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About VisionMobile
Contents
Key Messages
VisionMobile Ltd.
90 Long Acre, Covent Garden,
London WC2E 9RZ
+44 845 003 8742
www.visionmobile.com/blog
Follow us on twitter: @visionmobile
Terms of re-use
about priorities
Also by VisionMobile
Mobile Innovation Economics Workshop
A strategy workshop introducing the new economic
thinking necessary for successful innovation by telcos.
Find out more visionmobile.com/strategy
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Key Messages
Our latest research of 6,000+ developers the largest and most global
mobile developer survey to date shows an unprecedented level of detail in
developer attitudes, platforms preferences, revenues, revenue models used
and tools of the trade.
The Mobile Developer Mindshare Q3 2013 shows Android leading at 71% of
developers using the platform, followed by iOS at 56%.
HTML5 has entrenched itself as a mobile development technology of
choice, with 52% of the developer population using HTML5 technologies for
developing mobile apps.
Once we double click on that 52% of HTML5 mobile mindshare, a
kaleidoscope of colour and options appears. The largest share (38%) of
HTML5 developers develop mobile websites with another 23% developing
mobile apps, i.e. incorporating offline functionality and deeper browser
integration. Hybrid apps, such as those produced by PhoneGap, account for
27% of HTML5 mobile developers. A minority of 7% of HTML5 mobile
developers use platforms exposing native APIs via JavaScript, such as
Firefox OS, BlackBerry 10 and Windows 8. Last but not least, 5% of HTML5
mobile developers use a Javascript-to-native converter tool like
Appcelerator.
BlackBerry has been successful in transitioning BB legacy developers over
to its new BB10 platform, with the new platform having almost the same
mindshare as the legacy BlackBerry 5/6/7 had, just before the release of
BB10 six months ago.
The strong interest in Windows Phone observed in past surveys is still there
(35% of developers planning to adopt WP), but has subsided by 12
percentage points since Q1 2013. Mobile developers now have a wide gamut
of options with challenger platforms competing for their attention.
Windows 8 is at 40% of Mobile Developer Intentshare, followed by
BlackBerry 10 (28%) and Firefox OS (capturing 27% of all developers
planning to adopt a platform).
There is no one-size-fits-all mobile platforms. Our research shows that iOS
is selected more frequently than average by developers that value revenue
potential (+12%), graphics (+7%), app discovery (+8%) and user reach
(+10%). Developers tend to use HTML5 more frequently as their primary
platform when they value porting (+9%) and speed & cost of development
(+4%). BlackBerry 10 is used more frequently than average as a primary
platform by developers valuing developer community programmes (+16%).
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And Windows Phone is most popular for developers looking for the right
development environment (+3%) and documentation (+2%).
Whether hobbyists or IT managers of Fortune-500 companies, developers
use 2.9 mobile platforms concurrently, according to our recent survey of
6,000+ mobile developers. This is the first time we are observing a shift
towards diversification, since our earlier 2011-2012 research pointed
towards continual platform consolidation: on average mobile developers
used 3.2 mobile platforms in our 2011 survey, compared to 2.7 in 2012 and
2.6 in our Q1 2013 research.
At 2.9 concurrent platforms on average, todays developer is multiplatform. In this world, not all platforms are equally important to a
developer. Prioritisation has an impact on which platform new apps and
features first rolled out on, as well as the focus, app quality, sales and
revenue on that platform. Our data shows that 84% of mobile developers
are using iOS, Android or HTML5 (mobile) as their primary platform.
Our research indicated developers prefer iOS (59%) over Android (49%) as
their primary platform. Whereas Android has 4x times more devices
shipping and a significant lead in Mobile Developer Mindshare, it lags
behind iOS in terms of Android developers using it as their lead platform.
Platform priorities also depend on the level of experience. Developers who
are fresh to mobile have a much stronger preference towards Android, with
almost twice as many new mobile developers preferring Android (40%)
than iOS (21%).
At $5,200 per developer per month on average, iOS continues to be the
most revenue-generating platform for developers, ahead of Android
developer monthly revenues by a margin of 10%.
Our research of 6,000+ mobile developers shows that there is no single
revenue model that is dominant across all platforms. On Windows Phone,
developers have a strong preference towards in-app advertising (43%) and
pay-per download (40%). BlackBerry 10 developers have a strong
preference towards pay-per download (47%). The picture is much more
balanced on Android, iOS and HTML5, with no revenue model dominating
to the extent observed on Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10.
Contrary to popular perception, money is not the only motivator for mobile
app developers - in fact, far from it. Revenues, in some form or other, are
the goal for just 50% of mobile developers.
The hierarchy of developer motivations shows some surprising findings. At
the base of the pyramid, the majority (53%) of mobile developers are
motivated by creativity or the sense of achievement, making this the most
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Thank you!
We'd like to thank everyone who helped us in this project and helped us
create the best Developer Economics report to date!
Our sponsors, without whom we wouldn't have been able to complete this
project: BlackBerry, Mozilla, Intel, Telefonica and MoSync.
Our Regional and Marketing partners, who helped us reach an
unprecedented 6,000 developers across the globe, breaking new records for
the largest, global mobile developer survey.
The developers and mobile insiders that took the time and interest to share
their experiences with us.
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Research Methodology
Developer Economics 5th edition is based on a large-scale online developer
survey and 21 one-to-one interviews with mobile app developers.
The online survey was designed, produced and carried out by VisionMobile
over a period of five weeks between April and early May 2013. One to one
interviews were conducted from May to June 2013.
The online survey received over 6,000 responses, making this the largest
mobile developer survey to date. Respondents to the online survey came
from over 115 countries. The online survey was translated to 10 languages
(Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish, Swedish) and promoted by 46 marketing and regional
partners within the app development industry. As a result, the survey
reached an unprecedented number of respondents, globally balanced across
Europe (40%), Asia (24%) and North America (28%). The survey also
attracted a significant developer sample from Africa (3%) and South America
(5.5%).
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Respondents came primarily from the US (18.7%), India (13.9%) and the
UK (5.6%) followed by Russia, Germany and France and stretching all the
way to Venezuela, Uruguay, Vietnam and Kazakhstan to name a few of the
115+ developer countries who participated, making this research truly
reflective of the new, global, mobile app economy.
The survey gathered responses from developers using as their main
platform Android, Bada, BlackBerry 5/6/7, BlackBerry 10, Chrome,
Facebook, Firefox OS, Flash / Adobe AIR, iOS, Java ME, HTML (targeting
desktop), HTML (targeting mobile), OSX (desktop), Qt, Symbian, Windows
(desktop), Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Tizen. We excluded
respondents not using a mobile platform as their primary development
platform.
To minimise the sampling bias for platform distribution, we compared the
distribution across a number of different developer outreach channels and
identified statistically significant channels that exhibited the lowest
variability from the platform medians across our whole sample base. We
derived a representative platform distribution based on these channels and
weighted our results based on this distribution, as depicted in the graph
below.
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CHAPTER ONE
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prepaid customers. Tizen handsets are not expected in the market before
Q4 2013, with Ubuntu devices planned for 2014
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While tablets are not direct PC replacements, they are to some extent
substitute products for desktop and notebook PCs. Given the lacklustre
sales of Windows tablets, the erosion of the PC market share in the
combined mobile computing category (tablets, notebooks) has an adverse
effect on Microsoft. As a result, the company sees its 20-year dominance in
the computing world being threatened as it fails to build up scale in mobile
computing.
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CHAPTER TWO
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The iOS ecosystem drives the core business of Apple: device sales
The Android-iOS duopoly is still holding strong with no sign that it can be
challenged in the foreseeable future. Once network effects have kicked in
and scale has been achieved, it is almost impossible for contenders to
compete directly and displace the leaders. Beyond network effects, the
incumbents have established developer habits, user stored value into the
apps themselves, external subsidies in the form of developer time & effort,
and abundant telco support.
Any challenger to the Android-iOS duopoly therefore faces an uphill
struggle and, as mentioned earlier competes against the odds. Markets
dominated by network effects are what we call Black Oceans. Whereas
Blue Oceans exhibit no competition, Red Oceans are shark-infested, Black
Oceans make it near-impossible to compete. Even Microsoft with an
estimated over 5 billion dollars invested in Windows Phone has managed to
secure a tiny 3% smartphones sales share in 2.5 years since the platform
launched.
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Asymmetric competition
Instead of competing directly with the Apple/Google duopoly, a far more
effective strategy is to follow the recipe that brought down the pre-iPhone
industry and installed iOS and Android at the top of the app economy: not
direct, but asymmetric competition. It will take a fundamental change
in the basis of competition to uproot either of these platforms
from their positions.
This strategy requires contenders to compete not directly, but challenge the
control points of modern ecosystems: app development, distribution and
consumption of apps. This is exactly the strategy followed by Amazon and
Facebook, and inadvertently by some HTML5 proponents.
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CHAPTER THREE
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Comments?
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Meanwhile Windows Phone has - for the third time running - failed to
capitalise on the huge interest that developers have shown in the platform,
remaining in fourth place, significantly behind the incumbents. Despite
extensive marketing efforts, slightly increased sales of Windows
Phone devices and generous developer programs, Microsoft is
still struggling to convince developers that its platform can
compete head-to-head with Android or iOS, since the platform
lacks in user reach, which is the most motivator for developers to
invest in a platform. To adopt a new platform, developers need to
consider not just the learning curve of Windows Phone, but also the
opportunity cost of scaling down on iOS or Android. Where these costs are
softened is the case of Windows 8, which can attract traditional developers
who havent yet made the transition to mobile and are already familiar with
the Windows toolset. Still, user reach remains a fundamental platform
adoption reason, and in 2013, the tables are clearly skewed towards
Android and iOS.
BlackBerry has managed to retain Mobile Developer Mindshare,
with the new BlackBerry 10 platform having almost the same
mindshare as the legacy BlackBerry 5/6/7 had just before the
release of BB10 six months ago. While it lags behind WP in terms of
Mobile Developer Mindshare, BB10 does pose a viable threat to Windows
Phone as it has managed to amass a sizable following in just a few months
following its initial launch. This makes BB10 one of the most successful
operations of transitioning developers across platforms.
Beyond BlackBerry 10, the decline of older generation platforms such as
JavaME, Flash/AIR and Symbian continues, as the platforms are being
phased out, with the device sales base declining with the Developer
Mindshare. These platforms have now become case studies of the demise of
once thriving ecosystems of the pre- app store era.
Samsungs bada experiment is coming to an end, having failed to
gather Developer Mindshare despite a promising user reach, that
saw higher sales than Windows Phone in 2011 and most of 2012.
In retrospect, badas performance is exactly the opposite that of BB10:
where BB10 thrives in developer mindshare, it suffers in device shipments
(the equivalent of user mindshare).
The case of bada is also an interesting example of the network
effects that dominate app ecosystems: user adoption does not
suffice in the new app economy. The positive feedback loop must
include developers who benefit from an increased user base. If developers
are left out of the loop, the necessary network effects will not kick-in and
the platform will fail to grow. Samsungs and Intels attempt at a homegrown platform, Tizen has some early developer adopters but with no
devices in the market it is too early to risk predictions.
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Developer Intentshare
The Q3 2013 Mobile Developer Intentshare data shows a few new kids that
have appeared on the block.
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Mozilla, has provided the missing web platform: until now web technology
lacked the ingredients that would turn a technology solution into a
platform: as a single API set and development environment, and a means to
distribute, monetise and discover web apps. With HTML5 already being
used by more than half of mobile developers, the prospects for Firefox OS
are looking good and there is a very healthy level of interest in the platform.
Our data shows that 27% of developers are planning to adopt
Firefox OS, out of those that plan to adopt any platform. In terms
of Mobile Developer Intentshare, this puts Firefox OS just ahead
of iOS and Android.
In just a short space of time, Firefox OS has managed to amass a
respectable Developer Intentshare, even before devices hit the market, and
while competing for Windows Phone, Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 all of
which are much older platforms, with devices in market and billions of
market dollars behind them. The insight here is that early adopters are
driven by the promise of HTML5 openness and cross-platform capabilities.
Yet Mozilla needs to deliver on its promise. Much like BlackBerry, Mozilla
must deliver value to both developers and users to succeed where Microsoft
has so far failed. Getting right one part of this equation (e.g. just
developers) will clearly not suffice. And profitability for smartphone makers
has little to do with using Firefox OS or Android.
Tizen exhibits some level of developer interest but without any devices in
the market it is too early to say whether this will materialise beyond
developer hype. Tizens HTML5 pedigree is aiming at attracting web
developers and its open-source, standards-based software platform is
aimed at softening the dependence on Samsung.
While several platforms currently appear as distant challengers
to the Android-iOS duopoly, the economics of app ecosystems
are such that any position below the top is unsustainable. The
governing network effects favour the growth of the first comer
platforms while inhibiting the growth of laggards.
Platform owners do not only face the challenge of recruiting developers, but
also convincing users that iDevices and Androids are not their only option.
This is much easier to achieve in developing markets where Apple is weaker
(such as in Africa) or where, for example, BlackBerry is stronger (such as in
South America). Indeed, there are significant differences in platform
adoption across regional markets. This is due to different demographics or
regional influence that vendors have achieved by focusing on specific
markets.
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Clearly, the leaders (Android and iOS) as well as HTML5 dominate every
regional market. At the same time, we see that there is significant variance
in the level of regional Developer Mindshare: iOS commands a 62%
Mindshare in North America but only 48% in Asia and 33% in Africa. And
Windows Phone is stronger in Asia than in North America.
Regional Developer Mindshare is of course tied to regional device sales.
Developers will adopt platforms depending on their strength in their
market. While developers are not bound by regional markets, i.e. they can
sell apps globally, the majority of developers will target local markets, as we
saw in Developer Economics 2012.
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CHAPTER FOUR
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Comments?
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against the competition in each of these attributes and the areas they need
to improve to remain competitive.
Overall, three platform selection criteria dominate: revenue potential, user
reach and speed & cost of development. The next chart shows which are the
most important selection criteria for developers Android, iOS, HTML5
mobile, Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10 are their main platform.
Speed and cost of development is a dominant selection reason
for all developers except those that mainly develop for iOS, who
value revenue potential above all (+12% above average). This sets
iOS apart from the other four platforms that seem to offer little
differentiation among them in this respect. Of course, revenue
potential is not an all-or-nothing attribute. But having a clear
advantage in one area makes platform selection a lot simpler.
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CHAPTER FIVE
Platform discrimination
At 2.9 concurrent platforms on average, todays developer is
multi-platform. In this world, not all platforms are equally
important to a developer. Platform discrimination is abundant.
Developers platform prioritisation will follow their selection criteria,
whether it is revenue, reach, cost, speed, discovery or dev environment that
they are after. Beyond the lead platform, our data shows that developers are
making conscious decisions to down-prioritise platforms to second, third or
even fourth place.
The lead platform is where new apps and features are first rolled out and
which is always the star of the marketing launch. Prioritisation will also
have an impact on focus, app quality, sales and revenue. As such, the way
developers prioritise the platforms has a direct impact on the overall
perception of the platform. Consider that if most developers treat a
platform as a second-class citizen, this will reflect negatively on the app
quality and consequently, on developers revenue opportunity on that
platform. Developers that prioritise a platform will act as evangelists for
that platform, as they re likely to create the highest-quality, most up-todate apps and speak out for the platform at events or social media.
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Our data shows that 84% of mobile developers are using iOS, Android or
HTML5 (mobile) as their primary platform, as the next chart shows.
Android and iOS are the dominant primary platforms, preferred by 34.4%
and 32.7% of mobile developers respectively, while HTML5 is the priority
platform for 17.3% of mobile developers.
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Publishers and Gold Seekers - who are motivated by extending a nonmobile business with apps.
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CHAPTER SIX
We knew that Android would be the most popular second choice for iOS
developers - which the data confirms as 69% of iOS developers use Android.
The picture is different for Android developers, who use iOS as a second
platform (40%), just ahead of HTML5 mobile (29%).
BlackBerry 10 developers show very low preference for iOS (7%), but much
higher for HTML5 (30%) and Android (23%), which is sensible given that
BB10 supports both HTML5 and Android apps, offering cross-platform
synergies. We also observe a preference for Android developers towards
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CHAPTER SEVEN
__________
Comments?
Among Android developers, the share of developers that develop for tablets
has risen sharply to 71% from 64% in our January 2013 study, driven by the
proliferation of tablets both from tier-1 and white label manufacturers. The
most impressive rise is observed among developers using HTML5 mobile,
80% of whom now develop for tablets, up from 71% in January 2013.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
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Contract work is more popular among iOS and HTML5 developers (29% of
iOS and HTML5 developers) than on other platforms, reflecting the
popularity of these platforms among clients outsourcing app development.
Overall, among developers that develop commissioned apps,
40% use iOS as their primary platform, while 30% use Android
and 20% use HTML5. As the next chart shows, for developers looking for
contract work globally, iOS, Android and HTML are the platforms they
should be focusing on, in that order.
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HTML5 mobile developer revenues are mainly associated with contractbased development and advertising due to the absence of an established
app-store. At the same time, as we shall see, just over one of four HTML5
mobile developers will package their apps as hybrid apps (based on
PhoneGap / Cordova) which are open to app store revenues. HTML5
mobile developers also show a large disparity between haves and havenots. This is because HTML5 as a platform used both by companies
extending a brand onto mobile and by Fortune-500 IT managers, looking to
mobilise existing web assets, on very sizable development budgets.
Finally, BlackBerry 10, being a new platform, is unsurprisingly lagging
behind other platforms in terms of developer revenues, as the platform is
first being picked up by Hobbyists and Explorer developer segments, who
are looking to learn and improve rather than to build a business. For an
analysis of developer motivations and monetisation by segment, see our
Developer Segmentation Q3 2013 report.
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CHAPTER NINE
The data from our last two mobile developer surveys consistently
show that developer tools are not just nice-to-have. Tools are in
the must-have app development arsenal of the most
sophisticated developers, and also those making most revenues.
In fact, only 14% of all mobile developers in our recent research
dont use any tool.
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So which are the most popular tools and why? The next chart shows the
breakdown of developer tools popularity, by sector, from our recent survey
of 6,000+ mobile developers.
User analytics tools such as Flurry, Google Analytics and Appsalar, are by
far the most popular among developer tools and services, used by 38% of
developers in our sample. User analytics tools are essential in helping
developers understand how are users behaving within their application, and
using that to improve downloads and revenues through marketing
campaigns.
The next most popular tools category is cross-platform tools (CPTs), such as
PhoneGap, Sencha, Xamarin, Appcelerator and RunRev, used by 29% of all
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With over 500 developer tools companies, both incumbents and startups, it
would be natural to think that the developer tools space is congested. Yet,
with developers pushing the boundaries of apps, someone needs to address
developer needs popping across the spectrum. One such need is for tools to
help developers connect with, and support, users during the app usage
phase. As notes George Karavias, Founder of education apps startup
Anlock, Users are not so willing to give feedback nowadays. Even if they
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CHAPTER TEN
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Description
Distribution
Mobile websites
Web
Wordpress
Web
Native app-store
PhoneGap, Marmalade,
AppMobi, Icenium,
Trigger.io
Native app-store
BlackBerry Webworks,
Firefox OS, Windows 8,
Tizen
HTML5/JavaScript apps
converted to native
Native app-store
Appcelerator (generic).
Ludei, Ejecta (gaming)
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
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More data?
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How do these eight segments and three clusters contribute to the app
economy? More importantly, when do these segments interact with
platforms?
We find that Explorers and Hobbyists, those seeking to learn,
have fun and self-improve, make up 33% of the mobile developer
population but only 13% of the app economy revenues. These
segments prefer - more than average - BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone as a
platform, as these are more often associated with experimentation and
learning.
The Hunters and Guns for Hire, those seeking revenues from the app
economy, make up 42% of the developer population and 48% of the app
economy revenues. These segments prefer - more than average - iOS as a
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Our Developer Segmentation Q3 2013 report drills deep into each of these
developer segments. We map developers in terms of their goals (what
they are trying to achieve), their success metrics (how they are trying to
achieve it) and more importantly the personal motivations behind their
choices (the why).
We further profile each segment across 5 dimensions: who and where they
are, which markets they target, what choices they make, how they make
money, what platforms they select and what challenges they face. These
unique insights into developer segments can provide a strong competitive
advantage for organisations for which developer outreach is a key element
of their strategy.
The Developer Segmentation report is available on our website:
www.developereconomics.com/Seg13
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CHAPTER TWELVE
In the past few years the mobile industry has experienced a powerful
upheaval sparked by the launch of the first iPhone and the creation of the
first, true app ecosystem. This event brought about a gradual restructuring
of the mobile value chain and a steady shift in value from the traditional
pillars of the mobile economy, telco services and mobile handsets into app
ecosystems. This emerging component of the value chain is what we call the
mobile app economy and it represents the fastest growing area in the
mobile value chain today and will continue to do so in the foreseeable
future.
The value migration is profound as can be seen in the following graph. In
2012, the global app economy accounted for 18% of the combined
app services & handset market. We estimate that by 2016 the
contribution of the app economy will rise to 33% of the combined market,
equivalent to half of the handset market.
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economy is less than 20%, while the combined app store sales and
advertising market accounts for just over a quarter of revenues generated
via apps.
VisionMobile has developed a model for sizing the direct app economy, that
uses the large-scale, fine-grained dataset obtained via Developer Economics
surveys. This model incorporates not just revenues generated directly
through apps but economic activity generated via commissioned app
development, mobile app e-commerce as an app monetisation model (i.e.
not including e-commerce as core business), VC funding, services for app
developers and several other income sources directly related to mobile
apps.
The global app economy was worth $ 53Bn in 2012, and expected
to rise to $ 68Bn in 2013. It is growing at a 28% CAGR between
2012 and 2016, reaching $143 Bn in 2016. The bulk of this growth will
come from APAC and LatAm, the fastest growing markets in terms of
smartphone penetration.
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