The latest research from In-Stat forecasts rapid growth of the applications market, with total annual mobile application download revenue expected to hit $29 billion in 2015.

In-Stat said that the flooded application market presents both a great opportunity, as well as challenges, pricing pressure and a shift toward free applications, which will necessitate new revenue models.

“Largely spurred by the launch of the iPhone, mobile applications have been a strong growth market over the past several years. The number of applications available has exploded, which has sparked an increasing rate of downloads,” says Amy Cravens, senior analyst for In-Stat, in a press release. “As the market matures, developers and app stores must take innovative approaches and compete across multiple platforms to attract users. While the market will become more competitive in the coming years, there is a broad base of interested parties with a vested interest in promoting continued market growth.”

In-Stat projects mobile application downloads will approach 48 billion in 2015, with an average price per app under $2.50. Additionally, smartphones are expected to increase from 23 percent of total phone shipments in 2010 to over 45 percent in 2015, in turn driving the app market.