Apps & Software

Where Do All Those Mobile Apps Come From?

Paul Ausick

Published: November 18, 2016 12:20 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:38 pm

In June of 2008, there were a grand total of 800 apps at Apple’s App store from which an iPhone user could choose. Just over five years later, in October 2013, the number of iPhone apps reached a million. Three years later, the number doubled again to reach 2 million.

Android, the other major mobile platform, reached 2.4 million apps at its Google Play store at the end of September 2016. Android, which first shipped on a smartphone in October 2008, reached 1 million apps at about the same time as Apple iOS did.

iOS and Android combine to dominate the smartphone platform market with nearly 98% of the total global market. A Pew Research study published this past February reported that 87% of adults use the internet and 69% own a smartphone. By comparison, a median of 54% of people across 21 developing and emerging countries reported using the internet and 37% reported owning a smartphone.

When it comes to developing those millions of apps for smartphone and internet users, the single city that leads in the technical development of new apps is Bengaluru, India, a big city in a developing nation. Also known as Bangalore, the city’s population is estimated to top 11.5 million, making it the country’s third-largest city, trailing only Mumbai and Delhi.

Bengaluru is also one of the global leaders in non-technical app development, where app development is outsourced from one company to another.

Based on data collected by Flurry Analytics from its own usage data, Flurry has named the top 10 world cities for technical app development and the top 10 for non-technical development.

First the 10 top cities for technical development:

1. Bengaluru
2. Taipei
3. London
4. Delhi
5. Tokyo
6. San Francisco Bay area
7. Beijing
8. Moscow
9. New York City
10. Hong Kong

The non-technical top 10 where outsourcing is at its highest levels are:

1. San Francisco Bay area
2. London
3. Bengaluru
4. Hong Kong
5. Delhi
6. Mumbai
7. Tel Aviv
8. Paris
9. Seattle
10. Moscow

With three cities in one list and two in the other, India could easily lay claim to the app-making hub of the global industry.