Mobile Internet revenues will grow to $1.55 trillion in 13 countries that represent about 70 percent of global GDP from $700 billion with an annual increase of 23 percent, said The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

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Mobile Internet revenues in India are growing at 40 percent a year.

In China and Brazil, mobile Internet revenues are growing at an annual rate of 25 percent. In Japan and South Korea, mobile Internet revenues are growing at 10 percent a year.

The Google commissioned analysis report said the single largest contributor to mobile Internet revenue growth in the next several years will be the apps, content, and services component of the ecosystem, driven by the expansion of mobile shopping and advertising.

The perceived value that consumers themselves believe they receive over and above what they pay for devices, applications, services, and access is about $4,000 a year, or seven times what consumers pay for devices and access. The mobile Internet’s consumer surplus across 13 countries is nearly $3.5 trillion a year.

The largest aggregate consumer surplus is in the U.S. ($827 billion), followed by China ($680 billion). On a per capita basis, consumers in Japan, Germany, France, and Australia all enjoy mobile Internet surpluses of more than $6,000 per year.

Dominic Field, a BCG partner, said: “Increasing mobile access everywhere is leading to new uses of the Internet — in fields from banking to education and from health care to the delivery of public services — further propelling growth.”

As recently as 2010, the BlackBerry and Symbian platforms accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales in the 13-country sample; they now represent less than 5 percent.

Today, Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android OS, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS are fighting for market share while keeping an eye on newer entrants, such as Amazon’s Fire OS, Nokia’s X platform, Xiaomi MIUI, Firefox OS, and Tizen, which are further augmenting user choice and competition.

There have been more than 200 billion cumulative downloads from the various app stores since the first app was developed in 2008. More than 100 billion downloads took place in 2013 alone. Leading app-store operators paid developers more than $15 billion between June 2013 and July 2014.

Paul Zwillenberg, a BCG partner, said: “The advent of more affordable phones — those costing $100 or less — will drive both greater penetration and new uses.”

He noted that while only about 20 percent of smartphone shipments in 2013 comprised devices priced below $100.

Baburajan K
[email protected]