Forrester Research World Mobile Application Spending Forecast, 2015 To 2020 (Global)

We expect over 226 billion apps to be downloaded in 2015, and this number will grow at five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2%. China accounts for more than 50% of these downloads. The rapidly growing penetration of smartphones, powered by the low cost of Android phones, drives the rapid growth of app downloads. But despite the high number of downloads, only 8% of the total apps downloaded in 2015 are paid apps, and we expect the majority of app spending to shift toward in-app purchases and advertising by 2020. The Chinese market is powered by over 200 Android app stores, including 360 Mobile Assistant, MyApp, Baidu, MIUI, Wandoujia, Huawei, and Anzhi Market, along with the iOS App Store and Google Play. This forecast includes app downloads and revenues for 54 countries from 2013 to 2020, along with smartphone app users by category for 20 countries.