Earlier this week, we reported that 2010 smartphone shipments rose by more than 50 percent over the previous year, now comprising 20 percent of all cell phone sales. Now comes the second shoe to drop: $2.2 billion in smartphone apps were sold in just the first six months of this year, German researchers say.
Indeed, the Apple iPad App Store alone may generate $1 billion in sales by 2012. In early 2010, Apple announced 3 billion apps were downloaded from its App Store within the first 18 months the marketplace was open.
By 2013 – just three years from now – the smartphone application market will be worth $15 billion, according to Berlin-based Research2guidance. App store firm GetJar earlier this year predicted smartphone apps could outsell CDs by 2012.
What’s driving the smartphone apps market? The same forces pushing smartphone sales: Apple and Android. The App Store and the Android Marketplace figure prominently in the apps market, according to Research2guidance. Others, such as Noki’a Ovi Store and RIM’s Blackberry App World, also play a part.
While much of the growth of smartphone apps comes from the device-specific markets, the researchers suggest marketplaces devoted to specific categories – such as business and health – will continue the sales upswing.
