(B)  The Mac would not have been successful without VisiCalc, the iPod without iTunes and the iPhone without its Apps and the App Store. Applications are what gives life to a computer. While the first iPhone came with 11 Apps, Apple has now on its App Store over 250,000 Apps for nearly every application – work, home, traveling, shopping, studying, entertaining…

CNBC did a very interesting documentary, Planet of the Apps, about Apple Mobile Apps. Following is a summary of the key market metrics that I found interesting in that documentary:

• The Mobile Apps market was estimated to be $4B in 2008 and will grow to $20B in 2014!
• The Apple App Store is selling over $200 M of Apps every month
• Apple is receiving over 1,000 Apps applications a day
• Although many Apps are for free – pricing is ranging from 99c to $4.99 with the most expensive iRA Pro Apps selling for $900 (for monitoring homes and businesses)
• The most successful Apps can generate over $500,000 in sales per month
• Apple is taking 30% of Apps revenues leaving 70% for the Apps developer
• Development costs for an Apps can range from a few thousand dollars to half a million dollars
• Heavy Apps users can spend up to $7 a month buying Apps for their iPhones or $60 to 65 a year.

It goes without saying that the Mobile Apps market is growing fast, very fast. It might be overwhelming for the users to find now the Apps suited to their needs, among so many choices. And in a crowded market, Apps Developers will have to much more market and promote their Apps to establish their presences.

Additionally, the Apps market is being expanded first by competition, and second by new devices.

Most Apple competitors have moved into the Apps market as well: BlackBerry App World, Android Market, and even network operators have launched their own App Stores: Verizon Media Store, Orange UK, and Orange France Application Shop…

And, the initial Mobile Apps market is being expanded by new devices: Apple iPad supports over 200,000 iPhone and iPod touch Apps – Google TV will include next year Apps from the Android Market – and Apple (again) will provide Apps both for laptop and desktop computers with its coming operating system Lion.

Finally, we should expect in the soon future, new products attempting to integrate Mobile Apps and emerging Cloud Computing architectures for both consumer and enterprise Web-based applications.

Note: The picture above is from the Apple App Store.

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