The worldwide smartphone applications market grew more than $2.2 billion dollars within the first six months of 2010, according to research2guidance (http://www.research2guidance.com). Mobile application download numbers reached a total of 3.8 billion in only six months, compared to 3.1 billion in 2009 according to the latest report by the research group.
“Apple’s competitors like Nokia and BlackBerry started to leverage their global reach and increased the traffic on their app stores” says Egle Mikalajunaite, research analyst at research2guidance. “We see this trend continuing in the next several months and years. The next wave of new app stores will be niche stores specializing on e.g. business or mobile health apps.”
Average application prices steeped to $3.60 US per paid application in the first half of 2010.
“Although there are still significant differences with regard to prices between stores, the overall decline of app prices has reclined,” says Ralf-Gordon Jahns of research2guidance. “App publishers should be aware of the price differences between stores and mobile platforms. These price differences are a sign of a lack of market transparency. They represent a good business opportunity, but not for too long.”