Phone app market growing

Consumers will spend more than $4.2 billion on apps in 2013, up from $343 million this year, research firm Yankee group says, as smartphones become ubiquitous and app prices rise. The average smartphone owner "downloads about 20 apps per year," says Carl Howe, director of consumer research. "It's a bigger market than a lot of people have been thinking." Half of newspaper and magazine publishers say that smartphones will become a vital distribution channel in three years, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reports. Only 42% are as upbeat about e-book readers. Gamemakers also like sales trends for iPhones, BlackBerrys and phones based on Google's Android operating system.