By Chuck Martin
In the world of mobile commerce, app revenue keeps chugging along.
A new study projects that mobile apps will generate $27 billion in revenue this year, with smartphones leading the way over tablets.
With the number of iOS and Android apps each hovering around a million, Apple will generate more than two-thirds of the revenue for smartphone and tablets, according to the study by ABI Research.
The revenue gap between iOS and Android is unlikely to close in the foreseeable future, even though the number of Android apps passed the number for Apple, according to the research.
The revenue sources in the study comprise pay-per download, subscriptions, in-app purchases and in-app advertising.
One of the challenges of apps, especially with the large number available, is to be found among the mass of other apps. But on the positive side of that issue is the number of smartphones and tablets continues to rise.
By 2017, revenue from tablets is expected to overtake smartphones, a year earlier than previously projected. The larger screen size and better user experience for gaming and reading are obvious factors here.
In the early days of mobile apps, which is not that long ago, an app that costs 99 cents may not have made anyone a significant amount of money.
But today, with the sheer number of smartphones and tablets, the sheer numbers are driving the revenue.
For example, a small percentage of people downloading an app a few years back may not have brought substantial revenue. That same small percentage today could bring a financial windfall, since the base of users is so large.
With so many smartphone and tablet owners globally now, small wins in the world of apps (or many other mobile aspects, for that matter) could become very large revenue streams.
This apparently has not been lost on some, as the number of apps continues to increase.
With the amount of revenue involved and spread around, we can expect even more innovation in app development.
The old saying ‘there’s an app for that’ may prove true across the board.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk column. He is the author of “Mobile Influence,” “The Third Screen,” and “The Smartphone Handbook.” He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute. Chuck Martin is a frequent Mobile Keynote Speaker and Mobile Marketing Speaker internationally. He also addresses Social Media in Mobile.
