A recent market report from the technology analyst firm Screen Digest predicts “in-app” upsell purchases will soon rise to become the majority of all sales from the mobile app market world wide. Citing recent data, the firm expects in-app sales to generate 64% of all app revenue by 2015, a significant jump up from the 39% of 2011 and a trend toward ‘free to buy with paid upgrades’ apps as the predominant business model in mobile software development.

This news comes on the heels of recent sales data that shows in-app purchases will have a combined value of more than 5.6 billion dollars in 2015, which is a very respectable revenue stream when one considers the fact that 96% of all mobile apps were downloaded for free in 2011.

“In 2012, it will become increasingly difficult for app stores and developers to justify charging an upfront fee for their products when faced with competition from a plethora of free content” said Jack Kent, senior analyst of mobile media at Screen Digest and author of the groundbreaking report. “Instead, the apps industry must fully embrace the freemium model and monetize content through in-app purchases.”

In-App purchasing includes everything from buying ‘bonus levels’ in games like Angry Birds to unlocking increased functionality in weight-loss programs, business efficiency software or higher quality versions of multi-media materials.

The door is now wide open for many of the same business opportunities that have existed online already: monthly recurring billing, installment plan billing, in-app upsells and cross-sale offers – maximizing revenue from new content will require state of the art processing and billing expertise.

AppBilling.com has years of experience in the mobile processing field with a wide range of developer tools designed to simplify the path to in-app billing success. contact Sales@AppBilling.com today to discuss the specifics of your mobile application and the many ways we can assist you in your efforts to maximize the return on your investment today.