Downloads from mobile application stores will soar by 117 per cent this year to reach 17.7 billion from 8.2 billion last year, according to a report by research firm Gartner.

“Many are wondering if the app frenzy we have been witnessing is just a fashion, and, like many others, it shall pass. We do not think so,” said Ms Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner.

“We strongly believe there is a sizable opportunity for application stores in the future…native apps will survive the Web enhancements only when they will provide a more-personal and richer experience to the ‘vanilla' experience that a Web-based app will deliver,” Ms Stephanie said.

Advertising revenue

Worldwide mobile application stores' revenue is projected to surpass $15.1 billion in 2011, both from end users buying applications and applications themselves generating advertising revenue for their developers. This is a 190 per cent increase from 2010 revenue of $5.2 billion.

By the end of 2014, advertising will generate a little under a third of the revenue generated by application stores, up from 16 per cent in 2010, the report said.

Free downloads are forecast to account for 81 per cent of total mobile application store downloads in 2011. This percentage has been decreasing since the first launches in 2008, it said.

Application stores' revenue is split between the store owners (such as Apple, in the case of the App Store, or RIM, in the case of App World) and the application's developer. The average revenue share is based on a 70/30 split, with 70 per cent going to the developer.

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