Apps are as popular in Sweden as in the U.S. Swedes spend as much as 670 million SEK ($100 million) a year on apps for their smartphones. But according to the study made by Sifo for Tele 2, it is just a small number of users that buy apps. Two of three Swedish smartphone users don�t buy any apps at all. And among those who do buy them, most spend no more than ten SEK ($1.50) a month. Apps for games, banking, and social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the most popular to download. Research also shows that men spend more money on apps than women. 40% of the men said they pay at least 10 SEK ($1.50) a month on apps, whereas among women the percentage was 27.

According to an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal app stores run by Apple and Google now offer more than 700,000 apps each. These two large suppliers are expected to keep a 90% share of all downloads for the foreseeable future. Tech researcher Gartner Inc., in its latest Mobile App Store Forecast, expects the global revenue from app stores to rise 45% this year from $18 billion in 2012 to a whopping $26 billion in 2013. The increase in downloads? From 64 billion in 2012 to an estimated 102 billion in 2013.