It’s tough to make a living as a mobile developer, but there’s a market that’s just about to explode: the enterprise. There is a tremendous pent-up demand for enterprise mobile apps, and the enterprise offers the highest pay for developers, but as of yet, most mobile developers have ignored it.
A survey by Vision Mobile found that only 16% of developers build enterprise mobile apps, even though it’s the most lucrative mobile market. It revealed that developers who target enterprises are twice as likely to earn more than $5,000 per app per month, and nearly three times as likely to earn more than $25,000 per app per month, compared to those who don’t target enterprises.
Chris Marsh, Principal Analyst of 451 Research, says in a blog that enterprise apps are in essence in their infancy, and concludes, “The majority of companies have only a handful, if that, of mobile applications, although appetite and budgets are growing.”
The Enterprise Market Is About to Explode
eWeek’s Chris Preimesberger has put together a compelling slide show that argues that the enterprise app market is on the point of exploding. He concludes, “Researchers insist the (enterprise) market is about to explode. With the largely untapped potential of mobile enterprise apps, smart developers need to move quickly to cash in on what may be a pending gold rush.”
He cites research from Strategic Analytics that concludes that the mobile enterprise app market will grow from $31 billion in 2012 to $61 billion in 2018. There are a number of reasons for this. One is the penetration of tablets into the enterprise market. Gartner estimates that by 2017, some 70 percent of mobile workers will use tablets. Another Gartner report concludes that half of all business processes involving human tasks will soon require mobile-enabled, near-real-time responses. Preimesberger also reports that “Commissioned development is, by far, the most lucrative revenue model in the business and productivity sector, bringing on average $67,000 per app per month.”
The upshot? If you’re looking to increase your revenue, the consumer market may be the obvious first choice, but if you really want to follow the money, you should head to the enterprise.
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