Mobile app downloads are expected to increase from more than 7 billion downloads in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012, according to a report.
The independent study, carried out by Chetan Sharma Consulting for Getjar, the world's second biggest app store, forecasts that the global mobile application economy will be worth US$17.5 billion in 2012, more than CD sales, which it predicts will be US$13.83 billion.
It says that market will continue to grow exponentially as mobile devices become as powerful as computers, and wireless networks deliver consistently higher bandwidths. "With the consumer appetite for mobile apps rocketing, the opportunities for developers are huge," says the CEO and founder of GetJar, Ilja Laurs.
The study says that initially the focus of making revenue from apps was based entirely on paid downloads or subscription-based models, but this is going to change. Today, advertising-based revenue accounts for about 12 per cent of app revenue, but by 2012 this figure is expected to rise to 28 per cent. For some platforms such as Google's Android, advertising revenue is predicted to be even bigger than revenues from paid downloads. Article