By 2018, People Will Spend $110 Billion Buying from App Stores

According to App Annie’s latest projections, mobile users will spend more than $110 billion across all app stores next year. This figure is equal to a 30 percent rise as compared to 2017’s numbers, which is, needless to say, a significant jump in just one year’s time.

App Annie further predicts that majority of the spending will be on mobile games, which is not at all surprising. But the market analysis firm is quick to point out that the growth of in-app subscriptions will begin to affect the share of non-games in overall consumer spending. Almost certainly, games will still take the lion’s share of all that spending, but spending on non-game apps should see an increase by next year, despite people’s preference for buying games.

The latest report from App Annie also shed some insight into which countries will be displaying some significant growth in app store spending in 2018. The firm made special mention of three nations -- namely China, India, and Brazil. Sure, China is already the biggest mobile market in the whole world, and at the same time, the largest in terms of consumer spending on the iOS App Store. By next year, Chinese mobile users are projected to spend even more buying titles from app stores, and will likely outspend anyone else in the face of the planet.

As for India and Brazil, both countries are predicted to record increases in terms of the time spent on Android powered mobile devices by next year. 2017 already saw India and Brazil register 50 percent growth and 30 percent growth, respectively. As emerging mobile markets, a considerable percentage of these countries’ populace are yet to own a smartphone, and it is a good bet that in 2018, Indians and Brazilians will be wanting to make some purchases from app stores once they get their smartphone for the first time.

It certainly does not hurt that Google Play and Apple’s App Store have made big steps recently in improving the app discovery process and experience for mobile users. This can only result to further growth in terms of the volume of app downloads and the number of in-app purchases. The popularity of social media platforms will also play a role in continuing to fuel word of mouth for app titles.

To read more about the information and projections in App Annie’s latest report, you can head over to the firm’s official website.