiles.

Our team will work with you to develop apps for both the iPhone and the new expanding platforms that feature your products or services or open a mobile-enabled version of your website at the touch of a button or key.