Mobile games and infotainment are set to drive mobile entertainment revenues to $65-billion by 2016 up from $36-billion last year, according to a report by Juniper Research.
The research firm says this is due to the growing mobile consumer market and the increase in the use of tablets and smartphones.
According to the report, the app stores have led to the need of relevant local content for users of mobile devices including games and music.
Dr. Windsor Holden, the author of the report, said increasing contributions made by consumer activity on tablet devices is translating into higher usage and money spent on them.
“For applications such as streamed TV, multiplayer gaming or casino gambling, tablets offer a richer, more immersive experience than smartphones,” he said.
Global mobile phone subscriptions are estimated to hit 5 billion this year. The shipment of mobile devices is also reportedly on the increase. Most of the mobile devices allow users to buy games from app stores with various gaming applications.
The games have to be developed, or those that exist customised for mobile.
China has currently the highest number of mobile subscribers and is expected to take home the largest share of mobile entertainment revenues throughout the forecast period.
iGR’s latest research supports the claims forecasting a 16 times growth in global mobile data traffic from 433,000 terabytes per month in 2011 to nearly 7 million terabytes per month in 2016.
The growth in mobile data uptake will at the end of the day show in the revenues of mobile networks, Internet service providers and mobile developers, analysts say.
