The total size of the mobile app development market is quite large. It brings revenue to developers, OS platforms, and operators, making it a win-win situation for all parties involved.
The use of high-end smartphones contributed to the increase in apps being developed for this platform and made it the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. In this sense, Apple’s iPhone takes the lead by opening up a platform that brought millions of applications to its users. Having set the trend which was highly successful, other operating systems followed suit and soon the mobile industry was full of apps for various categories on various platforms.
The interest that this industry has aroused among users and developers has been quite amazing. The increased interest has led the industry to mature at a rapid pace and the craze for apps shows no signs of abating any time soon. The huge potential it has in store is just sinking in. Developers and users are just beginning to realize the value of this industry. According to a survey, the market is forecast to reach $17.5 billion by the year 2012.
App stores are currently in the spotlight in the mobile industry, as apps have a huge impact on the overall revenue earned through them, both personally, as well as for individual developers and at a global level. greater than would be the companies and industry players involved.
The entertainment aspect has been widely explored by developers with many gaming apps available today from the likes of Angry Birds doing record business and changing the gaming industry. The next biggest area that is likely to see further development is supposed to be the mobile shopping category. Retailers are very interested in embarking on this form of advertising that allows for more interactivity with consumers on a more personalized level.
Apart from these, business apps, social networking apps, and other productive apps that provide more functionality will see more attention from software developers and engineers. The developers are aware that today’s user has high expectations and wants more from the smart device.
Corporate interests, the need for better innovative performance and applications enabling computing capabilities will give further impetus to this industry, taking the development of mobile applications and smart devices to a whole new level of sophistication.