Tablet apps are expected to generate $8.8 billion (£5.9 billion) in revenue this year, with $16.4 billion (£11 billion) expected to come from smartphone applications. That gives tablet apps a 35% share of the revenue, according to the latest forecast from ABI Research.
The tablet share of the market is expected to increase steadily for the next few years, overtaking the smartphone share in 2018 when total revenue is expected to reach $92 billion.
65% of the total mobile device app revenue in 2013 is expected to come from Apple iOS apps and 27% from Google Android, leaving just 8% from other mobile platforms.
Aapo Markkanen, senior analyst at ABI Research, said “The dynamic is quite straightforward. The larger screen makes apps and content look and feel better, so there are more lucrative opportunities. One might think that the bigger installed base of smartphones would compensate for the disparity, but that notion fails to take into account the arrival of low-cost tablets, which hasn’t even started yet at its earnest. The smartphones paved the way for them, but in the end we believe that it’s the tablets that will prove the more transformative device segment of the two. The really big deal about tablets is how they will help to finally bring the computing age to, for instance, children and the elderly. The business opportunity associated with them is undeniable, but at the same they can also bring about very significant social benefits.”
[ABI Research]