Alan Skontra
The mobile app boom has great potential for growth but faces some serious hurdles, according to an expert panel meeting during the
New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC)
Mobile Application Forum, held at
Princeton University on June 14, 2012.
The panel, the first of two that met during the forum, included
Mung Chiang, professor of electrical engineering at Princeton University; Bryce Hunter, a mobile and gaming specialist at Canadian company
DHX Media; Bert Navarrete, cofounder of Princeton-based
Connected Sports Ventures; Paul Nolting, senior legal counsel at
Verizon Wireless; Guy Story, chief technical officer at
Audible (Newark); and Jordan Usdan, deputy director of public and private partnerships at the
Federal Communications Commission (Washington). Ian Goldstein, a Princeton-based partner at the national law firm
Drinker Biddle, which cosponsored the forum, moderated.
The panelists reached the consensus that while developers are rushing to meet increasing consumer demand, rising costs for both consumers using data and carriers building infrastructure threaten to stall the app boom.
“Growth and demand outrun the growth of supply,” Chiang said. “The creativity of app developers will lead the wave; the supply of capacity will be behind. It's a major issue that we create a win-win for everyone; otherwise, this exponential growth will come to a stop.”
Chiang said app data has become too expensive for consumers, even citing his own high phone bill as an example. He asked how many in the audience still pay for unlimited data plans, then said no carrier will be able to offer that option in two years. “Restaurants charge by how much we eat, and carriers will have to do the same,” he noted.
Representing prominent carrier Verizon, Nolting said as carriers rush to meet rising demand, they will have to pass on their costs to consumers. “It's no secret that appetite for data has outstripped delivery,” he said. “There are questions about availability of spectrum. Cellphone towers involve difficult engineering and are expensive. Everyone is worried about access to capital.”
Hunter, whose company produces television and other interactive content for popular children's shows like “Yo Gabba Gabba!” and “iCarly,” used DHX as an example when discussing the problems content providers and developers face in getting their products to consumers.
