For mobile applications, these platforms provide the answer to the question every business owner asks when getting their app developed, “How much money can an app make?”
While there is no definite answer to this exact query, the current projections indicate that the future for mobile apps is on the right trajectory, and it seems that the growth rate is only going to increase in 2020.
Once you’ve chosen a platform and made that decision, how you monetize your application to make millions or even billions is an important strategic decision. For this, we’ve chosen three of the most used revenue models across the industry that you can choose based on your niche.
One-time payment (Premium Apps):
Premium mobile applications charge a one-time download fee on the Google play store on the iOS app store from its users. While there is a general belief that premium apps don’t make money because users don’t want to spend, that’s actually untrue. In 2017, Paid apps accounted for nearly $250 Billion in revenue.
Education apps are a well-performing category within the paid apps category. Take, for example, WolframAlpha, who uses its computational intelligence to come up with answers for mathematical queries and chemistry-related problems.
In just Alpha made $20,000 in revenue through downloads. Standing at 1,000,000+ downloads on Play store alone, the application is a powerhouse in the educational category.
1) In-App Purchases (Freemium Apps):
In-App purchases are a great way to generate revenue through applications. It allows users to download the application and use its features for free while putting up a paywall on some premium features.
One such application that uses In-app purchases for revenue generation is Fortnite. In , Fortnite made $203 million in revenue, even though the game remains free to play for users.
2) Subscription model (Recurring Payments):
The subscription model is well known in the industry with applications from services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon being popular operators in this niche.
In this category, Netflix stands as a giant with $5.2 Billion in revenue as of the third quarter of 2019. Similar applications in this category include Pandora, the music streaming application that uses a similar subscription model.
This trend showcases the power mobile applications have in 2020 and how they can help business owners earn money through the digital landscape.
Which Type Of Apps Have The Potential To Make Money In 2021?
Gaming Applications are the largest contributors to global app revenue. The 2018 iOS App Store mobile app revenue exceeded the $33 Billion es stood at $21.5 Billion.
The total growth of revenue in the first half of 2019 was 11.3%, with a total of$29.6 Billion. The advances in gaming technology like better graphics, control, and Gameplay, and the rise of e-sports are seen as some of the major contributing factors for this boom in the mobile games industry. According to MediaKix, 56% of mobile gamers play games more than 10 times a week, showcasing the addictive nature of this mobile-based entertainment avenue.
Gaming Applications accounted for 77% of the total app revenue in 2018, with the gross mobile game revenue standing at $54.7 Billion. The AR-based game “Pokemon Go” grossed over $3 billion in revenue in 2019, while Clash of Clans’ monthly revenue rose to reach $22 million in .
On the other hand, E-commerce mobile apps have also been on the rise for a long time, and if existing data is any indicator, the rise is not going to slow down any 
time soon. The growing tendency among the younger demographic to buy online has contributed significantly to the rise of this sector in apps. By 2021, experts have estimated that the US mobile commerce sales will amount to more than $3 Trillion.