THE APP ECONOMY IN INDIA
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the most visible part of the App Economy, but
not the most important. Mobile apps include
such key uses as shopping applications, home
banking programs, smart automobile interfaces,
healthcare apps for monitoring patients,
and sophisticated apps for running
manufacturing plants.
The innovative design of the App Store lowered
the barriers to entry for mobile app developers
all around the world. It created a low-cost
mechanism for distributing apps to users
that allowed even the smallest of software
developers to reap global economies of scale.
In an important sense, the App Store was a key
step in fostering a global entrepreneurial culture.
At the same time, large companies have realized
that mobile apps are the new “front door” to
their business, a way of reaching customers and
potential customers. Similarly, we have reached
a tipping point where more and more people of
all income levels have smartphones, allowing
governments and nonprots to use mobile apps
to deliver social services and as an interface
for important citizen interactions. This change,
while slow, has reached a tipping point.
Today, the growth of the App Economy
workforce in a country reflects how quickly
that country is embracing the next stage of
the Information Revolution, which depends on
mobile technology to digitize physical industries
such as manufacturing and healthcare. Looking
forward, the growth of the App Economy is likely
to continue, as people increasingly use mobile
apps as their interface to their home, cars,
schools, and healthcare providers. Indeed, the
rise of the Internet of Things will guarantee the
need for more and more highly functional and
sophisticated apps, serving an essential role in
interacting with our environment.
MEASURING THE APP ECONOMY
As the App Economy grows in signicance
globally, it becomes essential to have a
consistent set of App Economy job estimates so
that policymakers can compare their country’s
performance with that of other countries.
However, ofcial economics statistics do not
provide an easy way to measure the size of the
App Economy.
In response, PPI developed a methodology
based on a systematic analysis of online job
postings. In particular, we look for job postings
that call for app-related skills such as knowledge
of iOS or Android. This methodology can be
applied to a wide variety of countries, languages,
and economic environments.
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Our goal is to produce a set of globally-
consistent and credible estimates for App
Economy employment by individual countries, by
broad geographical regions, and in some cases
by major cities. The ultimate objective is to be
able to track the growth of the App Economy
globally, and to see which countries are
benetting the most. Ideally, we should be able
to link App Economy growth to policy measures
implemented by governments.
For this study, a worker is in the App Economy
if he or she is works in:
• An information and communications
technology (ICT) related job that uses App
Economy skills— the ability to develop,
maintain, or support mobile applications. We
will call this a “core” App Economy job. Core
App Economy jobs include app developers;
software engineers whose work requires
knowledge of mobile applications; security
engineers who help keep mobile apps safe
from being hacked; and help desk workers
who support use of mobile apps.