According to Gartner, free apps will account for 89 percent of total downloads in 2012 and worldwide mobile app store downloads will surpass 45.6 billion in 2012, with free downloads accounting for 40.1 billion, and paid-for downloads totaling 5 billion.
Sandy Shen, Research Director, Gartner, said, "In terms of the apps that consumers are buying, 90 percent of the paid-for downloads cost less than $3 each. Similar to free apps, lower-priced apps will drive the majority of downloads. Apps between 99 cents and $2.99 will account for 87.5 percent of paid-for downloads in 2012, and 96 percent by 2016."
Brian Blau, Research Director, Gartner, said, "Apple's market share is the largest, considering its App Store accounts for 25 percent of available apps in all stores. The number of apps available is driven by an increasing number of stores in the market today that include platform owners, device vendors, communication service providers (CSPs) and others who want to offer core mobile app services. These stores will see their combined share of total downloads increase, but demand for apps overall will still be dominated by Apple, Google and Microsoft."
