While much of the recent research has been pointing to the impact of mobile websites on shopping behavior, the mobile app keeps marching on in a big way.
With Google and Apple each having more than 700,000 apps available in their respective stores, one might think the app market is fully saturated. However, not only are apps being downloaded but money is flowing.
There were more than 60 billion app downloads last year, more than double the previous year, according to research from Berg Insights. The firm projects the number of downloads to pass 100 billion within four years.
Commerce kicks in with the downloading of many of those apps, with apps revenue this year expected to reach $25 billion, a 62 percent increase over last year, according to new research from Gartner.
Other research shows that much of the app revenue comes from games, much of it moving away from traditional gaming consoles.
The key here is where the app money is.
Of the top publishers, an overwhelming percentage of revenue comes from apps that are not new to the app stores, according to the Dutch app tracking company Distimo. On the flip study, Gartner reportedly found that almost two-thirds of apps used daily are different from those used a year earlier.
This suggests that an app is created but may take a while to be discovered by enough people, driving the app revenue. And as more people get smartphones, more potential new downloaders are borne.
Adding fuel to this is that the number of smartphone sales are expected to pass feature phone sales this year.
Meanwhile, in the retail sales arena, the mobile device for purchase continues to shift toward tablets. In new research from Affiliate Window, 59 percent of sales were generated by iPad compared to 19 percent from iPhone and 15 percent from Android.
With tablet and smartphone sales both increasing, it looks like the money in mobile will have plenty of places to go.
