A new report from the Progressive Policy Institute shows the number of Australians employed in the app industry has increased by 11 per cent since 2014, to a total of 113,000 currently working in the field today.
The Rise of the Australian App Economy points to the launch of the iPhone and App store as the start of what has become “an important source of employment and economic growth” in Australia.
More than 56,000 people are employed in the “App Economy” in New South Wales, 29,000 in Victoria, and 14,500 in Queensland, according to the report.
The report also calculates a thing called “app Intensity”, which is the number of App Economy jobs in a country, as a percentage of total jobs in that country. Australia has an App Intensity of 0.9 per cent. Europe is at 0.8 per cent, while the US lags behind at 1.1 per cent.
“The Australian App Economy is remarkably diverse, both in industry and geography,” PPI Chief Economic Strategist Michael Mandel said. “A surprisingly broad range of enterprises are searching for workers across the country who have the ability to design, develop, maintain or support mobile applications.”
The report points to some standout apps that highlight this diversity – Fruit Ninja, the second most downloaded game in the history of the App Store; Workyard, a construction app for sourcing subcontractors for construction projects; Procreate, a painting app; and Canva, an iOS app and web-based application for graphic design all get a shoutout.
Also highlighted are Streaks, a to-do list app that helps you form good habits; Zova, an app to help you fit short, achievable exercises into every week; emojifit Diabetes, which uses emoji to communicate type 2 Diabetes information to disadvantaged populations; and HeadCheck, which helps parents and coaches recognise the signs and symptoms of concussion in children.
And If you want to get in on the action, Apple are trying to make it as easy as possible with a whole bunch of new tools. There’s ARKit, a new platform for developers to build apps that let users place virtual content on top of real-world scenes; CoreML, which implements machine learning within the apps; SiriKit for Siri integration; HomeKit support; and MusicKit for integrating Apple Music features.
For those who are a little younger or just starting out, Swift Playgrounds and Today at Apple classes are your best bet.
[PPI]