Mobile Application Market

Mobile Application Market Size & Growth (2021 – 2026)

The global mobile application market size is expected to reach $278 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of around 10% over the forecast period (2022 - 2027). The study objective includes the analysis of key trends of the global mobile application market over the forecast period. 

Mobile applications are software applications that are designed to run on various tablets, computer tablets, and smartphones. They serve to provide users with similar services to those accessed on PCs frequently. The foremost purpose of any mobile application is to help users to connect them to internet services by enabling them to use the internet on their portable devices.

The probability of consumers spending on mobile communication, media, and entertainment is being affected by the rising disposable income increases, which, in turn, leads to higher potential sales of mobile applications.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been an integral part of different smartphones and their development for few years. Implementation of AI and machine learning in smartphones is to improve various features such as camera and security applications. Further, several companies continue to implement artificial intelligence in smartphones and tablets to empower their mobile applications and increase the performance of various mobile devices, thus offering lucrative opportunities for the mobile application market.

Market Drivers 

The predominant factors driving the growth of the global mobile application market over the forecast period include advancements in the e-commerce, electronic, and telecommunication industries. Some of the other key factors that can contribute to the growth of the global mobile application market include increasing LTE adoption, growing internet penetration, and rising subscription in social media. Moreover, an increase in various offers developed by the various network providers for low-cost data plans reduces the costs of the internet and helps developing countries to easily adopt these cost-effective services. Furthermore, mobile-connected smart objects and the increase in adoption of internet of things technology can be the providers of major growth opportunities in the global mobile application market over the forecast period.

Market Restraints

The predominant restraining factors hampering the mobile application market's growth are the uncertainty of enterprises in developing their own applications and the lack of high-speed connectivity in developing & undeveloped regions.

Some of the other restraining factors which would likely hamper the growth of the global mobile application market include huge investments by various organizations in need of developing their own applications due to surging uncertainty of the available applications and increasing cost of different applications, and the need for updating various applications on a regular basis to ensure seamless app operations and transactions, because of which there has been an increase in the amount of time and money required for upgradation of these applications. 

Recent Developments

• Incapptic Connect GmbH, a mobile app developer, was acquired by MobileIron Inc. in April 2020 so as to develop and deploy secure mobile business apps.
• AppSheet was acquired by Google LLC in January 2020. AppSheet was a provider of a no-code development platform for application software.

MOBILE APPLICATION MARKET REPORT COVERAGE:

Market Segmentation

The segmentation of the Global Mobile Application Market is classified as follows:

Mobile Application Market - By Marketplace:

the global mobile application market is divided into Google Play Store, Apple iOS Store, and Other Marketplaces (Microsoft). The Apple App Store segment is expected to witness a CAGR of around 11% over the forecast period.

Mobile Application Market - By App Category:

the global mobile application market is divided into Gaming, Retail & e-Commerce, Music & Entertainment, Education & Learning, Travel & Hospitality, Health & Fitness, and Others (Navigation, Utilities, and News). The gaming segment has been dominating the mobile application market and is expected to continue its dominance over the projection interval because of the rising number of mobile gaming applications in developing economies like India and China. This could drive the growth of the gaming segment in the global mobile application market. In contrast, the entertainment and music segment is expected to grow at a significant CAGR over the study period due to a quicker increase in penetration of different entertainment applications.

Regional Analysis

The regions covered in the regional analysis of the global mobile application market are North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and Latin America.

North America has been dominating the market for many years and is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period. The high share in terms of revenue for this region is due to the presence of numerous leading players such as Apple Inc.; Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Google LLC; Netflix Inc.; and Microsoft Corporation and others in the various countries of this region. A relatively greater number of mobile application downloads, high smartphone penetration, and strong in-app purchases from the consumer have together ensured a high market share. The U.S. has been emerging as a lucrative market for mobile games application in terms of paid mobile games, in-app payment, and swiftly increasing mobile apps user base in the country.

The mobile application market in the Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing, owing to the potential this region holds in terms of increasing smartphone adoption and growing internet penetration. China, Japan, and India are expected to remain the major markets, offering strong growth opportunities to all participants across the mobile application ecosystem. Furthermore, growing disposable income supported by government initiatives like Digital India is expected to positively impact the regional market growth in the near future. Moreover, advancement in networking and the availability of low-cost mobile data usage packs are the other key drivers fueling the market growth regionally.

Intended Audience

The Intended Audience for the global Mobile Application Market includes Device manufacturers, Games developers, Software investors, store providers, Mobile App developers, Software Developers, Mobile phone distributors, Government agencies, IT enablers, and Research firms.

Key Market Players

The Key Market Players in the global mobile application market ecosystem include Apple Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Google LLC, Cognizant, Verbat Technologies, International Business Machines Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, China Mobile Ltd, CA Technologies, and Intellectsoft, among others.