Consumer spending on all mobile app stores to surpass $110 billion in 2018: Report
06 Dec 2017
Consumer spending on all mobile app stores is set to surpass $110 billion in 2018, according to a new report from App Annie, which projects the state of the app ecosystem for next year. The $110-billion figure comes on a 30-per cent increase from the year prior, according to the firm, which added that the majority of the overall spend would come from games, as before.
However, the introduction of in-app subscriptions, a newer monetisation model for apps had started to have an impact on non-games' share of consumer spend.
Though games continue to dominate in terms of overall dollars spent, the share for non-game apps is set to increase in 2018, with its growth now outpacing that for games, according to App Annie.
Additionally, the report pointed to China, India and Brazil as top countries to watch in 2018. China's growth rate, especially, will ''significantly outpace'' the rate for the rest of the world, which is even more notable given that China is already the top market today for iOS App Store consumer spend.
India and Brazil, meanwhile, will see time spent on Android phones increase in 2018, in continuation of the trend this year which saw 50 per cent and 30 per cent growth, respectively, over 2017.
Meanwhile commentators point out that though entry-level phones may cost less than the higher end models, they come at the cost of space, speed and efficiency, which Google is seeking to change with Android Go.
Android Oreo (Go Edition) is set to launch today as part of the Android Oreo 8.1 rollout, and all Android Oreo devices with 512MB to 1GB of memory will be optimised for Android Go. According to Google this will allow them to function properly as smartphones while doubling their available storage space.
In a Google blog post, Android director of product management Sagar Kamdar noted that India accounted for more number of Android users from the 2 billion Android users around the world, than the US.
