The projection comes from Citibank but this figure is conservative compared to Gartner's estimate that the global app market (with Apple sitting comfortably as the dominant player) was worth $4bn (?2.4bn) last year.

Apple currently takes a 30% cut off all paid apps on the store.

Recent figures show that there are now 200,000 different apps for Android devices while the newly launched Windows Phone 7 has around 5,000 apps.

Nokia recently revealed that its Ovi store is now delivering ...