MANILA, Philippines — The mobile ‘app’ ecosystem will see strong growth in 2013 as research firm Gartner predicts that more than 100 billion apps will be downloaded from various app stores this year, up 60 percent from last year’s figures.
Majority of these apps will be free, the Gartner report said, but paid downloads will also see a surge this year as 9 billion paid apps will be installed on modern smartphones by the end of 2013.
“Free apps currently account for about 60 percent and 80 percent of the total available apps in Apple’s App Store and Google Play, respectively,” said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner. “iOS and Android app stores combined are forecast to account for 90 percent of global downloads in 2017. These app stores are still increasingly active due to richer ecosystems and large and very active developer communities.
Both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store celebrated 50 billion downloads from their respective mobile storefronts this year, with Apple reporting as much as 800 apps being installed on iOS devices every second.
Android currently holds a majority share of the market with three in four smartphones around the world bearing Google’s mobile operating system. Apple, on the other hand, as a 13.2-percent share of the smartphone pie.
Other app stores available today include Amazon’s app store, BlackBerry World, and the Microsoft Windows Phone Store, all of which have marginal shares in the overall app store market.
Gartner said they see no signs of app movement slowing down in the next few years, but will see a gradual tapering of growth by 2017.
“We expect average monthly downloads per iOS device to decline from 4.9 in 2013 to 3.9 in 2017, while average monthly downloads per Android device will decline from 6.2 in 2013 to 5.8 in 2017. This relates back to the overall trend of users using the same apps more often rather than downloading new ones,” the research firm explained.
Despite this, revenues from these app downloads will still see marked increase in the coming years, with in-app purchases seeing a jump from 17 percent of the total $26 billion in 2013 to as high as 48 percent after four years.
Research shows that IAP contributes to a significant amount of Apple’s App Store revenue from iPhones worldwide. Other platforms have not reached such high levels as the iPhone, but analysts expect they will also see IAP contributions increase in the future.
“We see that users are not put off by the fact that they have already paid for an app, and are willing to spend more if they are happy with the experience,” Blau added. “As a result, we believe that IAP is a promising and sustainable monetization method because it encourages performance-based purchasing; that is, users only pay when they are happy with the experience, and developers have to work hard to earn the revenue through good design and performance.”
source: interaksyon.com
