Smartphone manufacturers need to accommodate seven core smartphone applications, the “Big Seven”, in their next generation handset designs, according to In-Stat (www.in-stat.com).   These big seven applications include email, games, social networking, instant messaging, mapping & directions, music & radio, and weather. Combined, the  big seven will account for 7 billion downloads worldwide in 2014.

“In-Stat tracks 26 different categories of smartphone applications,” says Frank Dickson, VP of Research.  “A designer can optimize a handset for any one of those application categories. However, it's the big seven applications that phone designers need to accommodate in each and  every device.”