Last year, around 2.6 billion applications were downloaded from 'app stores' to consumer mobile phones. In 2015, that figure is expected to be 25 billion.
It's the latest calculation from Juniper Research, which also notes that 'freemium' – free to download but with chargeable options later - is becoming the most popular business model for apps.
However, despite the growth potential, the report warns that network operators launching their own application stores could face problems. Dr Windsor Holden, the report's author, said "Apple has been able to achieve several billion downloads from a comparatively small handset base because customers are buying the iPhone for the apps. That’s not been the case with other handsets. So even if you have a subscriber base of tens of millions, your addressable market is a fraction of that – and spread across a variety of operating systems and handsets".