The WSJ has got it right…mobile-apps are here to stay…and they're just getting started. EVERY TV show/movie and digital service is becoming an app…worldwide.
Nearly five years after Apple Inc. kicked off the mobile-apps craze, the industry is booming.
App stores run by Apple and Google Inc. now offer more than 700,000 apps each. With so many apps to choose from, consumers are estimated to spend on average about two hours a day with apps. Global revenue from app stores is expected to rise 62% this year to $25 billion, according to Gartner Inc.
But the apps industry has matured in some respects. Some of the Wild West tactics of five years ago—like scams to accrue more downloads—have given way to more order as Apple and others tighten their rules. App developers are more methodical about marketing their apps and focusing on the few apps that work best.
For every Instagram, the wildly popular photo sharing app that Facebook Inc. bought for $1 billion last year, there are hundreds of thousands of apps that don't catch on.
As the battlefield shifts to new geographies, new categories and new devices, developers are still trying to figure out which business models are the most profitable.
The apps industry "is like cars at the turn of the last century," said Simon Khalaf, chief executive of mobile analytics firm Flurry Inc. "You see the growth of roads and know they're going to be big. But it is still early days."
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Founder and Editor-in-Chief for NBTEquitiesResearch.com. Contributor and Anchor for the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network 2000-2013. Chairman & CEO of NBT Group, Inc., a boutique private capital investment bank and investor relations organization.
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