The rise of application ecosystems has definitely put the United States in the driver’s seat, a place that was earlier dominated by Europe. Nonetheless, Europe’s contribution towards to application revenue is second globally, with the US at the top spot. With increasing competition from emerging markets, Europe has to take stern measures in order to regain its position in this segment.
The massive economic crisis that has haunted the European nations for the past few years has had a major impact on the labor market. In the southern parts of Europe, unemployment rates crossed 25 percent. In spite of this, the app economy in this part of the world has been growing at a brisk pace. Europe continues to be a major force in the application ecosystem and is directly responsible for providing employment to over half a million people.
How Are Things Going?
While the overall European economy has been under a great deal of pressure owing to the financial crisis, the app economy has been growing exponentially since 2008. It is estimated that the global revenue from applications and app-related purchases reached $56 billion in 2012, with over 25 percent of it being generated solely from Europe.
A report said that the boon in application sector resulted in around 530,000 jobs only in the eu28 countries. Due to an increase in the application domain, adjacent industries such as healthcare, finance and education among others have also contributed generously in boosting the employment rate.
As of now, a majority of the jobs related to direct app economy are technical-based. However, as this market matures, it is expected to create more jobs in other fields like marketing, customer relations, human resources and finance. A little over 150,000 people have been working as freelancers and made a healthy contribution towards the European app economy. App developers are experimenting with new ideas and later developing them into fully functional applications.
What Does It Mean To You?
In addition to the direct benefits brought to developers and stakeholders, applications also add to the social and economic advantages. The list of benefits is almost endless. Smartphone and related applications have opened up possibilities that were deemed impossible prior to the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. The European app economy will continue to grow as more users and developers are added.
According to this report, the fastest growing regions are Asia and Latin America. Although the Smartphone adoption rate is quite low in these regions, they are soon catching up with the likes of United States and the UK. The Smartphone adoption rate in Europe is among the highest in the world, at 50 percent. European developers will be keen to tap the potential of this domain.
