Apps market surges by £1.4bn in six months

3.8 billion apps downloaded in the first half on 2010

The global applications market has surged by more than £1.4bn to £2.5bn in the first half of this year, according to new figures.

Mobile application download numbers reached a total of 3.8 billion in only six months, compared with 3.1 billion in 2009, according to the figures from Research2guidance.

The momentum comes as more smartphone users have easy access to app stores, such as Google’s Android marketplace. Meanwhile, application stores founded in 2009 have increased the number of apps available, the company said.

Average app prices climbed to £2.32 per paid application in the first half.

As of June 7 this year, Apple had more than 225,000 apps in its App Store, with over 5 billion downloads reported.

However, Nokia and BlackBerry have started to use their global reach to increase the traffic on their app stores, Research2guidance said, adding that this will continue in the coming months and years.

The company said the next wave of application stores will be niche and specialise in business or mobile health applications.