Mobile apps set to top USD30m by end of year

Mobile apps to top USD30bn

Technology market intelligence company ABI Research are predicting that mobile app revenues will top USD30bn by the end of this year, with money coming in from download fees, in-app payments, subscriptions and in-app ads.

The report says that this year will “go down in history” as the year that app economics really gained a foothold in the technology market. However, it does not reveal which category brought in the most revenues as debate rages over the long-term benefits of the freemium model versus paying for apps from the off.

Accounting for a third of annual app revenues, Android remains the biggest operating system in the world but ABI highlights Apple’s popularity with developers, and distribution and billing set-up as factors that make it the key driver of app revenues. Google also comes in for praise after it revamped its apps marketplace, turning it into a streamlined digital entertainment service dubbed Google Play.

According to ABI’s research, Microsoft‘s Windows Phone 8 is set to go head-to-head with RIM‘s forthcoming BlackBerry 10 (BB10) OS, in an effort to claim third place in the apps operating system marketplace.  BlackBerry holds just 5% of the global operating system market by sales. Microsoft’s Windows Phone sits at just 1.5%, though both can be expected to rise with software refreshes and new devices.

“The main candidates for the third ecosystem, Microsoft and RIM, have clearly made the monetisation aspect a key piece in their platform strategies,” says the report. “This means that if Windows Phone 8 or BlackBerry 10 – or even both – manage to win the users’ hearts and minds of the consumer, the threshold for developers to jump on the bandwagon won’t be high.”

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