The app industry is growing up.
Consumers downloaded 11% more apps on Christmas Day this year than on Dec. 25, 2012, according to data from app analytics group Flurry. While that still makes for a record number of downloads, it is markedly slower growth than seen in recent years -- an indication that the near-exponential growth of app sales in previous years will most likely never return.
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"The slowing growth rates and smaller Christmas Day app download spike signal market maturation," Mary Ellen Gordon, director of industry insight and analytics at Flurry wrote in a blog post. "Fewer people are coming online with mobile for the very first time. Consumers who are on second, third or fourth devices have apps that they like and trust, and while they still download new apps, there isn’t much more impetus to do so on Christmas than any other day when they have a little downtime."
The slowing growth of Christmas Day app downloads also indicates a shift in the demographics of new mobile users. Those receiving their first mobile devices now tend to live in countries where Christmas is not a major holiday, meaning they are less likely to contribute to the day's download spike, Gordon notes.
The app market was worth about $53 billion in 2012 and is on pace to balloon to $143 billion by 2016, according to data from market analysis firm VisionMobile. The decline of PC sales and the explosion of mobile device consumption has helped spur growth in the app industry, which has led to jockeying between Apple and Google for control of the market.
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