MUMBAI: The mobile application download is expected to reach nearly 48 billion in 2015, reports In-Stat. This growth will continue mainly by increased smart phone penetration, as well as growth in consumer mobile application libraries.

Senior Analyst Amy Cravens said, The prevalence of handset touch screens is a significant development impacting the mobile applications market. The projected rapid penetration of touch screen-enabled devices will allow more users to easily interact with mobile applications, thereby driving growth....

This research is part of In-Stat's Mobile Applications and Services, which provides analysis and forecasts of the markets for mobile applications and content, including consumer perspectives, usage models, competitive business models, mobile applications, and operating systems (OS).

Key data analysis include:

Touch screens will account for nearly 90% of smart phones shipped in 2011, and will increase to nearly 100% in the next several years.

Smart phones are expected to increase from 23% of total phone shipments in 2010 to 45% in 2015.

In December 2010, the number of applications in the Apple App Store reached 350,000 while Android Market reached 80,000.

Survey results show that Apple and Android users are significantly more likely than BlackBerry users to have downloaded mobile applications.

Smartphone applications are not only about 3G.  Almost half of survey respondents report downloading applications over Wi-Fi.