INFORMATION SOCIETY : APPS SECTOR'S POTENTIAL NEEDS TO BE UNLOCKED IN EUROPE.

Whether you are using apps to play, find a patisserie that is open near your home or manage your bank account, the EU 'apps sector' is expanding fast, according to a study presented on 13 February by the European Commission. The 'Sizing the EU app economy' study, carried out by GIGACOM, has estimated that the sector could employ 4.8 million people and generate a global income of 63 billion by 2018. However, this exponential outlook will only happen if physical and regulatory barriers to the EU's high-speed broadband market are removed, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who went on to list the EU's handicaps: "Poor wireless connectivity, connections that can't easily cross borders, apps and services that are blocked or throttled by network operators, prohibitive surcharges to use your mobile abroad".

All these are issues that the telecoms package was supposed to put right. In spite of these handicaps, the sector already employs one million developers, who create programmes or autonomous software modules developed especially for tablets, smartphones and social network platforms.

On top of these developers, there are nearly as many salespersons and people dealing with the administrative side of things (800,000 people, according to the...