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Mobile Computing: Free Apps Dominate the Mobile Market
Mobile apps were downloaded 64 billion times in 2012, and Gartner is forecasting the number of downloads to reach 102 billion this year.
Even with 91 percent of downloaded apps being free, total revenues from mobile apps is expected to reach $26 billion in 2013, an increase from $18 billion in 2012. Gartner notes that increasingly publishers of mobile apps will try to monetize their software by increasing in-app (IAP) purchases. In 2012, 11 percent of revenue was from IAP and that will increase to 48 percent by 2017.
Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner, said that “we expect strong growth in downloads through 2014, but growth is forecast to slow down a bit in later years. The average downloads per device should be high in early years as users get new devices and discover the apps they like. Over time they accumulate a portfolio of apps they like and stick to, so there will be moderate numbers of downloads in the later years.”
Brian Blau, Research Director at Gartner, said that “free apps currently account for about 60 per cent and 80 per cent of the total available apps in Apple’s App Store and Google Play, respectively… 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. However, 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.”
