App downloads across four stores increased 11% in first quarter of 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Canalys’ App Interrogator research.
The four stores, including Apple’s App Store, Google Play, the Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry World, reported 9% combined rise in-app purchases and subscriptions.
During the quarter, the combined downloads of the stores reached over 13.4 billion, while the stores registered combined revenues of $2.2bn.
Apple’s App Store led the app revenue with 74% of the total, whereas the Google Play registered the maximum number of downloads with 51% of the total downloads.
Canalys chief analyst Adam Daum said: "This is a multi-billion-dollar growth market, with more and more consumers around the world now comfortable and confident in finding apps, downloading them and making in-app purchases, on a growing addressable base of smart phones and tablets."
Canalys senior analyst Tim Shepherd said that Apple’s App Store and Google Play remain the heavyweights in the app store world.
"BlackBerry and Microsoft particularly need to continue to proactively work to attract fresh, innovative content and services to their respective catalogues, and fill gaps in their inventories," Shepherd said.
"But they also need to increase device sales around BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8 to increase the addressable market opportunities on offer to developer.
Regionally, North American market increased by 8% and 6% in terms of revenue and download volume during the quarter, while the Western Europe reported 8% and 10% growth in revenue and downloads during the first quarter of 2013.
