App Store Growth Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down

Nobody would have ever forecast the huge explosion in mobile apps when Apple opened the app store in 2008. Since then it has only taken a few years to fundamentally change the way people are using their smartphone and accessing powerful tools from their mobile device. Fast forward to today and whatever you are looking for, you can bet there is an app for it.

Apple’s ingenious Co-Founder Steve Jobs made the controversial decision to opening up Apple to developers back in 2008. Even though Apple was criticised for the closed system with stringent app approval processes, developers jumped at the chance to build apps for the iPhone.

With close to 40,000 apps published in May 2015 alone and over a 1000 apps per day, there is no sign of a slow down.  Developers are finding more imaginative ways to make our smartphones even smarter and 2016 will be another year to watch for app store growth.

Today, users can access over 1.5million apps just in the Apple App store. However this huge growth spurt has not been limited to Apple and this number has actually now been surpassed by Google Play. As of July 2015, Android users were able to choose between 1.6 million apps! The Amazon App Store is also experiencing huge growth and is continuing to break records.

However, Android supporters’ celebrations have been thwarted somewhat. Dive a little deeper into the data and you will find that the Apple App Store made over 70% more revenue. Despite Apple having a smaller market share, they are generating substantially more revenue.

With app store revenue forecasted to be over £16B in 2016 and 46% of all app downloaders having already paid for an app, you can understand why businesses want a slice of the action. App developers are seeing the huge business opportunity with the insatiable surge in demand. This year is going to be another amazing year for App Store Growth with no indication of slowdown in the coming years.