The global app market will be worth £12.19bn in 2017, growing at an average rate of 17 per cent every year from revenue of £5.53bn in 2012.

Monetisation will still be best for developers using Apples App Store, the Mobile Application Report from Berg Insight said, while Windows Phone is touted as the third most lucrative marketplace by 2017, behind Google Play.

Annual app downloads will reach 108bn, having doubled from 29.5bn in 2011 to 60.1bn at the end of 2012. Android saw the most downloads during 2012 because of its popularity as a platform for third-party app stores, which are hugely popular in Asia.

“Every app can find its own way to success, but common strategies today among many of the top revenue generating app developers are to publish apps featuring a social layer on more than one platform using free to download monetisation,” said Johan Svanberg, senior analyst. “Like almost no other digital product, mobile apps represent a global opportunity with more or less instant worldwide distribution.”