According to Gartner, most smartphone owners are using mobile apps and "explosive growth" in this market is anticipated.
It predicts more than 4.5 billion mobile apps to be downloaded worldwide in 2010, resulting in around $6.8 billion to app stores. In addition, more than eight in 10 apps downloaded this year will be free.
By 2013, Gartner expects downloads and revenues to more than quadruple. Free app downloads are also believed to increase in that period.
Yankee Group predicts 1.4 billion app downloads in the U.S. alone equating to $573 million in revenue. It expects revenue to exceed $4.2 billion in 2013, when U.S. consumers will download nearly 7 billion apps.
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