WebProNews

U.S. consumers will spend more than $500 in 2013 for imaging applications on their mobile phones, according to research firm Parks Associates.

The market will expand beyond photo-sharing services to personalized content management and social networking applications.

The new report "Mobile Imaging: Platforms, Solutions, and Services" finds consumers will use their camera mobile phones for a number of applications over the next few years and they are willing to pay for features such as photo-editing capabilities, comparison shopping, and social networking services.

The mobile application market will benefit from improved hardware. By 2013, almost 70 percent of mobile phones sold in the U.S. will include a camera of at least two megapixels.

In addition, significant changes are taking place in application development and marketing. "Recent trends, including the launch of Google's Android MarketPlace and Apple's success with the App Store, have revived interest in the camera phone platform among carriers, handset makers, and application developers," said Harry Wang, Director, Health and Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. 

Wang said that new revenue models, such as purchasing single applications and software as a service, will become the major monetization approaches, surpassing mobile printing services.

"Handset makers and mobile carriers will need to embrace a more consumer-centric business model in application development and marketing. Consumers want to do more with their phones, which makes this area fertile for service innovation."