Middle East app market looks to capitalise on improving mobile infrastructure (page 1 of 2)

Within the forecasted period, 87% of all apps will be downloaded free of charge, with revenues derived from alternative strategies, including sponsorships, in-app purchases or lead generation. One in four of app downloads are expected to be via tablet devices, providing further opportunities for developers to tailor apps to niche demographics.

Alex Rauser, CEO of Prototype Interactive, told AMEinfo.com that app development had, over the last 18 months quickly grown to become 30% of the company's digital branding and solutions workload. But, as clients led the charge to gain an edge in the booming mobile space, mobile web is still just as vital.

"If you compare traffic from mobile apps and websites, you still need your website first, technically, before the mobile app. I don't think you could sustain a business that is just a mobile app [interface], unless it's really just mobile specific - like Instagram. That's a pure mobile solution."

Instagram, a photo-sharing application that allows the user to edit and upload pictures to social networking sites, was acquired this week by Facebook in a $1bn deal. The purchase has sent shockwaves around the tech world, highlighting the true potential within the market.

When it comes to the synergy, or juxtaposition of mobile apps and web, ZeroWire Labs' co-CEO has a different take. Speaking to AMEinfo.com directly after his session at the Middle East Summit on Mobile Computing in Dubai, Mohamed Ali viewed the two in competition: "I think we're just going to watch a battle. The one that's more convenient to the user and to the providers is the one that's going to win in the end."

Can cross-platform mobile apps cater for both business and consumer markets?

That convenience factor referenced by Ali is the primary driver for innovation in the field. The limitations of smaller screens and interfaces have been transformed into plus points, with software made to exploit the benefits of mobile devices.

As user needs vary and evolve, a constant flow of new apps reach online stores daily: "The whole market is still a Greenfield," says Ali.

"When we started three years ago people still asked us 'what is a mobile application? Do we really need that?' It was still all about mobile websites, giving away information with no interaction. But we knew that sooner or later it would happen that people would start demanding these things. People are now really starting to drive, by their needs, what sort of applications that are entering the mobile market."

Those unique needs also extend down to the individual, whether a business or social user - or in many cases both.

"The beautiful thing about tablets and mobile is that it's all down to your daily behaviour, where you're going and what you decide to take with you. Not everyone takes their tablet wherever they go, but if you go to the cinema, you'll still have your mobile. If you're going to a coffee shop, you might take your tablet."

BlackBerry makers RIM built an empire targeting business users, with Nokia products pointed to the consumer market. Since both firms have looked to diversify they have been caught stumbling and losing market share, with Apple securing a strong middle ground and finding mass appeal as opposed to a targeted niche. It is the applications themselves that cater to varying demographics.

"It's just about what consumers demand from a mobile device," according to Rauser. "If BlackBerry wouldn't have BBM messenger, there wouldn't be much else to do on the phone.