The freshly published Strategy Analytics Apps Ecosystem Opportunities Report calls for big gains in the mobile apps market over the next four years.
The firm predicts strong growth from $21.4 Billion in 2013.
“Apple’s App Store and Google Play will continue to be the dominant distribution channels, but Windows Phone Store and Amazon Appstore are showing strong growth in the battle for third place,” a report summary reads.
David MacQueen, Executive Director of Apps and Media Research for Strategy Analytics, says Google may have the most to gain from the anticipated growth.
“In terms of downloads,” MacQueen writes, “Google Play overtook Apple App Store in 2012, but iOS remains ahead in terms of revenue. We anticipate that Google Play will finally overtake the Apple App Store in terms of revenues in 2016. Google’s ambition to drive Android, and thus Google Play, as a platform for scale across all connected devices (phones, tablets, wearables and in the car) will increase opportunities for Google Play to grow revenue and surpass Apple by 2016.”
