The explosive growth of mobile apps isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. According to research company Gartner, 102 billion apps will be downloaded from mobile app stores in 2013, nearly 40 billion more downloads than 2012. Total revenue of app downloads is also expected to increase from $18 billion last year to $26 billion by the end of 2013. Although Gartner‘s projections show continuous growth through 2017, the rate of growth is expected to slow starting next year.
“We expect strong growth in downloads through 2014, but growth is forecast to slow down a bit in later years,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “The average downloads per device should be high in early years as users get new devices and discover the apps they like. Over time they accumulate a portfolio of apps they like and stick to, so there will be moderate numbers of downloads in the later years.”
