Mobile phone games, learning programs, office applications: In 2021, Germans will be spending more money on mobile phone apps than ever before. A total of 2.9 billion euros in sales will be generated with smartphone programs this year. This is announced by the digital association Bitkom on the basis of data from the market research institute research2guidance. Sales have almost doubled within two years. Last year, 2.3 billion euros were turned over in this country; In 2019, sales were still 1.6 billion euros.

“The range of apps is getting bigger and bigger – they are replacing the digital camera, the bookshelf, the game console,” says Dr. Sebastian Klöß, Head of Consumer Technology at the Bitkom digital association. “Especially during the Corona crisis, people spent more time with their smartphones. They tried out new apps and spent more money in the process – for example, to stay fit with paid online courses, to pass the time with games or to learn new languages. “

The majority of sales (74 percent) come from in-app purchases; Costs for subscriptions, for example for video or audio streaming, are even excluded here. In principle, users can use a mobile phone program free of charge, but pay money for certain functions – for example to synchronize notes across multiple devices or to advance faster in games. “In-app purchases have become the absolute sales driver. Companies can offer specific services or functions in this way. It can be worthwhile for consumers: Activating selected content for a small fee can be significantly cheaper than buying a more expensive complete package, ”says Klöß.

16 percent of sales are generated through advertisements in smartphone applications; only every tenth euro arises from the purchase of a mobile phone program that is generally subject to a charge. For comparison: In 2011, more than half (53 percent) of the total of 242 million euros in sales at that time was achieved with paid downloads. In the wake of the Corona crisis, the proportion of sales from paid apps has increased significantly again – from three percent in 2019 to currently ten percent. “Learning apps in particular have increased the proportion of sales made up of paid applications,” says Bitkom expert Klöß. “With videos, tasks, texts and graphics, such apps often offer more content than classic school books and therefore usually cost a one-time price.”

In total, Germans will download 3.3 billion apps this year – an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year. The dominant platform for downloads is the Android operating system developed by Google with the “Google PlayStore”. 2.5 billion apps are downloaded there. The Apple-operated AppStore for iOS devices has only 786 million downloads. Up until 2013, the two platforms were still on the same platform. After that, Android sets itself apart with some significantly cheaper devices. German app market