Smartphone Apps Could be a $15 Billion Industry by 2013

According to the latest data by analytics firm Research2guidance, the mobile app market for smartphones is quickly growing to be a highly profitable industry. Earning $2.2 billion for the first half of 2010, 3.8 billion downloads tops the number of total downloads for all of 2009, which sat at 3.1 billion. But taking it one step further, Reasearch2guidance’s report projects that by 2013 the smartphone app market could be worth upwards of $15 billion worldwide.


If you happen to think that number might be sitting on the high side, it is actually quite conservative compared to GetJar’s estimation that the industry could be valued at $17.5 billion by 2012. [We can see the comparison as unfair, since the Mayan doomsday calendar predicts the world could end before 2013, making it impossible for Research2guidance to live out their claims.] Either way you slice it analysts are putting big money into the app industry, a no-brainer considering the rapid rise of smartphone use around the world thanks to Android, the iPhone, and other players like RIM. Research2guidance’s view on that? A projected 1 billion smartphone users worldwide by that same 2013 mark.