Gartner: As of September 2012, global mobile phone application downloads reached 45.6 billion, 89% of which were free applications

Market research company Gartner released a latest survey report. The report shows that the number of mobile phone application downloads worldwide has reached 45.6 billion since 2012. Among them, 40.6 billion, or 89%, are free applications. There are only about 500 million paid applications.

The total number of downloads in 2011 was only 25 billion, of which free downloads accounted for 88.4%. The report believes that comparing the two years' data shows that the number of free application downloads by global mobile users has increased significantly.

The report states that most users are unwilling to pay too much to download an app. About 90% of paid apps are priced below $3. And compared to buying a full version of an app, users are more inclined to buy a free version and then purchase extended services as needed.

The report also said that by 2016, such in-app purchases will account for about 41% of app revenue, and in-app downloads will account for 30% of total app downloads. However, compared with the total number, paid app downloads are still relatively small. It is expected that by 2016, the total number of app downloads will reach 310 billion, of which 93% will be free apps.