App Annie: Global mobile app economy is expected to reach $101 billion in 2020

According to a report released by market research firm App Annie, the size of the app economy could double from today to $101 billion by 2020.

The growth driver of the app economy will come from the increase in app usage and the increased adoption of smartphones around the world. The report released by App Annie aims to give brands, institutions, investors and app developers a better understanding of global opportunities in the next five years. An interesting fact in the report is that games accounted for 85% of the total global app market revenue in 2015, reaching $34.8 billion. By 2016, game revenue is expected to grow to $41.5 billion and to $74.6 billion in 2020.

But other categories of apps will grow even faster than games. A few years ago, game or media companies dominated the app market; today, app publishers come from all walks of life, such as banks, retail, airlines, ride-hailing services, and government agencies. With the support of venture capital and hedge funds, the entire app industry is creating huge market value and real revenue.

App Annie senior vice president of research Danielle Levitas said in a statement that the report used more than 10,000 data sources to reveal various future trends. In 2016, the global mobile application market is expected to expand by 24%, and the total revenue of applications from all application stores will reach 51 billion US dollars; by 2020, the global total revenue is expected to exceed 101 billion US dollars.

While larger markets such as the United States, Japan and China remain at the center of overall app revenue growth, App Annie predicts that there will be huge opportunities in rapidly growing markets such as India, Indonesia, Mexico and Argentina. In the first half of 2016, China is expected to surpass the United States in total app store revenue. In early 2015, China surpassed the United States in app downloads.

App revenue and usage are not necessarily affected by regional economic downturns, as countries such as Argentina and Brazil have seen very strong growth in their app economies in 2015. Despite the slowdown in economic growth, Brazil is expected to see 40% growth in app revenue this year. App Annie noted that this growth is reminiscent of mature markets such as the United States between 2008 and 2010, when the smartphone and app markets in these countries grew strongly.

Globally, the total time spent by Android users on apps grew by 63% in 2015. The report predicts that new platforms such as wearable devices, TVs, virtual reality and augmented reality products, home IoT, and cars will play a role in increasing app usage.

App Annie predicts that overall app store downloads will grow 33% to 147.3 billion in 2016 from 111.2 billion in 2015, and will further increase to 284.3 billion by 2020.