You know what's better than 80 billion? 160 billion.
That's how much app downloads are expected to grow from 2013 to 2017, according to a report by Juniper Research. There two major things that factor into this absurd number: one, that smartphones are picking up steam around the world, as they are now cheaper and less exclusive devices; the second is the phone equivalent of a shopping spree—free apps. Games are expected to get downloaded 64 billion times, since, according to the report, they are downloaded so often to kill "dead time." This ends up leaving most games with a low "engagement time," meaning, if someone gets bored or frustrated, they can easily look up another free game and move on to that one.
If you're itching to get to that 160 billion mark more quickly, check out our Best Apps of 2013 so far, to see what you've been missing.
[viaWired UK]
