While this growth has created new opportunities it also presents some new challenges.
The apps market is already flooded, and there's also significant pricing pressure -- as well as a shift toward free applications which will necessitate new revenue models. Despite these and other potential hurdles, In-Stat is forecasting that mobile application download revenue will surpass $29 billion in 2015.
"Largely spurred by the launch of the Apple iPhone, mobile applications have been a strong growth market over the past several years. The number of applications available has exploded, which has sparked an increasing rate of downloads," says Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.
As the market matures, developers and app stores must take innovative approaches and compete across multiple platforms to attract new users.
While the market will become more competitive in the coming years, there is a broad base of interested parties with a vested interest in promoting continued market growth.
Key data form the latest In-Stat market study includes:
- Mobile application downloads will approach 48 billion in 2015.
- According to the survey, the average amount paid for a mobile app was under $2.50.
- Smartphones are expected to increase from 23 percent of total phone shipments in 2010 to over 45 percent in 2015.
- In December 2010, the number of applications in the Apple App Store reached 350,000 while the Android Market reached 80,000.
- Smartphone applications are not only about 3G. Almost half of survey respondents report downloading applications over Wi-Fi.
