14 DAY TRIAL // GetJar, one of the largest application stores in the world, has announced that, according to a report of Chetan Sharma, the global mobile-application industry is estimated at $17.5 billion by 2012. Also mobile-app downloads are expected to grow at a rate of 92% per year, going from seven billion downloads in 2009, to almost 50 billion in 2012. At this rate, the economic value of the applications sold will surpass the value of the CDs sold in 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, GetJar, said.
Chetan Sharma, an independent consulting firm, was commissioned by GetJar in order to obtain a more accurate understanding of the potential of the “global mobile apps economy.” The objective of this project conducted by Chetan Sharma was to evaluate the economic potential of mobile-app markets worldwide, using first-hand data.
Studies predict that, by 2012, off-deck applications will generate revenues of almost 50% of all the mobile-app industry. On-deck apps that accounted for more than 60% of all mobile-app revenues in 2009 are expected to fall to 23% in the following years. Last year, approximately 90% of the handsets worldwide were feature-phones (Nokia X6, Samsung Jet/Instinct), while smartphones (BlackBerry, Android-based handsets) accounted for the remaining 10%.
Mobile-app markets around the globe are evolving differently, pointing the app industry towards the development of a large array of different apps instead of the standard, universal ones. The average application selling price (ASP) varies greatly from one country to another, ranging from $1.09 in North America to $0.10-0.20 in developing markets like Asia and South America.
Revenues in Europe are estimated to grow from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while, in North America, numbers are expected to go from $2.1 billion to $6.7 billion. At this point, the biggest app consumer is Asia, having accounted for over 37% of global downloads last year. Even if Asia was the leader in terms of downloads, North America generated over 50% of the entire mobile-app industry revenues in 2009.
Chetan Sharma's project has researched some other areas including:
- The average mobile-application selling price in 2009 was of $1.9, even if prices might go from $0.99 to $999. Over the next three years, the ASP is expected to decrease by 29%, although the advertising revenues will be the same.
- In 2009, the number of app stores increased from eight to 38, and is expected to increase further in 2010.
- In 2009, advertising has generated almost 12% of the entire app revenue, and is estimated to double by 2012.