Average mobile unicorn now worth over $9 billion

Average mobile unicorn now worth over $9 billion

August 2015

It’s not surprising that mobile unicorns are multiplying, with mobile internet revenue forecast to hit $850 billion by 2018.  What is staggering is that the 89 mobile unicorns across 18 sectors and 15 countries in Silicon Valley based tech advisor Digi-Capital’s new Mobile Internet Report Q2 2015 are now worth an average $9.3 billion, after adding $44 billion in Q2 to hit $831 billion total shareholder value. Even mid-range (i.e. median) mobile unicorns are worth almost $3 billion, so “only” $1 billion valuations might be losing their mythical status.

High rollers welcome

Mobile unicorns and investors can be big winners at ultra-high stakes poker, as 28 companies added $68.5 billion shareholder value in the last quarter. The biggest winners include household names like Uber, Facebook and Fitbit, and some you might not know such as 58.com, Cookpad and Ganji. Social networking, mCommerce and transport had the most risers by sector, with the US and China adding most value by country.

However not everyone was a winner, with 17 companies losing $24.8 billion over the quarter. Games and US companies felt the most pain, and GREE lost its unicorn status by enterprise value in Q2.

Four by two

Not all unicorns are created equal, with valuations dominated by four sectors and two countries. The monster unicorns Facebook and Alibaba are in the two largest sectors, as social and mCommerce sectors each took around one third of total mobile unicorn value. The other big sectors are travel/transport (with Uber) and messaging (with WhatsApp and LINE).

America dominates with over half of global value, as China plays catch up by taking one third. But if you look at this without the monster unicorns of Facebook and Alibaba, the US still takes half but China drops to one fifth.

Some folks in Silicon Valley think unicorns will continue sprouting wings and soaring. Others say they’re plain old horses with fake horns glued on. But mobile unicorns are unpredictable mythical beasts, so only time (and the market) will tell what happens next.

You can find the full analysis and data in the reports here.

Note: The companies listed all have substantial parts of their business from mobile internet, but exclude mobile infrastructure (e.g. Qualcomm), device (e.g. Xiaomi) or substantial but minority mobile internet businesses (e.g. Tencent with WeChat). The valuations come from a mix of stock markets, acquisitions and fundraising rounds.

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Native Apps Vs Hybrid Apps Vs HTML 5 Apps ?

Native Apps Vs Hybrid Apps Vs HTML 5 Apps: What’s the Right Mobile Development Approach ?

Wednesday January 7, 2015

There’s more than a million apps both on the Apple iTunes Store and Google Play. Windows Phone Store too, although far behind Android and Apple, has over 300,000 apps. Enterprises building apps for internal use, smart businesses trying to make a killing with consumer-facing apps, and entrepreneurs with ideas for innovative apps are driving the demand for mobile app development.

While a few of the apps are built just for one platform, most businesses need to build apps for at least the three big operating systems: iOS, Android or Windows.

And this need always opens up a debate about whether to build native apps, hybrid apps or HTML5 (web) apps. Before jumping into the pros and cons of the different platforms, let’s take a quick look at what these terms mean.

Native Apps: Mobile apps built using Objective-C (for iOS), Java (for Android), or .NET (for Windows), for a particular platform. The code is written for a specific platform and won’t work for other platforms.

Hybrid Apps: App built using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, put into a native wrapper that enables it to access the device’s hardware. Built using tools like Xamarin, PhoneGap and Appcelerator Titanium.

HTML5 / Web Apps: Also built using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. Similar to mobile sites, opens in mobile browsers. The user needs Internet to access the apps and such apps cannot be sold on apps stores. Also, apps cannot access on board hardware and software in mobiles.

How do these approaches compare? Take a look:



How to Choose the Right Mobile Development Approach?

At the end of the day, every business wants to keep the costs down, without compromising on the quality. To choose the right approach, we need to understand the tradeoffs of each:
Native apps can give the best performance, but you need to build separate apps for separate platforms, and they also cost a lot to build.
Hybrid apps cost less to build and a single code base works across platforms, but access to native APIs can be limited.
Web mobile apps are a lot easier to build, but they cannot be distributed on app stores, and cannot access native APIs and device features.

The key is to clearly outline your organizational expectations from the app you are building. The purpose of the app, the budget, the target audience and availability of tech talent will drive your decision.

Choose Native Mobile App Development When You…
Are targeting just one platform
Or have enough budget for building and maintaining apps on three different platforms
Have access to the right tech talent
Feel that Fast GUI is essential
Need app store presence – web apps won’t work
Require Access to all Native APIs and device features

Choose Hybrid Mobile Apps When You…
Need a cross-platform solution
Can’t afford to spend much on the development
Want to reach maximum number of users
Don’t care about app store distribution
Want to utilize expertise of your web developers
Can live without native APIs and device features
Want to simplify app maintenance and support

Choose Mobile Web Apps When You…
Want a high-performance cross-platform solution at affordable costs
Want a single code base to simplify app maintenance and support
Want to distribute apps through app stores
Want to utilize your specific tech expertise and build an app in a language of your choice
Access a wide-range of native APIs

Best of Both Worlds: Hybrid Apps with Native Quality

Gartner predicts that by 2016, more than 50% of apps developed will be hybrid. With the right development team, hybrid apps can bring you the best of both worlds: single code base & low development cost, plus high-performance apps that behave just like native apps.



Xamarin, RhoMobile, Appcelerator Titanium, PhoneGap, Telerik AppBuilder, Appmethod, AppGyver, RAD Studio… the list goes on. Apart from these, there are dozens of other lesser known tools that promise cross-platform app development.

At Cygnet, a large majority of our project two years back were for native apps development. But over the last year, we are seeing a steady rise in the number of clients demanding cross-platform apps via the hybrid development approach.

With high-caliber platforms like Xamarin, Appcelerator Titanium, PhoneGap, seasoned developers can build hybrid apps that offer native performance and UI, with complete access to the native APIs and device features.

Still unsure about what will work best for your mobile app? Why not get in touch with our Mobile Development Experts and get a free, zero-obligation consultation?

 See more at: http://www.cygnet-infotech.com/blog/native-apps-vs-hybrid-apps-vs-html-5-apps#sthash.5tMNaBO4.dpuf

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Bảng xếp hạng 32 khởi nghiệp di động tỷ đô toàn cầu

VentureBeat đưa ra bảng xếp hạng 32 khởi nghiệp di động tỷ đô trên thế giới, mấy tháng trước đây con số này là 25. Ta có thể thấy sự bùng nổ về phát triển di động nhanh đến mức nào.

Những công ty lọt vào danh sách là khởi nghiệp và phải có phần lớn doanh thu đến từ hoạt động kinh doanh mobile internet. Vậy nên, Apple hay Tencent, Wechat đều không có trong danh sách.

Twitter, WhatsApp, và Uber tiếp tục đứng đầu danh sách. Định giá hiện tại 30 triệu USD của Twitter, tăng 10.2 triệu USD so với quý trước. 75% truy cập đến Twitter là từ điện thoại.

Dịch vụ tin nhắn Hàn Quốc Daumkakao, sự kết hợp giữa Daum và Kakao, nhảy 15 bậc lên vị trí thứ 6, tổng trị giá tăng từ 7,5 tỷ USD lên 9,5 tỷ USD từ lần xếp hạng cuối.

Bảng xếp hạng cũng chỉ ra các công ty đều tăng tổng 11.4 triệu USD cổ tức chỉ riêng trong quý 3. Điều thú vị là, có đến 12 công ty, chiếm hơn nửa các khởi nghiệp tỷ đô mobile internet đều liên quan đến game di động. 5 về ứng dụng xã hội, 4 trong lĩnh vực tin nhắn. Về địa điểm, 13 trong số startup tỷ usd đến từ Mỹ, 15 ở châu Á, 8 ở Nhật, 5 ở Trung Quốc, 2 ở Hàn Quốc, còn lại rải rác ở các quốc gia khác.

Appota/VentureBeat

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