The cumulative revenue base includes the money made from pay-per-downloads, in-app purchases, subscriptions, and in-app advertisements, and it is nearly double the amount that had been reached by end-2011. Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen says, "Consumers' high interest in apps has for long time been obvious from download volumes, but it's 2012 that will go down in history as the year when the economic side of the business finally took off. We're no longer talking only about a short-term gold rush. Apps have become a major digital industry."

These findings are from ABI Research's Mobile Application Markets Research Service. The service focuses on the distribution and the economics of mobile apps, providing data-driven insights on areas such as download volumes, revenues and business models, as well as trends within different applications categories.

Source: ABI Research