Apple controls a staggering 99.4 per cent of the apps market; recently released figures for 2009 have shown.
Having virtually invented the ‘app store’ phenomenon in July 2008 to provide content for their hugely successful iPhone, Apple has gone on to show its dominance in the market, selling over 2.5 billion apps last year alone.
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The latest stats from research firm Gartner show how Apple has made a not-too-shabby sum of money from the $4.2bn ($2.56bn) that was spent on apps in 2009.
Despite this vice-like hold, the emergence of new players in the smartphone market throughout 2010 should see Apple’s market share fall in the app sector. However, Gartner still estimates that Apple could hold on to at least two-thirds of the market in 2010.
Research Director at Gartner, Stephanie Baghdassarian, said: “As smartphones grow in popularity and application stores become the focus for several players in the value chain, more consumers will experiment with application downloads."
She added: "Games remain the number one application, and mobile shopping, social networking, utilities and productivity tools continue to grow and attract increasing amounts of money."
Gartner’s predicts 4.5bn apps will be sold in 2010, totalling $6.8bn in revenue. The expected imminent arrival of an Apple tablet PC, however, could see this figure vastly increase if it is app compatible as many believe it will be.
Link: Techradar (Via Arstechnica.com)
