Analysts at ABI Research project the mobile app market will value at $27 billion in 2013, as mobile apps continue to be a critical factor in the battle between the mobile OS.
Indeed, BlackBerry and Windows are slowly augmenting their apps catalogue as they compete for the third ecosystem, but are still far behind Apple and Android.
“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,” explained senior ABI analyst Josh Flood.
“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 the two leading OSes looks unlikely to close over the next 18 months.”
According to Flood, one particularly interesting aspect of the mobile app market is the revenue generated by smartphone versus tablets. Thus far, app revenues generated from smartphones have significantly dwarfed app revenues from tablets. Nevertheless, tablet revenues are quickly catching up, with tablet said revenues projected to overtake smartphones by 2017.
“The [primary motivators] for tablet users to pay more for apps than their smartphones will be the larger screen size and better user experience for gaming and reading,” Flood added.
