Disqus
We know the app economy is booming but it’s always nice to have numbers to put behind any claims. And Berg Insight brings us the goods, saying that during 2011, the number of mobile app downloads reached 29.5 billion, growing to 60.1 billion in 2012. And guess what, that number will keep going north, eventually hitting 108 billion in 2017.
According to the research company, the revenues from applications, including both direct revenues (when you pay for an app) and in-app ad revenues, reached 6.4 billion EUR in 2012, and that figure too will keep growing in the years to come. In fact, Berg predicts a CAGR of 17% for a total of 14.1 billion EUR revenues generated in 2017.
Apple’s AppStore will continue to dominate the market during the forecast period, with Google Play and Windows Phone Store grabbing the number two and three positions respectively in 2017.
Android has third-party app stores to thank for its exponential growth. These stores may not be prevalent in the Western world, but they are popular in China and some other countries. Monetization, however, is challenging in these markets.
Berg’s press release goes on suggesting that the most important trends on the app market today are the popularity of free to download apps and multi-platform support. Furthermore, publishers commonly incorporate social features, where some build their own social platforms and others use existing social networks in order to expand their application user base and increase engagement…
I’ll stop here as you can get additional information on Berg’s report from this brochure. (PDF download)
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
