Mobile app store revenues set to jump 77.7% this year

The combined revenue of the four major mobile application stores is projected to jump nearly 80% this year, according to a new report from iSuppli Corp. Following 2010, when Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) tallied $2.1 billion in revenue, IHS Inc. (IHS) mobile media analyst Jack Kent is predicting continued sharp climbs in the coming years.
Revenues from the four heavyweights will leap 77.7% in 2011 to $3.8 billion, he wrote. Moreover, Apple Inc.’s App Store will command about three-quarters share of the total market.
“With consumers continuing to show robust, unflagging interest in downloading games and other applications to devices like smart phones and tablets, collective revenues from the four stores will climb sharply this year,” Kent wrote.
App stores are projected to bring in $5.6 billion in 2012, $6.9 billion in 2013 and $8.3 billion in 2014. Kent also laid out the market position shakeup that’s expected to take place this year between Google and RIM. Android Market revenue is expected to jump 295.4% this year to $425.4 million. Meanwhile, RIM’s BlackBerry App World, still marking a 69.2% year-over-growth, only has expected revenue of $279.1 million. Rounding out the top four, Nokia’s Ovi Store has $201.5 million in expected revenue this year, according to IHS Screen Digest research.
Finally, in terms of overall app downloads this year, IHS predicts Apple will command first with 10.3 billion downloads, followed by Google with 5.8 billion downloads, 1.1 billion downloads on Nokia devices and 772.2 million downloads at RIM. In 2011, the total number of app downloads should reach 18.1 billion, up markedly from 2010’s 9.5 billion.