App Spending Topped $86 Billion In 2017

Around the world, smartphone-carrying consumers downloaded more than 175 billion apps last year, on which they spent over $86 billion.

That's according to the latest annual report from App Annie, which attributed much of the growth to rapid adoption in China, India, Russia, and Brazil.

In fact, India actually surpassed the United States in terms of total app downloads last year. Both the U.S. and India trailed China by a comfortable margin.

As these markets continue to mature, the opportunity to monetize will be massive, App Annie predicts. Despite stabilizing growth in mature markets like the United States, they are still experiencing large absolute gains.

On average, U.S. users downloaded three apps per month last year, with more than 70% downloading at least one app per month.

Worldwide, consumers downloaded 60% more apps in 2017 than in 2015 -- which equates to nearly 2 apps downloaded every month by each person on the planet. Across Google Play and the iOS AppStore, the number of available apps surpassed 6 million last year.

In response, app marketing -- particularly app store optimization and paid user acquisition --- has become increasingly critical for those looking to stand out, App Annie notes.

In most markets analyzed by App Annie, the average smartphone user had more than 80 apps on their phone last year, while they used nearly 40 apps per month. Last year, the total number of apps on U.S. users' phones approached 100, on average.

Around the world, consumers spent an average of nearly 3 hours per day using apps last year. That represented an increase of about 30% since 2015.

Meanwhile, apps' share of consumer attention continues to grow, and has become the most critical channel for customer interactions, App Annie suggests.

Mobile shopping had its biggest month ever last November. All told, consumers spent $25.3 billion worldwide. On Cyber Monday, U.S. shoppers alone spent $2 billion.

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