Worldwide 4G LTE subscribers reached 170 million worldwide in Q1 2014. In general, the 4G technology is set to create a USD $340 billion market opportunity by 2017 and become the key driver of the Internet of Things and Connected World. As such, 4G LTE will inevitably change the way we build and interact with mobile apps, bringing our app usage habits to the next maturity level. This Report is a compilation of the most up-to-date research data that aims to demonstrate how exactly 4G LTE will affect the apps development business, apps usability and what innovative app features will be enabled to make our user experiences even more personalized and seamless.

1. WHITE PAPER BY
INTERSOG
State of 4G Apps
Development
Trends, Challenges, Solutions
SEPTEMBER 2014

2. 2
Executive Summary
As mobile technology continues to evolve at a stunning pace, the
business world starts to apply it more broadly by integrating new
developments into internal processes, customer relationships, HR
management, corporate branding, and other activities. As the
enterprise mobility improves, it adds significant merit to business
application performance and brings a range of positive changes
including increased sales and improved products and services,
productivity gains and management effectiveness, innovation,
improved agility of business processes and development
methodologies as well as enhanced employee morale. The 4th
generation long-term evolution (4G LTE) technology is one of such
business drivers.
Compared with older generation mobile network technologies
such as 3G or Wi-Fi, 4G LTE has a proven track record of:
• Allowing more rich content apps to be used on mobile
devices without draining their batteries fast
• Allowing fully-mobile use of apps that require high
broadband speeds
• Accelerating real time sharing of streaming media and large
files
• Accelerating delivery of time sensitive data used in real time
interactions or transactions
4G LTE improves performance of many existing mobile apps and
gives birth to new generation apps dependent on reliable high-speed
Internet or responsive data transfer.

3. Worldwide 4G LTE subscribers reached 170 million worldwide in
Q1 2014. In general, the 4G technology is set to create a USD $340
billion market opportunity by 2017 and become the key driver of
the Internet of Things and Connected World. As such, 4G LTE will
inevitably change the way we build and interact with mobile apps,
bringing our app usage habits to the next maturity level.
This Report is a compilation of the most up-to-date research data
that aims to demonstrate how exactly 4G LTE will affect the apps
development business, apps usability and what innovative app
features will be enabled to make our user experiences even more
personalized and seamless.
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4. 4
Contents
The Latest 4G LTE Stats | 5
4G App Definition | 6
What Does 4G LTE Offer For Business Mobility? | 7
4G LTE Challenges For App Development | 15
What to Consider When Building Killer 4G Apps | 16
Conclusion | 19
References | 20

5. The Latest 4G LTE Stats
As of Q2 2014, there are 225 operators in 98 countries that provide
and manage 4G LTE networks. The table below compares LTE
functioning across the three continents, according to 4G-Portal.
5
Com:
Europe Americas Asia
Commercial 4G
LTE networks
deployed
84 in 34 countries
53 in 16 countries
47 in 23 countries
4G LTE
subscribers
9.4 million
84.3 million (50%
worldwide share)
66.1 million (40%
worldwide share)
Key operators /
countries in terms
of subscriber base
size
UK EE – over 2
million
UK Vodafone – 0.5
million
Verizon – over 42.7
million
AT&T – 25.4 million
Japan – over 31
million
South Korea – 28
million
As the comparison shows, the United States is the world’s #1 4G
LTE enabled nation, followed by Japan and South Korea. Europe is
lagging badly in the rollout of 4G LTE coverage and services. This
can be explained by the facts that the EU hasn’t reformed its mobile
spectrum policies or consolidated telecommunications industry to
close the gap with the U.S. Another reason is that at a time when
heavy investments were needed (from 2005 to 2010), the EU’s
annual capital expenditure on telecom infrastructure dropped 14%
to $52 billion, which accounted for only two-thirds of investments
made in the U.S. Now Europe is desperately trying to catch up, but
mainly at the cost of carriers such as Vodafone that had doubled its
network investments in the UK market to over USD $1.5 billion in
Q1 2014, partly to support 4G network coverage as well (The Wall
Street Journal, 2013).

6. 4G App Definition
Many mobile developers often view 4G apps as “spiced-up” or
boosted versions of 3G. But is it really so? As a matter of fact, super
speedy connection isn’t the only benefit of 4G LTE. Low latency, i.e.
the time it takes for data to make a round trip through the network,
is one of the underestimated features of this new-gen technology.
Unlike 3G with latencies as high as 750 milliseconds and producing
a significant delay into the data transactions, LTE boasts latencies of
30 milliseconds. And anything that is less than 50 milliseconds is
considered real time. So, this is one of the key distinguishing
features of 4G apps – developers must put real time in front of their
applications.
A lot of applications actually couldn’t make their way from wire-line
to wireless networks. Videoconferencing apps make a good
example. When Apple introduced their Facetime video chat app, it
made a splash among users, but the fact that it’s limited to Wi-Fi
connections repulsed many from using it. Low latency is believed to
create more great opportunities for mobile network gaming and,
thus, we should anticipate a new wave of user obsession with MMO
role-playing games and 1st person shooters.
As such, the 5 types of apps that are most affected by 4G LTE are:
1. Video streaming apps
2. Mobile and social gaming apps
3. Navigation and geo-location based apps
4. Apps for wearable devices and machine to machine (M2M)
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communications
5. Augmented reality apps

7. What Does 4G LTE Offer For Business Mobility?
According to Arthur D. Little Research, 67% of U.S. organizations
already using 4G LTE report increased productivity, especially with
regards to business development and customer services (see
Figures 1 & 2).
In the United States, 76% of businesses agree that 4G has helped
them to better “innovate and jump the competition” and 86% admit
being able to have more work done on the move.
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Source: Arthur D. Little Analysis

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When compared with 3G, 4G LTE allows applications to be truly
mobile by enabling:
• Higher bandwidth able to handle really Big Data
• Improved network responsiveness, i.e. lower latency and idle-to-
active times
• Higher spectrum efficiency that results in better cost efficiency
and network capacity
• Velocity tolerance
• Backwards compatibility and future proofing
• Enhanced security due to network authentication (128-bit
keys), SIM robust and non-invasive key storage, RAN
encrypted data communication (that helps prevent
eavesdropping or malware intrusions), IMSI/IMEI identity
protection against snooping, etc.
Unlike 3G that is built for voice and data, LTE is built for Big Data,
Cloud and machine-to-machine communication, i.e. Connected
World.

9. 9
Source: Arthur D. Little Analysis

10. 10
Source: Arthur D. Little Analysis
How 4G LTE affects certain vertical (i.e., industry-specific) mobile
apps:

11. 11
Vertical
App
examples
Use Cases
Benefits
Healthcare
Health tracking
apps
Fitness and
nutrition apps
Patient decision
aid apps
Doctor – patient
interaction apps
Video consulting
apps
Logistics apps
Medication
compliance apps
Remote care apps
Remote
healthcare /
telemedicine
Healthcare
management
Ambulance
management
In-patient /
outpatient
management
Data security
and resilient
service critical
for remote real-time
diagnostics
Up to 25%
reduction in
patient care
costs
Better patient
treatment as a
result of real-time
therapeutic
interventions
Access to
patient records
in Cloud (any
time, from
anywhere)
Significant
saving of
administrative
and paramedics
time – 20-30%
on average

12. Reduction in
median time
from alarm to
therapy by over
50%
12
Retail
Mobile stores /
kiosks
mCommerce apps
Multi-channel
customer
management apps
Sales / goals
tracking apps
eSignage apps
Store management
apps
Mobile fitting
rooms
Inventory control
apps
Online and
mobile
commerce
Multi-channel
customer
management
Partner /
customer
relationship
management
In-store
marketing
Retail supply
chain
Retail analytics
Sales support
Improved
effectiveness as
a result of
communications
being tailored
to specific
segments and
engaging users
Improved
operational
efficiency
through
optimized
supply chain
and logistics,
better inventory
control and
quality
management
Customer-profiled
ads
with face
recognition
Increased in-store
shopping
Quicker
responsiveness
to immediate
customer needs

13. and reduction
of buying cycle
time by
providing sales
staff and
distributors with
instant access to
in-depth up-to-date
information
about products
available in
stock, etc.
No need to pay
for fixed
broadband
lines, i.e.
increased cost
efficiency
13
Automotive
Apps to improve
in-car control,
monitoring and
telematics
Traffic alerts /
monitoring apps
Journey planning
apps
Navigation apps
with location-based
rich content
Remote condition
monitoring apps
Connected
vehicles and
public transport
Urban transport
systems
Information
delivery and in-dash
infotainment
In-vehicle media
and
entertainment
Navigation
Improved
interoperability
Real-time
sharing of
technical
documentation,
project plans,
diagrams and
other data
Real-time
updates of
navigation
system
Improved
vehicle issues

14. 14
Remote vehicle
control apps
Asset management
apps
Telemetry apps
Documentation
sharing apps
management
Smartphone
integration into
vehicle
Gaming
Mobile and social
games
Virtual / live casino
Online
sportsbooks
In-play betting
Mobile betting
Competition
Player vs player
(PvP)
Multi-channel
gaming
Affiliate
management
Improved
latency and, as a
result, scalable
games
providing great
performance no
matter how
many players
are involved
High resolution
streaming
Higher security
of all in-app
payment
transactions

15. 4G LTE Challenges For App Development
Despite all of the above benefits that 4G LTE technology provides
for application development, there’re some factors that may affect
the perceived speed and mobile apps usability:
1. Channel quality
The LTE channel quality is generally affected by the number of
concurrent subscribers on the same radio frequency (RF) channel.
As such, densely populated areas may experience lower channel
quality and, thus, poorer app performance at peak usage times.
2. Network speed
Factors such as distance from cell towers, network congestion, app
design and RF interference due to walls, weather, terrain, etc.
3. Battery life
4G LTE enabled devices normally consume up to 20% more
capacity than the older-generation gadgets, so apps should be
made “light” no matter how data-heavy they are.
4. Handover time
When apps switch from 4G LTE to 2G, 3G or 4G HSPA+ networks
they should be robust enough to handle the handover delays that
can vary from 2.4 up to over 10 seconds (and these delays can be
crucial for mobile network gaming or other real-time apps).
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16. What to Consider When Building Killer 4G Apps
1. Data cap
Today’s 4G LTE subscription plans are all capped meaning that
users are charged for overages. Data caps count both data uploads
and downloads. Tools such as AT&T Application Resource
Optimizer (ARO) help app developers eliminate duplicate content
that can account for as much as 20% of HTTP traffic. This allows
users to actually consume 50 hours of standard definition (SD) or
only 20 hours of high definition (HD) video on YouTube and, thus,
avoid exceeding their plan cap limits.
2. No large video thumbnails
High-resolution video thumbnails used in many apps can drain user
phone battery very quickly. To avoid this, app developers should
program automatic check of the device resolution for the app to
download only those thumbnails that are most appropriate for the
given resolution. The rule of thumb is to use high-resolution
thumbnails in apps on high-resolution devices, and, vice versa, use
low-resolution thumbnails on low-resolution devices.
3. Data transfer settings should be
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configurable
It’s highly recommended that app developers always provide
configuration settings for high volume data transfer scenarios such
as big data download and upload over Wi-Fi. For instance, these
settings may include:
• Forcing Wi-Fi for specific features

17. • Switching to Wi-Fi rather than 3G to avoid battery drain
• Prompting users before they use high volume data that may
exceed their cap limits
• Limiting data or audio / video quality and upload / download
rates
• Limiting streaming time, etc.
4. Conserving battery life should be one of
the biggest concerns among 4G app
developers
As RRC_CONNECTED state consumes more power to enable faster
data transfer speed in LTE, 4G apps should be built with the ability
to use the minimum amount of battery power. As such, developers
should:
• Reduce polling, as frequent switches between mobile
networks may cause timeout during the network handover.
The rule of thumb here is to poll as seldom as possible rather
than leave a channel open all the time.
• Avoid continuous video streaming, as it drains battery much
faster than downloads do. So, if your 4G app provides a
streaming service, it should warn users about excessive power
consumption and data costs.
17
• Avoid hammering the network, since apps that continuously
attempt to regain lost data packages can aggravate original
failure conditions, which may result in service denial and
traffic overload. Additionally, aggressive behavior towards
crowded wireless networks will drain device battery very
quickly.

18. 5. 4G apps should “feel” fast
App’s speed is impacted by the bandwidth, latency and
responsiveness to user actions. In order to enhance user’s feeling of
using a really fast 4G app, it’s recommended that app developers:
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• Decouple UX transitions from data interactions to provide a
smoother UX flow
• Cache often, as apps that function properly when there’s no
network availability are usually more valuable than those
relying solely on the Internet connection. As such, keeping
and maintaining a local data copy that is unlikely to change in
the short term will benefit 4G apps by reducing repeated
retrieval of duplicate data, improving app’s responsiveness,
and reducing battery drain. Yet, it’s also important to flush the
cache on a regular basis to prevent some files from
consuming too much storage space.
• Pre-fetch data to provide a better user experience.
6. 4G apps should “feel” robust
4G apps have to deal with different real-time scenarios such as
handovers between mobile networks, crossing dead zones, etc. For
effective management of these and other real-time scenarios it’s
recommended that app developers:
• Plan for a mix of networks such as 2.5G EDGE, 3G / 4G HSPA,
4G LTE
• Use larger buffers
• Support IPv6

19. Conclusion
Recent polls among organizations that already use 4G LTE
demonstrate that 4G is not only a revolutionary mobile network
technology providing better security and speed of data transfer,
but also a powerful business tool that actually takes such functions
as sales and marketing, customer relationship and HR
management, software development and others to the next level of
maturity.
Yet, when developing corporate mobile strategies, many
organizations still underestimate the importance of building 4G LTE
optimized applications, which can result in user experience
bottlenecks in the long run. When building mobile apps,
developers should address the two key concerns:
19
• How to avoid draining user device batteries when letting
them use rich content / heavy data apps, and
• How to prevent users from exceeding the limits of their
capped 4G subscription plans while using mobile apps
These concerns challenge app developers to revisit their mobile
development habits and processes and focus specifically on
features that would allow smooth and seamless user experience,
better mobile safety and cost efficiency.

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References
“The Business Benefits of 4G LTE” By Arthur D. Little for EE, 2012,
http://www.adlittle.com/downloads/tx_adlreports/ADL_UK_Busines
s_Benefits_01.pdf
4G-Portal.Com, 2014, http://4g-portal.com/worldwide-lte-subscribers-
to-exceed-170-million-in-1q-2014-as-top-3-operators-account-
for-52-of-total-subscribers
The Wall Street Journal, 2013,
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142412788732441260
4578515222989449746

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About Intersog
Intersog is a Chicago-based provider of web and mobile
application development and UX design solutions for education,
eCommerce, eHealthcare, wearable tech, digital media and
entertainment, automotive, and other industries.
Our Contacts:
233 S Wacker Dr. Suite 9390
Chicago, IL 60606 USA
(773) 305-0885
375 Water St. Vancouver, BC V6B
5C6, Canada
(604) 379 1514
www.intersog.com
contact@intersog.com