Messaging apps are set to completely take over our mobile lives if they haven't already, at least according to Mary Meeker's 20th annual Internet Trends report.
The reports by Meeker, first published in 1995, have been closely watched in the tech industry as a way to gauge some of the biggest changes in the mobile and tech world.
"The messaging leaders around the world are growing really quickly," said Meeker during her presentation. Meeker is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and is also a former Morgan Stanley analyst.
To prove her point, Meeker pointed out that WhatsApp now has a whopping 800 million users, Facebook Messenger has 600 million, and WeChat has 549 million. Not only that, but Snapchat is growing, listing 100 million users now.
Further proving that messaging is taking over our mobile lives is the fact that mobile apps make up six of the top 10 most-used apps in the world. The companies behind messaging apps, of course, are aware of their potential. There is a reason Facebook purchased WhatsApp for almost $22 billion and also put a bid in on Snapchat. There is also a reason Facebook would want a number of different messaging apps. People use different messaging apps for different purposes, suggesting that a number of different messaging apps will continue to grow, without one becoming the single most popular.
Of course, messaging isn't the only thing that Meeker talked about during her presentation. She also spoke about the use of drones, which she said is a global trend, with drone sales up by 170 percent this year compared with last year. Not only that, but despite U.S. regulatory issues, more than 400 companies have been approved to legally operate commercial drones.
She also talked about the growth in mobile. While China is certainly an interesting market and one that many companies are trying their best to make big waves in, India is actually the fastest-growing market for mobile and Internet growth in the world.
Mobile Internet advertising is also growing, while advertising on desktops is reportedly falling. Mobile-optimized advertising is becoming increasingly important. Meeker suggests that the "Buy Now" button will continue to take off because of the fact that it is optimized for quick and easy mobile shopping. The presentation can be viewed here (PDF).
The Internet economy is always changing and will certainly be interesting to follow over the next few years. While Meeker's claims are interesting, they are hardly surprising.
