Sale of online 'apps' to exceed $1bn?

The surge in the sale of smart phones has seen a knock-on effect; the sale of virtual goods and add-ons such as online games, phone apps and digital gifts is set to exceed USD$1 billion over the course of 2009.

The report, written by games analysts Justin Smith and Charles Hudson, only includes goods and items that can be sold as data. As such, it states that 2009 sales are set to be double that of 2008 and will double again next year.

With such a lucrative market, it is no surprise to learn that Facebook is updating its gift store so it offers a wider variety of virtual presents, as online gifts and apps prove even more popular with social network users.

Networkers and gamers

It is not just Facebook users sending each other presents and iPhone users downloading the latest apps that is responsible for such a boom in the market. The online gaming world is a massive source of revenue with gamers spending hundreds of dollars in real currency to buy virtual currency and items to ensure their characters have the best resources to hand.

This gaming culture has been picked up by the likes of Facebook, with games such as Farmville being an attractive lure and entertaining pastime for many. As such, firms specialising in such add-ons such as Zynga, Playdom and Playfish are all growing fast and seeing hefty profits.

Unsurprisingly, this has seen many developers make new programs from home with business plans revolving around around writing apps for iPhones, selling them and then when it becomes a hit, your company.

With Apple's App Store downloads exceeding one billion and with more than 40 million iPhone and iPod touches sold in the past two year, not to mention more smart phones coming on the market... it's a booming sector.

The figures in the report deal only with sales in the US. Introducing the report, the authors said: "While virtual goods have been driving revenues in Asia and Europe for years, 2009 will be remembered as the year virtual goods-based businesses began to scale in the United States."

 

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