New research suggests consumers will spend nearly £10 billion on mobile apps by the end of 2013.
Globally smartphone and tablet mobile app expenditure will reach $15.5 billion (£9.7 billion) by the close of this year, which equates to more than the figures for 2010, 2011 and 2012 combined.
According to the research from IHS, over 90 billion smartphone and tablets apps will be downloaded during 2013, doubling last year’s total of 49 billion.
Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store account for 85 per cent of this expenditure as they are the leading providers across the world.
“The overall driver still is the increased adoption of smartphones and tablets in use by the end of 2013,” said Jack Kent, principal mobile media analyst at IHS. “We’re going to see more than two billion smartphones and tablets in use by the end of 2013.”
The majority of the revenue is accrued by game app and related in-app purchases. Candy Crush, Hay Day and Clash of Clans are at the top of the most downloaded list.
“Games count for the vast majority of revenue for Google and Apple stores. Maybe two or three years ago, you would pay £1 or £2 for a game, but there was no opportunity for them to charge you more. Now they give it to you for free, then keep charging you for additional features.”
More than 80 per cent of all app revenue comes from in-app purchases rather than paid downloads. Due to this, the free-to-download and in-app purchase business model is the predominant choice for developers.
Mobile advertising will also increase this year to around $6 billion (£3.7 billion) by the end of 2013, the majority of which will come from Facebook.
Next, read our pick of the best smartphones of 2013.
Via: Telegraph
