• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 29, 2017

A fresh forecast from App Annie -- which does not include in-app advertising -- reflects soaring usage rates, according to Danielle Levitas, SVP of Research at App Annie. Its research suggests that in 2021, consumers the world over will spend $139 billion on apps.

“Consumers are already spending twice as much time in apps than they did two years ago,” Levitas notes in the new report.

Due to increasing global app installs in Google Play and third-party Android stores, consumer spend in Android stores is forecast to surpass the App Store this year.

Over the next five years, however, Apple’s comparatively affluent customer base is expected to continue to spend more revenue per device, App Annie expects. Also, App Annie projects the iOS App Store to generate more than $60 billion in gross consumer spend in 2021, maintaining its top position in app store revenue.

The five largest mature markets, which include the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, are expected to account for 85% of global consumer spend in 2021.

Emerging markets, particularly India, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia, are projected to fuel downloads in mobile app stores. They are expected to see a boom in downloads, as nearly 3 billion more consumers are introduced to apps over the next five years.

Global downloads across all mobile app stores will increase 20% annually, reaching 352 billion in 2021, App Annie expects.