As early players such as Zynga begin to be overtaken by newcomers such as King, the mobile app market is continuing to grow at an astounding rate. Through Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Play Store, mobile apps are quickly becoming a business worth billions.

Analyst firm ABI Research this week predicted that the mobile app market will reach a value of $27 billion this year. The firm pointed out that apps are a major factor in consumer choices over mobile operating systems, and that BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8 have a long way to go to catch iOS and Android.

“iOS continues to lead the way, and the OS is projected to generate over two-thirds of the revenues for smartphone and tablet apps in 2013,” said Josh Flood senior analyst with ABI. “Although Google’s Android OS recently surpassed Apple in terms of total app numbers, iOS users continue to prove they’re more willing to depart with their cash. The revenue gap between the two leading OSes looks unlikely to close over the next 18 months.”

ABI has also predicted that app revenues from tablet apps with begin to catch up with revenues from smartphones, which are still far higher. The analyst firm predicts that tablet app revenue will overtake smartphone app revenue by 2017, largely due to higher prices being charged for tablet apps.

(Image courtesy Cristiana Betta through Creative Commons license)