Evolutionary trends of digital content in mobile applications

Abstract

In recent years, mobile applications have come to constitute an ecosystem of their own, becoming an important driver for innovation. The consolidation of mobile applications as the prevalent interface for content access has consequences for the production, distribution and consumption of content, merging the functional spheres of digital content: performance, creation, management and communication. This paper proposes a functional typology of mobile content applications, along with an evolutionary analysis model. It analyses the functional evolution of 153 versions of 12 relevant applications developed during two years (March 2013 through March 2015). Though statistical representativeness is limited, the sample analysis allowed validation of the model. The results point to intervention capacity and communication capacity over content as important value-added drivers in mobile content applications, although not in homogeneous terms for all the kinds of mobile applications analysed.