Gartner: Free apps will account for nearly 90 percent of total downloads in 2012

Free applications will account for 89 percent of total downloads in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc.

Worldwide mobile app store downloads will surpass 45.6 billion in 2012, with free downloads accounting for 40.1 billion, and paid-for downloads totaling 5 billion.

“In terms of the apps that consumers are buying, 90 per cent of the paid-for downloads cost less than USD 3 each,” according to Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner.

“Similar to free apps, lower-priced apps will drive the majority of downloads. Apps between 99 cents and USD 2.99 will account for 87.5 per cent of paid-for downloads in 2012, and 96 per cent by 2016,” Shen added.

Mobile app store downloads worldwide, 2010-2016 (millions of downloads)

Read more about Analysis Gebrüder Weiss Romania: Transport and logistics market in 2024 – from challenges to opportunities read more	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Free Downloads	22,044	40,599	73,280	119,842	188,946	287,933
Paid-for Downloads	2,893	5,018	8,142	11,853	16,430	21,672
Total Downloads	24,936	45,617	81,422	131,695	205,376	309,606
Free Downloads %	88.4%	89.0%	90.0%	91.0%	92.0%	93.0%

Thus, Apple’s App Store is expected to have more than 21 billion downloads in 2012, 74 percent up on 2011.

Besides a few major app stores from global vendors such as Apple’s App Store, Google Play and Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace, Gartner analysts said there are also stores from third parties that attract users with their brands or take advantage of the lack of dominant players in some markets.

“Amazon has appealed to users with its strong brand, global presence and a good selection of high-quality content while Facebook‘s recently launched App Center — supporting both mobile devices and desktops — will become a powerful competitor due to its strong brand and leading position in social networking and gaming,” said Shen.
Otilia Haraga