Business apps and BYOD could double industry by 2016

Although the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend can be a hassle for CIOs and IT departments, its popularity continues to increase. And with the charge in mobile devices in the workplace also comes large growth in the app market.

In 2013, the app industry was estimatedto be worth around $70 billion. Recent apps like WhatsApp, a popular worldwide text communication service, have brought enormous profit opportunities to the industry. With the continuation of the BYOD trend, experts believe the app market will double in size in the next three years.

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As mobile devices become more accepted in the corporate world as productivity tools, the app market – and specifically productivity and business aps – will grow in step.  VisionMobile’s research showed that $28 billion was spent on business apps in 2013; applied to the whole market predictions, business and productivity apps specifically could be making $58 billion by the end of 2016.

There are three specific factors driving the current market:

1. Consumerisation: CIOs are making fewer of the buying decisions. If employees are using their own devices at work, they want to customise their work experience.
2. Diversification: The increase in the different devices and operating systems has changed how IT departments decide on software and technology purchases.
3. BYOD – BYOD is the biggest factor, as it’s changing the landscape of the workplace for better or worse.

While the current app market is being fed by the growth of the smartphone user base, it looks like in the near future business users could have a majority hold on the direction of the industry. The market as a whole is expected to grow more than a quarter through 2016, and app store revenue in 2013 was 18 percent of the total app economy.

Currently, the majority of revenue in the app market is made from contract jobs, where specialists create custom apps for their clients. But as the app market becomes overpopulated, many expect to see a fall in this sector’s share of the market revenue.

The sale of business and productivity apps only makes up around 10 percent of total sales in the marketplace, but experts expect this to grow up to six times its current size by 2016.

As organisations start to provide their own official apps for their employees to use in the workplace, what else could we see in the market? Some believe that enterprise-specific app stores are on the horizon. Whatever comes next, now may be the time to get into the business app market.