Market of mobile applications in Russia grows by leaps and bounds

Games take the lead among all mobile applications in Russia. Games bring an impressive profit to their creators. An excellent example to prove this point is the overwhelming popularity of "Angry Birds," which was created by Finnish software developers. They have recently visited Russia and declared an intention to open Angry Birds theme parks in the country. The material benefit from mobile games is more than just obvious. One of the fastest growing markets in Russia is the market of mobile applications for smartphones. To the delight of software developers, their revenues will grow to $ 1.3 billion by 2016, whereas the apps market will grow eight times during the next four years, researchers with J'son & Partners said.

Game apps take up to 58 percent of the total number of downloads made in Russia in 2012. The average price for one download was was about 85 rubles ($3), Gazeta.ru wrote with reference to J'son & Partners. The second place is taken by such apps as translators, antivirus software, calculators, flashlights, various wallpapers, navigation and so on. These applications accounted for about 14% of all downloads. The Russians are least interested in business applications (2.8%) that are most expensive apps - 237 rubles ($8).

The leaders in the group of game apps downloads are "Game Insight," "Alawar," "Zeptolab" and applications for popular social networking sites "Vkontakte", Facebook or "Odnoklassniki".

Noteworthy, experts compare the current period in the history of mobile applications with the state of affairs in the automobile market in the beginning of the last century. The apps market is only making its first steps. Indeed, to date, not every Russian can boast of having a smart phone. According to the head of the development of mobile and desktop products of LinguaLeo.ru, Ilya Krasinski, only 5-7 million Russians own smartphones today. One should not assume, though, that the remaining 140 million people in Russia lag hopelessly behind evolution. As many as 50 million Russians actively use the Internet. Those who do not have a smartphone, will buy one sooner or later, Krasinski believes. Thus, the expert believes, the remaining 43-45 million people will inevitably join into the army of smartphones fans. This addition will provide for the eightfold increase in the market for mobile applications.

In Russia, mobile applications are developed by such companies as e-Legion, Hint Solutions, InfoShell, RedMadRobot, Unreal Mojo, ID Company, iD East, MobileUp, DevPocket and "Business Mobile Media." Software, games and other applications are then distributed through Apple's App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry App World. According to researchers of the market of applications for smartphones, the main directions, in which software developers work today, are e-mail, music, videos, movies photos, e-books and office apps.

A big plus for the creators of mobile applications is the fact that the financial contribution of consumers in most cases is not limited to installation. Further service requires new investments, which makes the apps market similar to the auto market.

Noteworthy, an increasing amount of Russians purchase tablets. According to ABI Research, 35 percent of 25.2 billion dollars forecast for the overall market of mobile applications in 2013, will fall for applications for tablets. By 2018, the overall market will reach 92 billion dollars. Unlike smartphones, the main function of which is communication, tablet computers are gadgets for entertainment. Needless to say that entertainment is expensive.

Elizaveta Polskaya.