That's from a base of 32 billion app downloads, the firm predicts, up 38 percent from 2011's global total of 23 billion.
An eye on eyeballsIn short, the more time and money consumers spend on apps, the more advertisers will look to target them through the titles themselves.
"Advertisers chase eyeballs so the fact that brands spend more on in-app advertising than the mobile web is a clear sign that apps are what consumers are glued to for an increasing range of activities," said director of wireless media strategies David MacQueen.
"In the eyes of many advertisers, web browsing on the smartphone is playing second fiddle to the app economy."
Apps are now the second largest category for revenues (both in terms of consumers and advertiser spend) according to Strategy Analytics projections, expected to account for 18.9 percent of all consumer revenues on mobile in 2012.
[source: Strategy Analytics]
