INTRODUCTION

Africa stands at a remarkable crossroads of opportunity. Over the past two decades, the continent has not only experienced impressive economic growth but has also emerged as a global leader in digital transformation. Since the advent of the smartphone in 2007, Africa has made extraordinary strides in connectivity, innovation, and technological adoption. In 2007, fewer than 50 million Africans had mobile internet access; today, that number exceeds 600 million. Mobile money services, pioneered in Africa, now facilitate over $800 billion in transactions annually, transforming commerce and financial inclusion.

Africa’s economic trajectory further reinforces its promise. Led by Niger, African nations accounted for eleven of the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2024, with continent-wide GDP growth exceeding the global average by about one percentage point. Demographically, Africa is also the fastest-growing region, with the U.N. projecting that an additional one billion people will inhabit the continent by 2050. This growth presents both challenges and immense opportunities — particularly in the technology sector. By strategically investing in digital infrastructure, skills development, and regulatory frameworks that foster innovation, Africa can not only sustain its economic growth but also become a global technology powerhouse. But regulators and policymakers across Africa must foster this opportunity for growth with the right mix of regulatory frameworks and not make the mistakes others are making, such as the European Union.

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INTRODUCTION

The global App Economy was born 16 years ago, in July 2008, when Apple unveiled the first App Store. Soon after, Google opened the Android Market, which later became Google Play. In this way, Apple and Google created a whole new global market for mobile applications, leading to an unprecedented wave of mobile apps in gaming, entertainment, social media, finance, e-commerce, productivity, health, and other areas.

In addition to benefiting smartphone users, the App Economy has become a potent source of job growth worldwide and in Argentina. Starting from zero 16 years ago, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) estimates that Argentina’s App Economy includes 28,000 workers as of September 2024. These include workers who help develop, maintain, and support mobile applications and keep them safe and secure.

One of the hottest new areas of the App Economy has been the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to mobile apps. We will see a wide variety of AI-enabled mobile applications developed to improve efficiency and userfriendliness in areas such as health care, manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and government. Such applications of AI to mobile apps may be easier and quicker to develop than more massive “foundational” systems, such as ChatGPT and its competitors.

From the perspective of Argentina — which is fighting a serious economic downturn as of the date of this paper — this trend offers new opportunities for the country to participate in the global tech boom. President Javier Milei, who took office in December 2023, has been encouraging investment and hiring by global tech firms and positioning Argentina as a potential global AI hub. One way Milei’s effort could succeed is by using the combination of AI and the App Economy to help boost the IT sector

This paper takes an initial look at the potential convergence of AI and the App Economy in Argentina. First, the paper estimates the number of workers employed in Argentina’s App Economy, using a methodology we have applied globally. We estimate the size of the iOS and Android ecosystems and give examples of App Economy jobs in Argentina. Second, the paper estimates the number of workers employed in AI-related jobs in Argentina using the same methodology and gives examples of AI-related jobs. Third, the paper discusses how AI can help grow Argentina’s App Economy.

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INTRODUCTION

One of the triumphs of the Information Revolution is the ability to connect countries, consumers, and businesses around the world. Africa, in particular, is moving into a new stage of connectedness. The 2Africa underwater fiber cable, the world’s largest subsea cable system, is scheduled to be completed in 2024, connecting 30 or so North African and Sub-Saharan African countries with Europe and Asia, and doubling data capacity.

At the same time, data consumption and smartphone penetration have soared. For example, in Nigeria, data consumption rose by 38% in 2023, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the new data capacity will be Africa’s “App Economy.” The rapidly growing number of smartphone users will be able to more easily use mobile applications to download information and entertainment both domestically and globally.

More important, for Africa, the evolving App Economy is a potent source of future well-paying jobs. The App Economy includes those workers engaged with developing, updating, maintaining, and securing mobile apps, as well as the workers supporting the app developers. As the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) has shown in previous research, the App Economy is booming in many countries at various stages of economic development.

Now it’s Africa’s turn. Nigeria already has 45,000 App Economy jobs, according to PPI’s new estimate (presented in this paper). Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco have 51,000, 15,000, and 9,000 App Economy jobs, respectively. Much more growth is possible with the right policies.

None of these jobs existed 15 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008, in the middle of the global financial crisis. Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after. These app stores created a new route through which software developers in any country could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications — called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

The jobs generated by the app stores became an important part of the global economic expansion. Originally, apps were associated with games and social networks, but over the years, apps became critical to every area of the economy: Retail, travel, education, banking, health care, agriculture, and government.

More than that, app development and app stores became a key route by which young people can develop tech skills, either by building their own apps or helping develop apps for global markets. App development is a stepping-stone, if you will, to other aspects of the global digital economy.

In this pioneering paper, we estimate the number of App Economy jobs for two North Africa countries and two sub-Saharan countries where we have sufficient data to make reasonable estimates. We calculate the size of the iOS and Android ecosystems for these countries and compare them to peers adjusting for size. Finally, we also give some examples of App Economy jobs for these four countries, and touch on some policy implications for growth.

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INTRODUCTION

Since 2019, Canada’s digital sector has outperformed the rest of the national economy. The output of the information and communications sector has grown by 21%, compared to 5% for the economy as a whole. Data processing was up by 52% and computer systems design up by 39%.

Within the digital economy, mobile application development and support is a particularly important sector. Apps are no longer just about playing games or scrolling through social networks. Instead, people are using apps to connect with their health care providers, interact with their cars, and for banking and shopping. At the same time, mobile apps have become increasingly important to all sorts of businesses — apps to track trucks, to monitor energy systems and forestry operations. Moreover, artificial intelligence, low latency, and high bandwidth 5G connections, virtual/ mixed reality, Intensive data processing, and on-device machine learning will give rise to entire new categories of mobile applications.

All of this app development and support is a potent source of new jobs. In this paper we estimate 385,000 App Economy jobs for Canada, as of April 2024, up 47% since 2018. None of these jobs existed 16 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008. Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after. These app stores created a new route through which software developers could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications— called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

Moreover, app development and the app stores are a key route by which young people can develop tech skills and become an integral part of the global digital economy.

In addition to estimating the number of jobs in Canada’s App Economy, this paper also estimates the size of the iOS and Android ecosystems. We compare Canada’s App Economy with other industrialized countries. Finally, we also give some examples of App Economy jobs, with special attention to the geographic and industrial diversity of the App Economy.

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INTRODUCTION

What is the future of the global App Economy? The average person already spends hours each day on mobile applications, connecting with friends and relatives, watching news and entertainment, playing games, and doing daily tasks such as shopping and banking. People will use apps to interact with their cars, to connect with their health care. Artificial intelligence, low latency and high bandwidth 5G connections, virtual/mixed reality, intensive data processing, and on-device machine learning will give rise to entire new categories of mobile applications. Individuals and businesses will become ever-more dependent on mobile apps for their daily lives.

For Turkey, the evolving App Economy is a potent source of future jobs since developing, updating, maintaining and securing mobile apps is becoming even more important. Turkey already has 112,000 App Economy jobs, according to PPI’s new estimate (presented in this paper). None of these jobs existed 15 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008, in the middle of the global financial crisis.1 Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after.2 These app stores created a new route through which software developers could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications — called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

The jobs generated by the app stores became an important part of the global economic expansion. More than that, app development and the app stores became a key route by which young people can develop tech skills and became an integral part of the global digital economy.

In this paper we estimate the number of App Economy jobs for Turkey, as of August 2023. We calculate the size of the iOS and Android ecosystems for Turkey. We compare Turkey’s App Economy to other peer countries.

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INTRODUCTION

What is the future of the global App Economy? The average person already spends hours each day on mobile applications, connecting with friends and relatives, watching news and entertainment, playing games, and doing daily tasks such as shopping and banking. People will use apps to interact with their cars, to connect with their health care. Artificial intelligence, low latency and high bandwidth 5G connections, virtual/mixed reality, intensive data processing and on-device machine learning will give rise to entire new categories of mobile applications. Individuals and businesses will become ever-more dependent on mobile apps for their daily lives.

Australia is a key player in the evolving global App Economy. Australian-based app developers with a strong global presence include Sydneybased Canva, the online design and visual communication platform with more than 130 million monthly users across 190 countries. In 2022, Tasmania-based Savage Interactive won an Apple Design Award for its art app Procreate, and Melbourne-based Studio Drydock won for its game Wylde Flowers. Gold Coast-based Desygner, known for its graphic design apps and brand management software, has more than 20 million users worldwide. And Melbourne-based fintech app Afterpay, acquired by Block, the parent company of Square, in January 2022, is still hiring extensively in Australia, based on its job postings.

Looking forward, the Australian App Economy is a potent source of future jobs, since developing, updating, maintaining and securing mobile apps is becoming even more important. None of these jobs existed 15 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008, in the middle of the global financial crisis. Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after. These app stores created a new route through which software developers could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications —called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

The jobs generated by the app stores became an important part of the recovery from the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the subsequent economic expansion and the response to the pandemic. More than that, app development and the app stores became a key route by which young people can develop tech skills and became an integral part of the global digital economy.

In this paper we estimate 182,000 App Economy jobs for Australia, as of August 2023, and compare it to previous PPI estimates. We estimate the size of the iOS and Android ecosystems. We compare Australia’s App Intensity with other industrialized countries, where App Intensity is defined as the number of App Economy jobs as a share of total employment. Finally, we also give some examples of App Economy jobs, with special attention to export-oriented jobs.

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INTRODUCTION

Since 2019, employment in the EU App Economy has risen by 53%, to 2.9 million. That’s according to the latest estimate from the Progressive Policy Institute, presented in this paper. By comparison, U.S. App Economy employment was 2.6 million in 2022, a gain of 14% from 2019.

What accounts for this rapid increase in EU App Economy jobs? And to what extent is the App Economy creating new opportunities for women and other nontraditional groups to enter tech sector employment? Because of the lack of bias in the app store approval process, app development has become a key route by which women and young people across Europe can develop tech skills and become an integral part of the digital economy.

We note that none of these App Economy jobs existed 15 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008, in the middle of the global financial crisis. Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after. These app stores created a new route through which software developers could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications — called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

The jobs generated by the app stores became an important part of the recovery from the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the subsequent economic expansion. When the pandemic hit, the need to conduct life remotely supercharged the use of apps, and resulted in many new App Economy jobs in Europe.

This report describes some important aspects of the EU App Economy. We also examine app-related skills development, compare the female share of information and communications technology professionals in both the EU and the U.S., and give some examples of new opportunities in the App Economy.

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INTRODUCTION

It’s no surprise that the German automobile industry has joined the App Economy. As of May 2023, Bertrandt, a leading supplier to the auto industry, was looking for an iOS and Android App Developer in Munich to help conceive and develop next-generation mobile apps and connected car apps. Meanwhile, MBition, a Berlin-based subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, was looking for a Test Engineer for Mobile Apps Testing to help deliver the next generation of in-car infotainment software.

But the Germany App Economy is not just about automobiles. Blinkist, an app that finds impactful books and distills them down to their key ideas, was looking for a Senior iOS Engineer and an Android developer in Berlin. From manufacturing to books to health and everything between, the German App Economy includes 633,000 jobs. That’s according to the Progressive Policy Institute’s latest estimate, and it’s up 38% from our pre-pandemic 2019 estimate.

None of these jobs existed 15 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008, in the middle of the global financial crisis. Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after. These app stores created a new route through which software developers could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications — called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

The jobs generated by the app stores became an important part of the recovery from the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the subsequent economic expansion, and the response to the pandemic. More than that, app development and the app stores became a key route by which young people can develop tech skills and became an integral part of the digital economy.

This report describes some important aspects of the German App Economy. We also give some examples of App Economy jobs and skills development.

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INTRODUCTION

One of the hottest social media apps these days is Paris-based BeReal. Released in 2020, BeReal encourages users to share a photo of themselves and their immediate surroundings at a random time every day.

BeReal is more than a fun app: It’s also part of France’s dynamic App Economy, which is helping to drive the country’s job growth and the development of core IT skills. For example, as of May 2023, BeReal was looking to hire a QA Engineer to create automated testing for the company’s iOS and Android apps.

But the French App Economy is not just light-hearted entertainment. The Directorate General for Armaments (DGA), a directorate of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, was advertising for an “Ingénieur développeur iOS ou Android cybersécurité.” Indeed, such cybersecurity skills are essential to every part of the modern economy.

From social media to defense and health and manufacturing, and everything in between, the French App Economy includes 611,000 jobs. That’s according to the Progressive Policy Institute’s latest estimate, and it’s up 41% from our pre-pandemic 2019 estimate.

None of these jobs existed 15 years ago, when Apple first opened the App Store on July 10, 2008, in the middle of the global financial crisis. Android Market (which later became Google Play) was announced by Google shortly after. These app stores created a new route through which software developers could write programs for smartphones. These mobile applications — called “apps” — could then be distributed to the rapidly growing number of smartphone users around the world.

The jobs generated by the app stores became an important part of the recovery from the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the subsequent economic expansion, and the response to the pandemic. More than that, app development and the app stores became a key route by which young people can develop tech skills and became an integral part of the digital economy.

This report describes some important aspects of the French App Economy. We also give some examples of App Economy jobs and skills development.

Read the report in English and in French.