14 DAY TRIAL // According to a newly released report from GetJar, the mobile-app market is about to get a boost in the next three years and generate, by 2012, an anticipated revenue of $17,5 billion. The company claims its aim in driving this project was to evaluate the potential and real value of the mobile-app market worldwide. GetJar is the world’s second app store after the Apple Store.
eWeek informs that, in 2012, mobile downloads are predicted to climb up to 50 billion from the seven billion estimated in 2009, as being directly related to the increasing number of smartphone users. At the end of 2009, the same source adds, the mobile market was worth about $4 billion, in contrast with the $17,5 billion expected for 2012.
“With the consumer appetite for mobile apps rocketing, the opportunities for developers are huge. This report signifies a battle for survival of the fittest among app stores worldwide – with app revenue and growth opportunities growing significantly. There is no way that this many app stores will survive in the long term and while the value of the global app economy is set to be astoundingly high by 2012, we think only a few app stores will share this revenue,” Ilja Laurs, CEO and founder of GetJar, said.
In the last few years, the mobile-application market bloomed and Apple seems to be the most important ingredient, eWeek informs. Apple accomplished this by working hand-in-hand with the mobile apps’ developers, changing the revenue model for their applications, Chetan Sharma from GetJar reveals. Secondly, Apple engaged more developers into the ecosystem. Therefore, the apps’ time to market was sped up in order to meet the user experience.
“The creative element in mobile advertising has seen a significant improvement on platforms such as the iPhone and Android and made the ads more engaging for the consumers and rewarding for the advertisers,” the report shows. The report also settles that there is a significant activity exterior to the iPhone or smartphone space, but that it hasn’t been discussed.
Cnet notes, referring to the same report, that many big companies like Nokia and Microsoft have tried to imitate Apple. The same source claims that it's hard to say if anyone will rival Apple's dominance in the app market, although Yankee Group implies that Android would have a word to say in this respect. The source adds that Google's Android Marketplace already owns more than 30,000 apps for phones running the Android operating system. The Apple App Store features more than 150,000 apps, being, as evidence shows, the biggest app store worldwide.