It is amazing how something as small as an App, short for Application, can generate so much income, especially when you consider they are used on a device as small as a smartphone or tablet. However, the Application business is big and growing as Apps become more complicated and are able to handle massive amounts of information. Apps are moving into the business world, as tablets become an important tool for the business community – especially the medical, engineering, educational and government fields. As the use of digital mobile devices expand, so does the need for Apps, which is changing the way corporations advertise to those customers.
This field is really growing in Canada according to an independent study done by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) with sponsorship contribution of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). We will touched on some of the highlights from that survey below:
The total number of App users is 2 billion worldwide and expected to surpass 5 billion by 2019 – in Canada, there are 21 million smartphones in Canada with 18 million App users – some of the heaviest users of mobile software and mobile data. There are about 64,100 jobs in the App field in Canada and this is expected to grow to 110,000 by 2019 and this is currently generating $1.7 billion and should grow to $5.2 billion by 2019.
With all of this usage and billions of dollars of income, App developers are still finding it hard to get funding. Most, 51-percent of Canada’s App enterprises rely on personal/family/angel funding to get started, 26-percent get their funding from other business streams, only 6-percent get venture capital, and 4-percent rely on public funding.
In Canada, Ontario is the hub of App development and represents 28,700 jobs located directly in Ontario while Quebec falls into second place with 14,000 jobs. 8,800 jobs are located in British Columbia, 6,600 in Alberta, 1,600 in Manitoba, 1,500 in Nova Scotia, 1,100 in New Brunswick, and 1,000 in Saskatchewan. What is nice about the App structure in Canada is that most of the money generated by the Apps is from within the same providence to the tune of 40-percent. 17-percent of the revenues are generated from other Canadian Providences and 28-percent are sourced from the U.S.
The digital and mobile platform have revolutionized the way businesses conduct marketing and the direction they are spending their money – less in print ads and more in digital media, such as paid Android app reviews. Apps enable Canadian businesses and organizations to deliver their product and services through these new channels. This trend will only continue to grow and as digital media expands, and with the Canadian Government’s interest and if the App developers can get more funding, the sky is the limit for Canada’s App development, job opportunities, and sales.