App economy expected to double by 2017 to $151 billion

The combined value of paid apps, app-enabled purchases of goods and services and in-app advertising is expected to double to $151 billion in the U.S. by 2017, AppNation said.

The research shows that the largest segment of the so-called app economy is sales of app-enabled physical goods and services, which made up about $45 billion of the nearly $60 billion total at the start of 2013. By the middle of this year, the $60 billion total reached about $72 billion, which is expected to more than double to $151 billion in 2017. AppNation said paid app downloads are a sliver of the total, accounting for less than $1 billion in 2013 and rising to just above $1 billion in 2017.