2010 saw considerable growth in the mobile applications market, and more competition is expected in 2011. Despite more proactive involvement in app store development from other platform providers, Apple’s iTunes is still the market leader after having such a successful head start, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).
The research group says the iPhone interface had notched up more than 5.6 billion accumulated downloads by the end of 2010, compared to nearly 7.9 billion total downloads from all stores during that year. However, Apple is set to face more intensive competition in 2011.
“The iTunes App Store only targets iOS users; that leaves more room for other platform application stores to step up and focus on ‘non-Apple’ clientele,” says research associate Fei Feng Seet. “Android smartphone quarterly shipments now exceed Apple’s. There is still a long way to go, but accumulated downloads from both Android Market and third-party platforms surpassed 1.9 billion by the end of 2010. Android Market currently features more than 130,000 apps in 48 countries, nearly half of iTunes App Store’s catalog.