Report: 284 billion apps to be downloaded and revenue to cross $100 billion by 2020

App Annie’s latest market analysis suggests that app downloads will increase exponentially by 2020. The growth is expected to be driven by large scale downloads in developing countries, especially India.

Google’s Play Store is expected to take the lead and is set to grow at four times the rate of Apple’s App Store. The report also states that Apple will remain dominant as far as revenues from apps are concerned, but that the revenue from the remaining Android app stores (Play store, Amazon store, etc.) will surpass Apple by 2017.

Among the more important findings of the report is that “usage is the new currency” and that “apps are eating the web”. App usage has increased by 63 percent since 2014 and is only expected to grow further. It’s been found that the majority of users are spending more and more time in their apps than on the actual web and as App Annie states, “all companies need to view themselves as app publishers irrespective of their mobile strategy.”

The report finds that developing countries like India, among others, will see an exponential rise in install base due to the increasing proliferation of smartphones and access to cheaper and faster Internet. Developed markets like the US on the other hand, will see an increase in brand loyalty and revenue; a more reliable revenue stream. This is expected to drive app downloads to over $284 billion and raise total app revenue to over $100 billion by 2020.

You can view the full report and draw your own conclusions from here . The findings make for a very interesting read, to say the least.