The headline figure of 183 billion apps downloaded annually by 2015 might have drawn attention to IDC's latest report on the mobile market, but it was the firm's assessment that in-app purchases (IAP) would be behind such growth that offered the most interest.

That's a stance Canalys supports, with the firm's projection of $14.1 billion of direct revenue from app stores in 2012 owing much to the new forms of monetisation employed by developers.

As detailed in the firm's latest report, both IAPs and subscription models will have a major role to play in generating revenue alongside the sale of the apps themselves in the coming years.

Getting carried away

Canalys claims its revenue projection for 2012 will represent a rise of 92 percent over the $7.3 billion generated in 2011.

What's more, said growth will continue, reaching $36.7 billion in 2015. That represents a four year compound annual growth rate of just under 50 percent.

It's the belief of Canalys, however, that it's not only the platform holders – Apple, Google, Microsoft and the like – that will enjoy the fruits of this growth. Operators will soon also have a major role to play.

"The leading stores already have hundreds of thousands of apps, so it’s hard for operators to compete with those numbers," said analyst Tim Shepherd.

"On the other hand, too much choice brings serious problems in terms of application discovery for both developers and users, which operators can turn to their advantage."

Breaking down walls

Carriers have long been dogged by concerns they've become little more than dumb pipes, but to date, few if any have fully been able to exploit the rise of the app.

The majority of downloads are currently made on marketplaces run by platform holders, or third parties.

Shepherd believes that's a situation that will change, largely because the opportunity of bringing consumers closer to their respective brands will be an opportunity most carriers can't resist.

“Some operators are concerned that having their own branded app stores will appear as a throwback to the "walled gardens" of the past," added Shepherd.

"While consumers would probably object to operators installing their app stores in place of vendor ones, there is no reason for operators not to pre-install their app stores alongside vendor stores to compete on user experience."

[source: Canalys]