In today’s digital era, it is found that the global mobile applications market is booming like never before attributing to the increasing smartphone users all over the world. It can be said that the mobile application downloads are increasing because of the rising internet connectivity. As per the recent ‘App Economy Forecast’ done by App Annie, it is suggested that the inclusive value of the global mobile application market is set to sustain its remarkable growth trajectory. It is predicted that the app economy could double in size up to approx $101 billion by 2020.
The ever increasing usage of mobile apps and the adoption of smartphone throughout the world can be attributed for this dramatic growth. The report is prepared to provide the brief insight to the investors, brands and app developers about the global opportunities for the coming 5 years. It is designed to record the development of the global app economy and the reasons responsible for growth in the market. Based on the industry’s leading metrics, this report can be beneficial for the businesses that wish to succeed in mobile business.
The Remarkable Growth in Mobile
In today’s scenario, the mobile phone is among the most used gadget in the world. More than a luxury product, it has become the need of the hour. As a result, demand of mobile apps is sky rocketing. For instance, if you are dealing in software business, these apps have turned out to be highly beneficial. With the advent of smartphones, things have changed to a great extent and altered the way by which people engaged with the media or any business.
From past few years, app economy has encountered drastic transformation as the focus is shifting from entertainment and games apps towards enterprise dedicated apps. In 2016, it has become very important for almost all the businesses to possess an excellent mobile strategy in order to stay on top. Having a fully functional app helps the businesses in creating deeper level of engagement with their customers.
Key findings from the Global App Economy Report 2016
Dynamic growth in the app economy because of IoT
As per the prediction done by Gartner, by the end of 2020, there may be approx 26 billion web connected devices. But, there are some other experts who suggest that this estimation might be conservative with the great chances that it might range over 100 billion web connected devices. As a result, this will lead to the increasing demand for the creation of mobile apps design especially for IoT. With the ever growing number of mobile phones featured with web connectivity, the demand of mobile apps will rise at a rapid pace. The IoT will have a great impact on the global app economy when merged with the drastic growth in user’s adoption of smartphones and wearable technologies which in turn will result in the development of various new apps.
App downloads from App Store to reach approx 284 billion by 2020
As per the current scenario, the total number apps that are being downloaded are sure to increase in the coming years. As per the estimation, the global app store download will touch the heights by 284 billion. Again, the primary reason behind this growth can be the adoption of smartphones mainly within the developing economies.
iOS is still considered as the best platform for monetization
Though Android has established its benchmark in the market, Apple App Store still reigns on top when it comes to revenue generation. However, it is said that Apple is going to lose its top position in the coming years in terms of gross revenue leadership to Google Play. It is estimated that in 2017, a combination of Google Play and third party Android app store total income will excel the complete contribution of Apple to the app economy. This is mainly due to the excessive Android device entry in the market focusing on developing economies.
Development of mobile apps for enterprise as well
There were times when app store was largely driven by the development of the games app. But now, with the growing transformation, monetization is shifting towards commercial apps for companies. Though the revenue from mobile games will increase to a great extent till 2020, still it will appear less than 25% of the whole app store revenue. The other 75% of the app store revenue will comprise social apps, transportation apps, education apps, e-commerce apps and many others.
Mobile apps replacing the web
In recent times, mobile apps have become the most essential aspect of almost every business dealings and interactions. Between the year 2014 and 2015, Android apps grew almost by 60%. These devices are widely being shipped in the developing economies seeing the growing need. As a result, app consumers are spending a huge amount of time to their mobile devices. This drastic change is being carried by the enriched mobile app development services and UI interfaces that allow the customers and businesses to spend more time on these apps. Just the app development services and UX design are not solely responsible for the users spending more time on these apps. But, the presence of sensors and connected beacons has also served to provide ultimate user experience for businesses and customers.
Mobile apps future
From the past few years, mobile apps have become the major component for any business and have changed the way to a great extent by which we work and communicate. By the end of 2020, mobile apps are going to acquire the larger part of the market and become highly important specially for the enterprises.
With the continuous growth in the app usage and monetization, advertisers are finding it more comfortable to redirect the ad expenses towards mobile. Thus, if you are a marketer and looking out for the most potential marketing tools, mobile apps can definitely be one.
Conclusion
If you are a owner of any business and is yet to create a mobile strategy, then do no more delay. It is essential to note that we are still in the starting phase of the global app economies. As per the App Annie report, the mobile apps will surely become the most important interface between businesses, brands, and customers as the usage of mobile continues to grow in the coming future. It would be very true to state that mobile apps have already smashed the earlier revolution within the computing industry.