2016 State of Mobile App Developers Survey

InMobi released the STATE OF MOBILE APP DEVELOPERS 2016, a survey on 1000+ app developers. Here are the highlights and at the end of the article you’ll also find a link to where you can download the full report:

• The majority of app developers are males, only 6% of our respondents describe themselves as female.
•  46 percent of developers globally are between 25-34 years old and the average age is 33.
• Most developers are new in the business, only 34% have been making apps for more than 4 years.
• 80% of development firms are independent developers or companies with up to 5 people.

• Games, Entertainment & Utility apps still reign as popular categories among developers.

• When asked about the platform they are currently developing apps for, Android is by far the most popular platform among developers (86%), followed by Apple iOS (57%). Developer mindshare varies by region, Androids lead being more clear in Asia and Europe, while in North America the two main platforms are pretty close.
• Java is the preferred programming language along with Swift rising in popularity.

• App business is a hard business with 55% of developers making $1000/month and the monthly average mobile app revenue globally being under $6000. Checkout below how it’s broke down by company size.

• The average monthly per-app revenue is in the range of $5k to $11k depending on the platform. Windows Phone is the highest money-maker at $11.4k per month per app, because the market is not fragmented and it’s still less competition. Those that develop for Apple iOS make an average $8.1k per month per app, while for Android, the average revenue is $4.9k per month per app.
• Marketing is the most challenging aspect for app developers 43% stating so, followed by design with 21%. Getting the app discovered is the biggest challenge that every app marketer faces.

• Advertising is the preferred way to make money, 7 out of 10 app developers using it to monetize their apps currently. 18% of them plan to use mobile advertising in future. 45% of developers used banner ads to monetize their ad inventory, followed by interstitial ads with 36%.

• There’s room to grow with wearable apps, as other areas of human life will begin to get monitored. Only 6% of developers have created apps on wearables and 32% of developers are more likely to build apps on wearables in the future.

If you would like to get access to the full 54 pages survey, please head to: https://www.inmobi.com/insights/download/whitepapers/state-of-mobile-app-developers-2016/. Are the findings of this report in line with what you’re experiencing? Please share with us in comments.