Canalys Research Shows Four Leading App Stores Hit 13.4 Billion Downloads

Research firm Canalys has published its most recent App Interrogator research note covering the leading app stores in over 50 countries. According to the research firm, the app industry shows healthy growth for the download and purchase of apps on mobile devices. The company also says that the app industry for mobile devices is now a maturing market.

The research found that app downloads across four major stores including the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry World grew 11% during Q1 of 2013 compared to Q4 2012. The research also shows that direct revenue from paid apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions combined grew by 9%. The combined number of downloads from those four major app stores totaled over 13.4 billion apps.

The research firm also says that revenue for those four stores combined reached $2.2 billion before revenue-sharing is taken into account. Some of the strongest growth in the industry was seen in emerging markets including South Africa, Brazil, and Indonesia. There was also a robust growth in both revenue and download volume in mature mobility markets such as North America and Western Europe.

Globally the Apple App Store accounted for the largest portion of revenue between all four major stores at around 74%. The largest amount of downloads in the app market came on the Google Play store at 51% of the collected download total. Canalys does note that Apple is close behind Google Play in the number of downloads.

[via Canalys]