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Table of Contents

Management Report
Published: July 2009
Pages: 89
Tables: For full details, please email keithw@cmsinfo.com
From: GBP 935.00  Buy Now!
Research from: ARCchart
Sector: Handsets & Devices

Easy to develop, disposable and instant to access, the mobile widget caters to diverse niches of consumers by providing a targeted window onto the Internet, driving the mobile web towards its next phase of evolution.

The way people use the Internet is changing. Users expect to interact with the Internet from any place, any time and in a user friendly way. Mobile widgets will play an important role in this changing landscape by providing iPhone-like access to the cloud with portable applications that users can share and which developers can easily produce in order to serve niche markets on the Internet.

ARCchart estimates the market for mobile widget platforms was $72 million in 2008 and expects the market to grow at a CAGR of 80%, reaching $1.3 billion by 2013. The mobile widget market opportunity presents a number of potential revenue streams depending on preferred business model. Widget platforms are either licensed to OEMs or wireless operators; or stand-alone widget platforms serve users directly, supported by revenue share agreements and advertising. In many cases, mobile widget platform vendors are leveraging a combination of these business models in order to achieve success in this evolving marketplace.

Topics of coverage include:

• An appetite for disposable applications
• In-depth profiles of the leading platform vendors and standards organisations
• Five year market forecast for widget platform
• Native apps vs. the browser vs. the widget
• Recommendations to brands, carriers, OEMs and platform vendors
• Summary of carrier widget developments
• Emerging widget standards
• Managing the backend: app store, distribution, life-cycle management
• Nurturing a developer ecosystem

Companies and organisations mentioned, discussed or reviewed include:

Abaxia ACCESS Accuweather Amazon Apple AT&T BONDI Capital One Celltick China Mobile Cibenix Feed Henry Google GooJet Hip Logic HTC Joint Initiate Lab (JIL) KDDI LG Microsoft

Mobui (Action Engine) Motorola Myriad NellyMoser Net Biscuits Nokia NTT DoCoMo OMTP OnSkreen OpenWave Opera Orange Palm Pepsi Plusmo Qualcomm Quattro Wireless RIM Samsung SanDisk

Sharp Snipperoo Softbank Sony Ericsson Streamezzo Sun Microsystems SurfKitchen Sybase iAnywhere Telefonica Telstra T-Mobile UIEvolution uLocate Verizon Vodafone Volantis Widsets Willcom Yahoo! Zumobi

Answers and opinions are provided with respect to the following essential questions:

• What is a mobile widget?
• Who are the leading mobile widget platform vendors?
• How big is the mobile widget advertising opportunity?
• Why has Yahoo abandoned Yahoo! Go?
• Why is the revenue forecast for widget client licenses so low?
• Which companies are best positioned to dominate the widget platform market?
• Is there a future for On Device Portals (ODPs)?
• Which market will be more lucrative for widget platform vendors: smartphones or non-smartphones?

Executive Summary

The way people use the Internet is changing. Users expect to interact with the Internet from any place, any time and in a user friendly way. Cloud computing is putting more functionality on the web and the mobile device is becoming a window into the cloud. Web 2.0 social networking and YouTube are inspiring and enabling user generated content, leading to an infinite supply of media which is met with infinite demand, creating niche markets for content consumption. And introduction of the iPhone has set the standard for user interfaces on a mobile device.

Mobile widgets will play an important role in this changing landscape by providing iPhone-like access to the cloud with portable applications that users can share and which developers can easily produce in order to serve niche markets on the Internet.

A mobile widget can be defined as a small portable application that executes outside the browser enabling easy access to the mobile Internet and providing a narrow range of functionality within a single context. A widget platform provides a facility for developers to publish mobile widgets and allows users to discover and consume mobile web content. Mobile widget platforms include a client runtime environment, development tools and a distribution and monetization infrastructure.

ARCchart estimates the market for mobile widget platforms was $72 million in 2008 and expects the market to grow at a CAGR of 80%, reaching $1.3 billion by 2013. The mobile widget market opportunity presents a number of potential revenue streams depending on preferred business model. Widget platforms are either licensed to OEMs or wireless operators; or stand alone widget platforms serve users directly, supported by revenue share agreements and advertising. In many cases, a combination of business models are incorporated into vendor strategies.

Three primary market drivers will fuel growth in the long term, as well as trigger explosive growth in the second half of 2009 and into 2010. In the short term, three catalysts will drive growth:
1) The recent launch of the Palm Pre
2) Carriers reaching the end of their widget evaluation process
3) Release of standard widget APIs

Should the Pre, with its ‘widgitized’ operating system, provide significant competition to the iPhone, market participants will need a widget strategy to stay competitive. Several widget platforms have been announced and deployed in the second half of 2008 and beginning of 2009.

This six to twelve month window has given carriers options to analyse and time to plan their
widget strategies. We believe many carriers will be making announcements in the second half of 2009. The release of standard widget APIs and speculation of the merging of standards from BONDI and The Joint Innovation Lab (JIL), expected by the end of the year, will remove a level of standards uncertainty, reducing the risk in embracing widget platforms. Along with short-term catalysts, related market drivers will fuel demand over the long term.

The phenomenal success of the iPhone has set the standard for user interfaces on mobile devices.

The panel like UI of the iPhone is similar to the navigation and customisation features of a widget environment, and this is creating demand for widget technology. Carriers are looking for strategies to increase data revenues as prices fall and mobile widget are a compelling option for driving data subscriptions and new revenues streams.

Fragmentation has been an immense barrier to the widespread adoption of widgets. Java based widget solutions are plagued by Java’s fragmentation problems. Conversely, platforms based on web standards have lacked robust functionality without access to key device APIs. However, the industry is working on a standard set of APIs through BONDI and JIL, while the market is embracing web based widget platforms. Should the standards organizations succeed, web developers will be able to create cross platform widgets capable of accessing services and data deep in the software stack. Developers will also be able to present widgets directly on the home screen, creating a richer user experience and luring more web developers to the mobile environment.

Although there are strong forces gathering to drive the growth of widget platforms, significant barriers still exist. Brands are unwilling to invest advertising dollars in widgets or mobile platforms, making sustainable business models for many widget developers and platform vendors out of reach. Also, fragmentation will remain an issue even if reduced through standards organizations. Device vendors and network operators will continue to strive to differentiate their products fuelling fragmentation and hindering growth.

As the industry evolves, widgets will find their place on devices alongside native applications and browsers. Each technology will serve their function. Full-blown native applications will provide users extended and robust interaction with data, browsers will help users find data on the web, and widgets will keep users up to date by providing bits of information users demand on a regular basis. This regular interaction between user and widget will be strategic as it provides a starting point for users to access the mobile web.

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