From Apple’s App Store and BlackBerry App World, to Android’s bustling app market and even the Ovi app store, global mobile app markets are exploding in profitability and popularity at an almost unimaginable pace.
Combined revenues from the four major mobile application stores run by Apple Inc., Google Inc., Nokia Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. will leap 77.7 percent in 2011 to $3.8 billion, with the Apple App Store projected to eat up a gargantuan three-quarters share of the total market, according to new IHS Screen Digest research.
According to the latest projections by research firm iSuppli, there remains one clear dominant brand in the mobile app world – Apple.
Despite the escalating competition in the mobile app genre, Apple is expected to claim 75% or better of the total app download market for 2011.
“The Apple App Store continues to head off all competition,” iSuppli states.
Projected figures for the Apple App Store this year call for revenue of $2.91 billion, up 63.4 percent from $1.78 billion in 2010.
“Given that Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad are the market leaders in their field, the company’s App Store is expected to take in 76 percent of revenue this year and retain 60 percent market share by 2014, despite efforts by the other stores to match Apples ability to monetize its users.”
Android users, meanwhile, are projected to spend $425 million this year on apps, while another $200-$300 million will be spent in the BlackBerry App World and Ovi Stores.
“With consumers continuing to show robust, unflagging interest in downloading games and other applications to devices like smart phones and tablets, collective revenues from the four stores will climb sharply this year,” said Jack Kent, analyst, mobile media, for IHS.
