"App Economy" Really Only Driven by a Few Ecosystems, and "Telco" Isn't One of Them

The "app economy," Apple CEO Tim Cook  says, is going to be "two or three players." You can probably guess that Apple and Google are two of them. You can argue about who the third provider might be. 

But nobody would think a "telco" platform or ecosystem actually has a shot at reaching the top tier of application ecosystems. 

And that has implications for the growing emphasis telcos seem to be putting on application development or partnerships. Few would argue that is a misplaced effort. 

But few also would argue that an unrestricted and aggressive approach is warranted, either. as there are just limits to what a telco can achieve in that area.  
To be sure, most of the promising areas are related to the core network and access service assets mobile service providers possess. That is why mobile wallets, mobile commerce, mobile advertising or machine-to-machine apps, especially for vehicles, now are getting attention. 

For the most part, that is probably the sort of app development that telcos actually can profit from, to some extent. Significant success in the broader consumer app space seems extremely unlikely.