Mobile App Marketplace Seeing Explosive Growth

Growth Forecasts for Global Mobile App Marketplace

The mobile apps business worldwide is a success story that grwoing faster than a brush fire. According to Gartner Research, app developers earned  an impressive $26 billion in 2013. Revenues were spurred by paid download sales and in-app purchases. 102 billion apps were downloads in 2013 compared to a total 64 billion apps downloaded in 2012, a 60% increase.

Analysts project that by 2017 the total of app downloads per year will surpass 265 billion. Android and iOS apps are expected to make up the bulk of app downloads, with Microsoft commanding a much smaller portion of the mobile market.

Worldwide the mobile subscriber base is forecast to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 5 percent per year between 2013 to 2017. Annual handset shipments are expected to increase at a CAGR of 6.6% over the same time frame while app downloads are forecast to grow at 35.9%.

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What’s behind the rapid growth in app downloads?

The growth in mobile app revenues is attributed to the rapid increase in Smartphone and tablet sales. App download increases are being fueled by economic growth developing world, with an emerging middle-class now able to purchase new mobile devices by the millions. Smartphone shipments worldwide are expected to reach 823 million new customers this year.

Smart phones are accounted for around 41% of total handset shipments during 2012.

This figure is expected to reach 46 percent during 2013, and represent more than 56% of total handset shipments sold in 2017.

From 680 million smart phones shipped in 2012, we expect to see 1.3 billion smart phones shipped in 2017.

Similarly, tablet sales are enjoying rapid growth. Tablet shipments are forecast to average a CAGR of 24% over the period 2012-2017. As an experienced mobile app developer, there has never been a better time to be in the mobile space. The rapid growth in Smartphone and tablet sales is a positive sign for the London iPhone app developer community and tech sector on a whole.

Industry experts forecast hat over the period 2012-2017, there will be more than 4 times as many apps available for download as there are today.