By Colin Gibbs
Gigaom

The mobile application economy will be worth $17.5 billion by 2012, according to a report released this morning from analyst Chetan Sharma — surpassing that of the worldwide market for CDs. But while all eyes here in the West are focused on the iPhone and Android devices, much of the expected growth will come from users in emerging markets with less sophisticated handsets.

The 19-page document, which was commissioned by the UK app retailer GetJar, found that Asia was the top worldwide market for overall download share in 2009, while North American users accounted for more than 50 percent of total global mobile app revenues. That will change in the next several years, however, as the region comprised of the Middle East and Africa overtake North America to become the world’s largest market for mobile app revenues by 2012.

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