Mobile app market to be worth US$27B in 2013: ABI Research

The global mobile app market will be worth US$27 billion in 2013, according to ABI Research.

ABI Research analysts find that while BlackBerry and Windows are slowly augmenting their apps catalogue as they compete for the third ecosystem, they are still far behind Apple and Android.

"iOS continues to lead the way, and the OS is projected to generate over two-thirds of the revenues for smartphone and tablet apps in 2013," said senior analyst Josh Flood.

"Although Google's Android OS recently surpassed Apple in terms of total app numbers, iOS users continue to prove they're more willing to depart with their cash. The revenue gap between the two leading OSes looks unlikely to close over the next 18 months," added Flood.

ABI Research also picked out a trend where mobile app market revenues are increasingly driven by tablets. Historically, app revenues generated from smartphones significantly dwarfed app revenues from tablets. Now, tablet revenues are quickly catching up, and it is projected that tablet app revenues will overtake those from smartphones by 2017. The inclination for tablet users to pay more for apps than their smartphones because of the larger screen size and better user experience for gaming and reading are the primary drivers.