App store entrepreneur says mobile apps market to become “as big as internet”

The mobile application market will become “as big as the internet” and will peak at 10 million apps in 2020, a leading online retailer has said.

GetJar, a leading independent app store that sells programs for the Symbian OS, Windows mobiles and BlackBerry devices, also said that as the industry grows, the number of developers will shrink as the money available for app production shrinks.

“Apps will be as big if not bigger than the internet,” Ilja Laurs, chief executive of GetJar, said at the MobileBeat conference in the US.

“They will peak at around 100,000 by the end of the year. That will be a tipping point and after that there will be a gradual fall in the rate of development.”

Laurs also said that many developers will fall away as the market becomes more competitive, and as more devices begin to support complicated applications.

“The reality is that this space is only so big and only able to support so many people. Unfortunately, the overhype that goes with [Apple’s] App Store is what has driven so many to rush to develop for the market. It is fashionable to do apps and every media outlet tells you apps are cool.

“But the economics are a different story. The ratio of those developers who will fail is about 90%; they will simply not make a return on their investment or make a good enough living at this.”