Mobile App Store Downloads to Reach 25 billion by 2015, Juniper Report finds

Application storefront launches accelerating, but report stresses scale needed if stores are to succeed

Hampshire, UK – 20th July 2010:  As network operators and vendors increasingly deploy their own dedicated app stores, a new Juniper Research report has found that the annual number of consumer-oriented handset downloads is expected to rise from less than 2.6 billion in 2009 to more than 25 billion in 2015.

According to the Mobile App Stores report, players across the mobile value chain are seeking to emulate Apple’s success with the App Store by launching own-brand storefronts, such as ‘Mobile Market’ from China Unicom, ‘Airtel App Central’ from Bharti and the ‘Apps & Games Shop’ on Vodafone 360. Furthermore, the transition to an app-centric environment has also benefited more established storefronts such as GetJar, which passed 1 billion downloads earlier this month.

However, the Juniper report cautioned that players seeking to launch app stores would need to demonstrate sufficient scale to be able to induce developers to provide them with unique content. As report author Dr Windsor Holden observed, “Apple has been able to achieve several billion downloads from a comparatively small handset base because customers are buying the iPhone for the apps. That’s not been the case with other handsets. So even if you have a subscriber base of tens of millions, your addressable market is a fraction of that – and spread across a variety of operating systems and handsets”.

The report also noted that freemium was becoming the prevalent business model, with publishers increasingly offering applications free at point of sale and subsequently monetising them via in-app billing of subscription-based services, upgrades to premium content or micropayments for virtual items.

A white paper exploring the challenges of an app store-centric ecosystem, ‘A World of Apps’ is available to download from the new Juniper Research website today.  To explore the new functionality and features of the new site and to register for free whitepapers and blogs, please go to www.juniperresearch.com.

Further details of the study ‘Mobile App Stores: Business Models, Strategies & Market Segmentation 2010-2015’ can be downloaded from the Juniper website.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

John Levett
Juniper Research
T: +44(0)1256 830 002
E: john.levett@juniperresearch.com