In a widely panned move 24 of the leading mobile international mega-corps have combined their pitiful app marketplace efforts to challenge the inexorable worldwide domination of Apple’s iTunes App Store. Despite holding a minority share of the mobile platform market, Apple accounts for roughly 95% of App sales with something like ten zillion downloads. That’s about 15,000 for every person on Earth, or to put this mind boggling figure in a more comprehensible perspective, that’s about one app download for every US deficit dollar owed by each man, woman and child in America.

The Wholesale Applications Community, or The WAC as they prefer to be known, aim to unite a fragmented marketplace and create an open industry platform that benefits everybody — from applications developers and network operators to mobile phone users themselves, and in physical combat, triumph over Apple’s giant robotic simulacrum, the iTunastroyer. This 565.2 foot tall mechanized butchery machine has been demoed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on numerous occasions and has been proven in it’s ability to completely demolish small to mid-size cities, such as Tulsa OK, and to hypnotically control an undead army of “App Developers” who swarm like uncountable gnats at it’s opponents eyes, nose, mouth, and erogenous zones.

In short the iTunastroyer is sophisticated as hell, but curiously it still does not support Flash.

Artist rendition of iTunastroyer

While complete details of WAC Force 24 are being held under tight secrecy it is known that the CEO’s of each of the corporations committed to the initiative will have a unique super power, and each member CEO is being fitted for a distinctively colored skintight spandex unitard bodysuit. Anonymous sources place Apple CEO Steve Jobs seated at the throne in the control room of his mist shrouded, artificial volcanic isle off the coast of California. Upon hearing the WAC initiative Jobs reportedly stared mysteriously off into the distance, with a vague, menacing smile and said, “Bring it on,” before barking out a extended peal of his trademark maniacal laughter, the iLaugh.

Photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnjoh/ | http://www.flickr.com/photos/gee01/

Yes it’s now official, we here at Mobile User have declared 2010 “The Year of the Mobile.” We were thinking of making it the year of the mobile phone but that was just too limiting what with the launch of the iPad. Since Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly said the iPad was “the most important thing I’ve ever done,” we figured we should be flexible in our declaration so as to keep Steve relevant post iPhone.

Market research firm Gartner has reportedly determined that smartphone app download sales will top $6.2 billion and mobile device ad sales will total $600 million this year. But that is only the start of this glorious new era. Gartner says that we are at the beginning a huge growth phase in the mobile industry. By 2013 revenues will skyrocket from 2009’s $4.2 billion, to mind boggling $29.5 billion. That’s an increase of over 700% in four years. Games will be the sector leader, then social apps.

Ladies and gentlemen, what we’ve seen speaks for itself. The Internet has apparently been taken over — ‘conquered’ if you will — by the mobile platform and it’s apps. It’s difficult to tell from our current vantage point whether they will consume all the revenue generated on the Internet or merely enslave us to this new paradigm. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the mobiles will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new gadget overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted web blog personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground texting caves.

photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/teresawer/