‘App economy’ could be worth €63bn in 5 years

Businesses and individuals developing and selling smartphone and computer apps in the EU earned €17.5bn last year, a figure that could rise to €63bn in just five years.

However, while the developer workforce could grow from 1m to 2.8m by 2018, when additional support and marketing staff are included, jobs supported by the “app economy” could increase from 1.8m to 4.8m in the same five-year period.

The figures emerge from research for the EU Commission, as part of the Eurapp project run by John Breslin of NUI Galway’s Insight Centre for Data Analytics and Giagom Research.