The mobile app market is exploding. According to the Yankee Group, US mobile application revenues are expected to reach $11 billion by 2014. In 2010 alone, the research firm predicts that mobile app sales will grow from an original estimate of $537 million to $1.6 billion.

Smartphone usage is also on the rise. Research firm Nielsen recently projected that smartphone sales in the US will overtake sales of feature phones by the end of 2011.

According to Nielsen,

We are just at the beginning of a new wireless era where smartphones will become the standard device consumers will use to connect to  friends, the internet and the world at large. The share of smartphones as a proportion of overall device sales has increased to 29% for phone purchasers in the last six months and 45% of respondents to a Nielsen survey indicated that their next device will be a smartphone...While smartphones started out in the business segment, two-third of today’s buyers of smartphones are personal users.

For consumer product brands, mobile applications - or apps - offer a new channel to engage customers via smartphones. eMarketer.com cites a December 2009 survey conducted by  DM2PRO and Quattro Wireless that states 64.8% of marketers and publishers plan to invest in mobile apps this year.

This planned investment makes sense when considering that U.S. consumers will download almost 1.6 billion apps in 2010, and that those numbers will swell to more than 6 billion by 2014 (via Yankee Group).

The key to success in the mobile app foray is to ensure the app meets a need or provides entertainment value. Like any engagement effort, investment in a mobile app requires strategy. The question for consumer product brands shouldn't be "why should we create a mobile app?" It should be "what value can we deliver to our customers via a mobile app?"

Marketers should also note that consumers are willing to pay for that value - Yankee Group reports that nearly one third of downloaded apps are purchased, an 18% increase from last year.

While mobile apps can be a great tool for engaging consumers, consumers product brands need to assess whether it is the best way to enter the mobile landscape.