A market survey by Gartner research has revealed that 89% of all apps downloaded are free.
It has also revealed that the Apple app store is still the market leader when it comes to dowmloads with 21 billion downloads in 2012, which is a 74% increase on 2011.
Mobile App Store Downloads, Worldwide, 2010-2016 (Millions of Downloads)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Free Downloads | 22,044 | 40,599 | 73,280 | 119,842 | 188,946 | 287,933 |
| Paid-for Downloads | 2,893 | 5,018 | 8,142 | 11,853 | 16,430 | 21,672 |
| Total Downloads | 24,936 | 45,617 | 81,422 | 131,695 | 205,376 | 309,606 |
| Free Downloads % | 88.4% | 89.0% | 90.0% | 91.0% | 92.0% | 93.0% |
Source: Gartner (September 2012)
90& of paid-for downloads are priced at under $3.
There has been a staggering 45.6 billion mobile app downloads this year, with the increase being bootsted by a rise in third party, independent Android app stores which are popping up, especially in China where this trend is growing the quickest as Google Play is said to have a lack of presence in China, and carriers providing weak alternatives.
