The global mobile application market is expected to surpass $30 billion in revenue by year-end, according to the latest market data from ABI Research.
The figure includes all money made from pay-per-downloads, in-app purchases, subscriptions and in-app advertisements.
ABI senior analyst Aapo Markkanen says, while consumer interest in apps has always been high, "it's 2012 that will go down in history as the year when the economic side of the business finally took off. We're no longer talking only about a short-term gold rush. Apps have become a major digital industry."
ABI credits Apple for being the catalyst behind turning apps into money by creating a compelling OS and well-executed distribution and billing mechanisms. However, Markkanen says Google has been the stand-out company in the mobile app space this year.
"Google deserves a lot of credit for rehabilitating its proposition as an app distributor in the past year or so. If the old Android Market was a garage sale of the industry, then the new Google Play has begun resembling a respectable department store. We estimate the Android developers' share of the annual app revenues to set around one-third."
ABI acknowledges that both Microsoft and Research In Motion are making monetisation a key aspect in their platform strategies. "This means that if Windows Phone 8 or BlackBerry 10 - or even both - manage to win the hearts and minds of the consumer, the threshold for developers to jump on the bandwagon won't be high."
Platform profits
In June, VisionMobile's Developer Economics 2012 report surveyed over 1 500 developers and found that the average per-app revenue was in the range of $1 200-$3 900 per month depending on the platform.
The report also found that an app has a 35% chance of generating $1-$500 per month. "This means that one in three developers live below the 'app poverty line'; that is, they cannot rely on apps as a sole source of income. On the revenue-generating side, 14% of developers will make somewhere between $500 and $1 000 per app, while 13% will generate between $1 001 and $5 000 per app per month."
The report also found that despite a developer exodus from the BlackBerry platform (being abandoned by 41% of surveyed developers at the time), the platform comes out on top for average revenue with close to $3 900 per app per month. Apple's iOS follows as the second most profitable platform for developers.
"BlackBerry developers generate, on average, 4% more revenue per app-month than iOS developers, who in turn generate about 35% more than Android developers. iOS wins over Android due to superior demographics (Apple users are less price-sensitive), superior content (higher ratio of paid apps to free apps), tablet domination (where per app prices are higher) and frictionless payment (400 million accounts on file with one-click payment)," says the report.
According to a Bloomberg report, Google's Play Store recently reached the 700 000 app mark. In October, Apple also said it had over 700 000 apps in its App Store. RIM says it will have over 100 000 apps in BlackBerry App World when BlackBerry 10 goes live early next year. Windows Phone Marketplace currently has over 125 000 apps.
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