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Study: Mobile app market to hit $17.5 billion by 2012

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On March 17, 2010, 5:46 PM EST

According to a study sanctioned by app company GetJar, the mobile application market will reach $17.5 billion by 2012, at which point there will be some 50 billion programs available, compared to 7 billion last year.

Those figures are in line with other estimates, such as a recent report by Gartner, which suggested app revenue would hit $29.5 billion by the end of 2013. Such projections emphasize the rapid shift to mobile computing solutions, and other portions of the study further underscore the mobile sector's expansion.


For instance, over the past year, the number of app stores grew from 8 to 38, and more are on the way. Naturally, Apple's store leads the pack with an estimated 150,000 mobile applications and 3 billion downloads to date. Google's Android marketplace is also growing quickly with over 30,000 apps.

It seems Google's CEO isn't alone in envisioning a future without desktops. GetJar's chief executive told AFP that mobile apps will not only eclipse the traditional desktop Internet, but that "mobile devices will kill the desktop."

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User Comments (23)

Post a comment
ludoboss
on March 17, 2010
6:30 PM

It's True. When we can see a road, easy and claer, we take it. It's Clear. We need something that come with us. Desktop is going to be as equal as an hold man... the past.

Reply

flukeh
on March 17, 2010
6:48 PM

I just can't see it happening. People will stick with desktops because of the customizability. Sure mobile products will increase, but i cannot see them killing the desktop in that short timespan.

Reply

AimHigh99
on March 17, 2010
7:09 PM

That's a lot of apps. But how many of them are just time-wasters? I bet there are a lot of sand clock apps specially built for those who are mesmerized by the beauty of their contours or are bored at work.

Reply

ToastOz
on March 17, 2010
7:29 PM

Need to release some products to break into the ME & African market I see big potential!!

Reply

jasonk1229
on March 17, 2010
8:12 PM

Not surprised one bit

Reply

Deso
on March 17, 2010
8:15 PM

I'm waiting for the Windows 7 phone ;]

Reply

Guest
on March 17, 2010
8:40 PM

17.5 billion?

ummm why is the left side say "Revenue in Millions" then?

Theres a big different between 17.5 billion and the chart showing 17.5 million. Im confused...

Reply

Yoda8232
on March 17, 2010
9:47 PM

Millions in the chart, billions in the article? Hmm?...

Yes I can see this happening for regular people who check surf the web, play small flash games, check e-mail, IM people, etc. But the real PC users won't because yes as flukeh said we love the customization of them.

Reply

pipopaz
on March 17, 2010
10:05 PM

aimhigh99 said:

That's a lot of apps. But how many of them are just time-wasters? I bet there are a lot of sand clock apps specially built for those who are mesmerized by the beauty of their contours or are bored at work.

Even though they might be time-wasters, if it brings revenue then they won't complain.

Reply

pipopaz
on March 17, 2010
10:06 PM

It is to be expected there is still much room for exploration with apps, now with windows mobile and the ipad there will be even more.

Reply

megrawab
on March 17, 2010
10:44 PM

Watta big revenue! As what I know, most applications on phones are for free. All my apps are free so I wonder how would they get revenue from those apps... Are those revenue merely from sponsor ads?...

Reply

rufio
on March 17, 2010
11:25 PM

Not surprised here, there are lots of useful apps out there that make smart phones a handy sidekick when you're not at home. then again there are also a lot of 'just-for-fun' apps, though not necessary useful in most cases, i still appreciate the creativity

Reply

Thompson
on March 18, 2010
4:58 AM

"mobile devices will kill the desktop"

Excrement of a bull.

When was the last time you saw someone running After Effects on an iPhone?

Reply

ToastOz
on March 18, 2010
5:00 AM

Guest said:

17.5 billion?

ummm why is the left side say "Revenue in Millions" then?

Theres is a big different between 17.5 billion and the chart showing 17.5 million. Im confused...

It says 17,000 not 17 and I believe that thousand millions is a billion (17,000x1,000,000.00).

Here's an interesting fact!

In Britain a billion = 1,000,000,000,000

and in the USA a billion = 1,000,000,000

So there's a difference of a factor of 1,000

Secondly, at today's exchange rates £1 = US$1.53

So any amount in pounds is worth 53% more in pure numbers of American dollars.

Reply

windmill007
on March 18, 2010
6:24 AM

Why can't we just get along. Why does something always have to "kill" something else. I think both fields will continue to grow. When my handhold can flip open a 24" wide-screen display and is rocking dual core 3.2GHZ then I'll jump on that bandwagon

Reply

JMMD
on March 18, 2010
7:25 AM

It's already a huge market and I expect it would just keep getting bigger. People have no problem spending less than $5 on something for their mobile toys. If these things were going for $14.99 or more people would be less likely to buy them.

Reply

rskapadia2294
on March 18, 2010
7:48 AM

hey its gonna rise even more!

also google has involved third party apps!

so expect some decent apps to hit the market!

Reply

IamBD
on March 18, 2010
10:32 AM

Apps are big business, but the mobile market wont kill the desktop. The mobile market is convenient, but there are just too many things you cant do on a phone that you can do on a desktop.

Reply

EduardsN
on March 18, 2010
12:46 PM

Anyone notice how extremely fast its growing? double in just 2 years?

Reply

levar
on March 18, 2010
1:58 PM

I agree "mobile apps will not only eclipse the traditional desktop Internet, but that "mobile devices will kill the desktop." I'm not so sure about that one, I might be wrong and I might be right time will tell and I'm looking forward to that day. Its crazy though app stores are really growing and growing the more social networking grows and people wanting to share more and share it at any time and anywhere, when they want information about certain things a lot of apps are gonna not just gonna kill the desktop if it does but other devices routers, gaming devices (portable), navigation systems, books its going to be crazy. But will the mobile market really kill desktops?

Reply

ansarimikail
on March 18, 2010
2:58 PM

I love my big screen monitor, and hopefully Win7 mobile will shake things up a bit.

Reply

DragonMasterJay
on March 18, 2010
4:46 PM

The market is doing great. What I love seeing most, is that the market is going good in South America. I am sure that the market will become much better around the world.

Reply

Puiu
on March 20, 2010
3:22 AM

Deso said:

I'm waiting for the Windows 7 phone ;]

I was also waiting for Win7 phone, but all of my expectations were blown out the window when they said that it wouldn't support multitasking.

BTW if it's phone apps, then the best ones are the ones that are free. ^_^

Reply

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