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Mobile app development growing rapidly: Study

In a recent iPhoneAppQuotes.com study that polled developers, 34 percent of respondents claimed their entire business now comprises iPhone application development.

The study found that mobile application development is growing rapidly along with the high-revenue generating market it has created. In fact, it is estimated that iPhone application developers generate between $140 million and $250 million quarterly from their 70 percent cut of App Store sales, according to Bernstein Research.

?More people getting into the space means more competition,? said Gregg Weiss, founder of iPhoneAppQuotes.com, Royal Palm Beach, FL. ?The App Store seems to be growing exponentially by the day.

?Visibility can be an issue because once you are in, you are one in a million,? he said. ?Mobile marketing is going to be a big differentiator among applications.

?You can hire a developer, but just like anything else, if you don?t spend the time to market it and have a strong strategy of how you are going to drive sales to your app, you will not succeed.?

IPhoneAppQuotes.com is a connector for businesses and entrepreneurs who are in search of an iPhone application developer. The online resource provides quotes for building custom iPhone and iPod touch applications for free.

The company's survey showed that 42 percent of application developers have between two and five employees on staff.

Because of this brand new market, small businesses are thriving.

Thirty-nine percent average growth was experienced by most developers from adding mobile application development to their business models, according to the iPhoneAppQuotes.com survey.

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Statistics like that should stand out to marketers who are looking to expand their business models.

?The whole thing is that this didn?t exist 18 months ago, while we were in a recession,? Mr. Weiss said. ?I?m always hearing people say that we?re in a recession and that everything is either at a stand-still or going downhill.

?In my mobile niche, I don?t see that and I think these statistics would agree,? he said.

Seventy-one percent of respondents said that they generate most of their sales leads through referrals.

Just like in any business, networking and connections play a big role in the mobile application development industry.

Survey results also indicated that 60 percent of respondents were involved in custom application and site development before they ever started working on iPhone applications.

?I think the app development growth is only going to continue,? Mr. Weiss said. ?Over the last six months, Android and BlackBerry apps have basically been riding the coat-tails of the iPhone apps and those numbers really dwarf what Apple has been able to achieve.

?However, Google is not a player to be taken lightly,? he said. ?I think you?ll continue to see Google expand in that market, and developers who started out just doing iPhone apps will be offering Android or BlackBerry development.?