Mobile App Development – An Overview

Thanks to the booming of a stay-at-home economy in 2020 and 2021, the number of mobile application downloads has risen dramatically making mobile app development one of the most lucrative business venues. There are approximately 3.2 billion smartphone users worldwide, and this number keeps on growing further.

It is estimated that the number of smartphone users will be up to 7.5 billion by the year 2026, which once again shows how much of a lucrative venue mobile app development is. The worldwide mobile application revenues have risen dramatically throughout the past two years from 461 billion in 2019 up to 639 billion in 2021.

It is quite likely that the global revenues generated by mobile apps would top 100 billion by 2024 making it one of the most profitable industries. The growth rates are preposterous, and as more and more people own smartphones, the market expands further with every following year.

Today, we are going to take a look at some of the most incredible mobile app development industry statistics and see exactly why you might want to try and tap into that quite literally bottomless source of income.

Millions of Apps

AppStore alone features up to 2 million applications for the users to download. Google Play has a whopping 3,4 million apps. Such a gap between the two major app stores might be due to AppStore’s strict policies regarding the application that can be featured in the store.

Add 660,000 apps from Windows Store and some 460,000 apps from Amazon Appstore and you’d have a rather saturated and highly competitive market.

How many of those apps have any actual value for the user? Well, that is a tough question to answer as there are hundreds of thousands of apps that do not even have any reviews from the users, so you can assume that a large portion of those are actually useless.

This is good news for anyone trying to make a good app that actually makes a difference and gives something valuable to the users. At the same time, you’ve got to understand how saturated the market is and how difficult it might be to get on top of that competition.

Developing a great application that stands out and gives an exceptional experience to the users is not an easy feat. That is why you need a team of real experts to get your application development project going.

App Downloads Keep Growing

According to the Statista report, more than 218 billion apps have been downloaded by users worldwide in 2020 compared to 204 billion in 2019. People have been downloading more apps every following year for the past decade, and the rates are not showing any sign of slowing down.

You probably have a smartphone and you download and delete apps on a regular basis. Taxi apps, food delivery apps, utility apps, mobile shopping apps, business apps, games, networking apps, social media apps, e-commerce, and payment apps – all of that comes and goes.

There are certain apps that stay on your phone forever – especially valuable applications that are essential for your professional and personal life. These are the high-value apps that generate the most income for the creators. Alternatively, millions of apps are downloaded and immediately deleted by the users just because they are not up to modern standards or due to other issues.

Millions of Apps Get Deleted

It is not enough to just know what makes the users download your app; it is as important to know why they would delete it. It is estimated that 56% of all apps get uninstalled within the first 7 days. There are many reasons as to why people would delete an app, so you cannot put a finger on a single reason and try to battle just one common issue.

Leading Business Verticals

Most of the Internet surfing, shopping, and business activities that were previously confined to desktops now occur on mobile devices. It is estimated that the average American spends nearly 4.5 hours a day on their mobile device, and these 4.5 hours do not even include phone calls. Shopping, commerce, business communication, social media, education, gaming, and many more can be done straight from your smartphone.

This has opened new opportunities for numerous business verticals to take advantage of mobile applications. There are industries that benefit from mobile applications more than others, so if you are in one of those domains, investing in mobile application development might be a good idea.

Fintech and Banking

In 2020, Banking and Fintech were downloaded 4.6 billion times worldwide. This is a 15% growth rate compared to the previous year.

Food, Restaurants, Delivery

Food and Drink delivery apps have been downloaded 400 million times in 2020, which is a 20% growth compared to 2019.

Travel

10.6 million travel apps have been downloaded in Q2 2021, which is an 81% jump compared to the same period in 2019. As the world recovers from the pandemic and travel bans are being lifted, people seem to go back to traveling.

There is a totally obvious reason why people would download these types of apps more – the pandemic. People need to manage their finances without actually going to the bank office, they order more food delivery, and as the pandemic seems to be slowing down, they want to break free and go rest somewhere.

These mobile application industry statistics should not be surprising in the slightest as the state of the mobile app industry is dictated by the needs of the users. And those needs have shifted dramatically in the light of global events.

Mobile Advertising Generates Billions

Digital advertising has been a huge driver of growth for businesses since the dawn of the Internet. With the use of smartphones and in-app advertising, there emerged an entire industry of in-app advertising.

As of now, the in-app advertising industry generates billions of dollars of income every year, and seeing where the mobile application industry is going, it is not going to slow down any time soon.

Here are the key stats on ad revenue:

  • In 2020, global spending on mobile advertising reached $276 billion.
  • In the US alone, the mobile advertising spending reached $113 billion
  • Facebook’s advertising revenue amounted to $84 billion
  • Google advertising revenue stacked up to $147 billion

So, what’s in it for you, and can you actually tap into that huge pool of money? Yes, you can. There are millions of brands out there trying to get their message to customers all around the world, and your app might just be a great tool to help them achieve their goals. Given your app is popular enough, you can generate incredible income from ad revenue alone.

Final Thoughts

The mobile app development statistics are quite impressive – people spend more time on their phones, they download millions of apps, and they consume loads of advertisements. The marketers are ready to pay for those ads too, which might prove to be a rather lucrative venue.

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