There is very little doubt that the smartphone and tablet markets are about as big as they have ever been, and are being incorporated into rich communication suite solutions for businesses every day. Now, a new report indicates that the apps market for these devices is only going to get bigger and will hit the $60 billion mark by the end of 2018. Industry analyst Strategy Analytics has released the report, which also indicates that Google (News - Alert) will finally overtake Apple in the app revenue category by the end of 2016.
The $60 billion number is especially impressive when you look at the fact that revenues for applications on mobile devices right now sits at “just” $21.4 billion. While Apple and Google are going to continue to be the kings of the hill, Strategy Analytics says that Microsoft (News - Alert) smartphones and tablets, as well as Amazon will make some productive inroads in this business. Those two app stores have grown by 371 percent and 733 percent, respectively, over the last few years. When talking about the possibility that Google Play will eventually pass the Apple App Store, Strategy Analytics executive director for Apps and Media Research Davis MacQueen believes: “Google's ambition to drive Android (News - Alert), 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 (News - Alert) by 2016."
As smartphones and tablets continue to get more popular, applications are branching into new and interesting directions that are in turning into big time revenue. The industry analyst also believes a trend that started in earnest last year is only going to continue moving forward. That trend is that of free-to-download applications that include fees to unlock features once they are installed on the mobile device. Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) believes that paid download application revenue will continue to decrease. Right now the paid download applications are only making up about 20 percent of app market. By the end of 2018, the company believes that number will fall to an all-time low of 16 percent.
Edited by Alisen Downey