The Wall Street Journal has posted an article covering the meteoric rise of the App Store, from its inception just a few years ago to its current state of almost $25 billion in annual sales. But while the App Store is growing like crazy, it's also presenting more problems for developers as well: Finding a significant crowd of customers is getting tougher and tougher, and just making a name for yourself in such a huge market isn't always easy.
And it doesn't help that customers are flying through apps extremely quickly. Mobile analytics firm Flurry tells the WSJ that while users do now spend about two hours a day on apps, the apps they use don't stick around for very long. About 63% of the apps in use today weren't used daily a year ago, and most customers focus on about eight apps at a time, according to the research. That makes sense: In such a huge market, with so many apps to try, why focus on just a few?
But it also means that the app market is going to have to mature. The WSJ cites ESPN for shuttering one of its apps while focusing on the more popular Scorecenter utility, and they also mention Shazam, an app that has found all sorts of functionality (and more revenue streams) as it has matured in the App Store. Apple's App Store marketplace has gone from zero to billions in just the past few years, and no one's got an exact road map for where it's headed next.
[Source: TUAW]