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Over the past few years the mobile app market has expanded by a massive amount. It seems like almost every day some new must have app is released. Once downloaded to your smartphone these simple applications allow you to do all kinds of things, like posting to your Twitter account, check train times or order a book from Amazon. Apple has served over five billion downloads from its iPhone App Store and has over a quarter of a million apps available. GetJar is an third party mobile store which offers over 70,000 applications and has served over a billion downloads to date. Android, an alternative operating system from Google, which is utilized by a wide number of mobile phones from different manufacturers presently has well over 60,000 applications available in the Android Marketplace.

The latest figures suggest that more than 21 billion mobile apps will have been downloaded by 2013. Although more than three quarters of these downloads will be for free apps which often include adverts to bring in revenue. Ad supported apps clearly work as they're thought to generate as a lot as 25% of some mobile applications store revenue.

With this sort of sharp growth in the number of smartphones being sold it's no wonder that a seemingly endless number of apps are being developed, with every app store having even more extraordinary figures of growth than the last. The figures sound good, although it is common practice in the business to count each version of the same app as seperate items. And you will find several other methods that figures are made to sound more impressive than they are as every app store fights it out for the biggest market share. Many apps are also given away to persuade consumers to purchase products both online and offline, which range from discount coupons to a new car. And as the amount of large brands entering the mobile marketplace this number is probably going to continue growing.

The profitability mobile app coders is consequently difficult to understand because the numbers are inflated by apps for branding. Developers get up to 70% of the income from each application sold through the App Store and Apple have taken over one billion dollars in earnings since launching in 2008. The mobile app market is estimated to be worth over thirty billion dollars over the next few years. And while some developers like Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds are doing well, most apps will never really take off. Some developers do extremely well and then disappear when the latest trend comes along. Mobile games like Plants vs Zombies or applications which allow you to interact with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter seem to have the longest shelf life.

Advertising your app is extremely important if you want to make great sales. And whilst mobile apps are becoming more and more attractive to larger developers due to massive growth within the marketplace, this is sure to make it more difficult for the smaller developers. The present trend seems to be for free aps as well as branding for large companies, the number of which are sure to grow significantly over the next few years.

Elizabeth Williams is a freelance writer and an avid gamer. Among other things she runs Play Angry Birds. The blog has the full Angry Birds Walk Through for people who are stuck on the game. They also cover the latest news on the game and post walkthrough videos when they hit the web.

Gaming on mobile phones has seen a huge growth in recent years because of the increasing number of mobile phone handsets on sale. Cell phones now boast bigger displays and powerful components that will produce a gaming experience similar to games consoles or computers.

Mobile games are appealing to developers considering that they are significantly cheaper to create when compared to smash hit like Half Life. They are also less difficult to distribute considering that they are bought and downloaded online from retailers like iTunes as well as the Amazon App Store. This allows smaller developers to generate games with out the want to rely on huge publishers to manage their distribution.

Mobile games are cheaper to buy for end users compared to the cost of consoles and are typically sold for no more than a few dollars. They are also far more convenient for some gamers because they can be easily downloaded and installed with little technical expertise required. You'll be able to play a mobile game any place you can use a phone, meaning gaming on the run is now possible without the need to carry an additional device.

The number of girls who play games on phones is also increasing swiftly and they are the fastest growing section of users. In just a few years video games have started to get rid of their geeky image and are being enjoyed by an increasingly wider user base on a considerably wider range of platforms.

There are far more developers than ever entering the mobile market and analysts estimate the industry is going to be worth over fifteen billion dollars in 2015. Rovio has sold over six million copies of Angry Birds, currently the best selling iPhone app ever. Quicky to learn but tricky to master, this fun mobile game has turn out to be a global phenomenon and is a wonderful example of just how large mobile gaming has turned out to be.

Although some believe that the mobile market will become bigger than the console marketplace, it's unlikely that consoles will disappear altogether. For starters, the casual gamer who plays games on their smartphone or on Facebook is different to the hardcore game player who plays on their computer or PS3. Games have also become a social event where friends or family members can dance, sing or exercise together in their living rooms which is some thing mobile can't replace. Graphically intensive games like Half Life 2 also have a much higher level of immersion than a mobile with limited screen space will ever be able to achieve.

Mary Jones is a freelance author and a lifelong player of video games. She currently runs Angry Birds Game. The blog has the full Angry Birds Seasons Walkthrough for people who want to beat their high scores. They also blog about the latest news on the game and update level guides as soon as they come out.