The value of mobile app downloads in 2013 will exceed the combined total of sales from 2010 through 2012, an IHS analyst predicts.
Jack Kent, principal analyst at the firm, forecasts total app downloads will almost double year-on-year, from 49 billion in 2012 to 90 billion in 2013. The total value of those downloads is tipped to hit $15.5 billion by the year end, which Kent says is more than the combined total of the previous three years.
However, the analyst warns that only high flying app providers will reap the benefit of the growth. “The mobile market is increasingly concentrated at the top of the charts, with a few key developers dominating,” Kent says, citing King, Supercell, and Gung-Ho as “among the best performers.”
Apple and Google will account for 85% of consumer spend in 2013, with mobile games tipped to dominate the market.
Kent notes in-app purchases are now the main business model for developers, but predicts mobile display advertising will generate $6 billion of the annual total in 2013, “with much of this coming from Facebook’s burgeoning mobile advertising business.”