Of course, notes Orr, the downside is that Apple has created the expectation that all mobile apps should be as cheap as the ones it offers. On Dec. 31, 96 percent of the 12,000-plus titles in the App Store cost less than $10. That's cheap compared to the rest of the industry, which charges between $7 and $25 a pop.

But smartphone users shouldn't expect to see Handango or other favorite mobile storefront slash prices just to compete with Apple, Orr told The Standard. "The average selling price of content will return to the industry average over time, and the open market where developers set the price will prevail," he said. "At the end of the day, Apple's 99-cent iTunes model does not build a market for apps."

Not everything in the App Store is truly a bargain, though. While some simple utilities go for less than $1, there are a number of professional apps that go for far more, like a stage lighting app called iRa Pro which costs $900.

ABI projects mobile app sales to rise from "hundreds of millions of dollars" this year to over a billion dollars in 2010.