Getjar, the world’s second largest mobile app store, has just published a study that predicts that mobile application sales will grow to $17.5 billion within two years. During the same time, the company expects app downloads to grow to 50 billion, for a 92 percent year-over-year increase.
The company warns that apps for feature phones have been ignored amid all the hype about apps for smartphones. “We wanted to find out the real value of the industry because we felt certain segments like the iPhone were being over-hyped and so-called feature phones were being under-hyped,” said Getjar founder and chief executive officer Ilja Laurs.
He added, “We know smartphones are an extremely important phenomenon, but in terms of consumer mindshare and revenue share, feature phones represent 90% of the global market compared to 10% for smartphones and data cards.”