App market worth $27bn by end of year

Analysts predict that the mobile app market will be worth $27 billion dollars this year, as mobile apps continue to rapidly gain in popularity.

The surge in mobile apps, especially in conjunction with battle between mobile OS providers, has caused analysts to project the value of the app market to reach $27 billion (£17.4 billion) by the end of this year.

The ABI Research analysts say that apps and games are one of the critical factors when consumers choose which mobile OS to opt for. Android and iOS obviously dominate as both the Google Play store and the App Store have a strong app library.

“iOS continues to lead the way, and the OS is projected to generate over two-thirds of the revenues for smartphone and tablet apps in 2013”, said Josh Flood, senior analyst. “Although Google’s Android OS recently surpassed Apple in terms of total app numbers, iOS users continue to prove they’re more willing to depart with their cash. The revenue gap between two leading OSes looks unlikely to close over the next 18 months.”

BlackBerry and Windows Phone mobile operating systems are lagging behind, especially in terms of the range of apps available in the Windows Store and BlackBerry World.

Up until now, smartphone app revenue has considerably outpaced the income made on tablet devices like the Google Nexus 7 and iPad mini.

However, with the increasing availability of tablets, it is predicted that tablet app revenues will overtake smartphones by the end of 2017.

The analysts suggest that this is due to the larger screens of tablets being preferred for gaming and reading apps over the smaller smartphone surface areas.

Next, read our pick of the best mobile phones of 2013.