Gartner: Apple owns mobile apps market with 99.4% share
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...es-in-2009.ars
Gartner: Apple owns mobile apps market with 99.4% share
"The latest report from market research firm Gartner suggests that mobile apps are big business, and that business should only grow in the next few years," Chris Foresman reports for Ars Technica. "According to Gartner's numbers, Apple completely owns this market, grabbing almost every one of the 4.2 billion dollars spent on mobile apps in 2009."
"Apple first opened the App Store in July 2008, along with the launch of the iPhone 3G and the release of iPhone OS 2.0. Sales were brisk, with 300 million apps sold by December. After the holidays, that number had jumped to 500 million," Foresman reports. "Earlier this month, Apple announced that sales had topped 3 billion; that means iPhone users downloaded 2.5 billion apps in 2009 alone."
Foresman reports, "Gartner's figures show another 16 million apps that could come from other platform's recently opened app stores, giving Apple at least 99.4 percent of all mobile apps sold for the year."
"Gartner's predictions for 2010 are 4.5 billion apps sold, for a total of $6.8 billion in revenue. If Apple can merely maintain its current rate of about a quarter billion app sales per month, it stands to be responsible for 3 billion apps sales?67 percent?good for $4.5 billion in revenue. Apple's cut would be $1.35 billion, with developers taking the remainder. However, as Apple gains more users from sales of new iPhone models and possibly from an expected tablet, Apple could get an even larger share of the mobile app market," Foresman reports. "Predictions for 2013, just a few years away, are even bigger?21.6 billion apps sold for a total of $29.5 billion revenue."
Gruber's take:
http://daringfireball.net/
Chris Foresman, on a new report from Gartner on mobile app sales:
Earlier this month, Apple announced that sales had topped 3 billion; that means iPhone users downloaded 2.5 billion apps in 2009 alone. Gartner?s figures show another 16 million apps that could come from other platform?s platforms? recently opened app stores, giving Apple at least 99.4 percent of all mobile apps sold for the year.
I think Foresman is wrong here. Apple didn?t announce 3 billion App Store sales; they announced 3 billion downloads, including free apps. Apple has never (to my knowledge) publicly revealed the breakdown between free and paid app downloads from the App Store.
However, if Gartner is correct that all other platforms combined accounted for only 16 million mobile app sales last year, then Apple?s share of the market is astonishingly high. It?s not 99.4 percent, as Foresman indicates, but still crazy-ass high.
Update: Via email, Chris Foresman informs me that Gartner has clarified for him that their figures are indeed estimates of all apps downloaded for any platform in 2009, free or paid. In other words, Gartner is using the word ?sale? to mean ?download?, probably because that appeals to their market. So Gartner really is claiming that Apple has over 99 percent of the mobile app market. Wow.
Gartner: Apple owns mobile apps market with 99.4% share
"The latest report from market research firm Gartner suggests that mobile apps are big business, and that business should only grow in the next few years," Chris Foresman reports for Ars Technica. "According to Gartner's numbers, Apple completely owns this market, grabbing almost every one of the 4.2 billion dollars spent on mobile apps in 2009."
"Apple first opened the App Store in July 2008, along with the launch of the iPhone 3G and the release of iPhone OS 2.0. Sales were brisk, with 300 million apps sold by December. After the holidays, that number had jumped to 500 million," Foresman reports. "Earlier this month, Apple announced that sales had topped 3 billion; that means iPhone users downloaded 2.5 billion apps in 2009 alone."
Foresman reports, "Gartner's figures show another 16 million apps that could come from other platform's recently opened app stores, giving Apple at least 99.4 percent of all mobile apps sold for the year."
"Gartner's predictions for 2010 are 4.5 billion apps sold, for a total of $6.8 billion in revenue. If Apple can merely maintain its current rate of about a quarter billion app sales per month, it stands to be responsible for 3 billion apps sales?67 percent?good for $4.5 billion in revenue. Apple's cut would be $1.35 billion, with developers taking the remainder. However, as Apple gains more users from sales of new iPhone models and possibly from an expected tablet, Apple could get an even larger share of the mobile app market," Foresman reports. "Predictions for 2013, just a few years away, are even bigger?21.6 billion apps sold for a total of $29.5 billion revenue."
Gruber's take:
http://daringfireball.net/
Chris Foresman, on a new report from Gartner on mobile app sales:
Earlier this month, Apple announced that sales had topped 3 billion; that means iPhone users downloaded 2.5 billion apps in 2009 alone. Gartner?s figures show another 16 million apps that could come from other platform?s platforms? recently opened app stores, giving Apple at least 99.4 percent of all mobile apps sold for the year.
I think Foresman is wrong here. Apple didn?t announce 3 billion App Store sales; they announced 3 billion downloads, including free apps. Apple has never (to my knowledge) publicly revealed the breakdown between free and paid app downloads from the App Store.
However, if Gartner is correct that all other platforms combined accounted for only 16 million mobile app sales last year, then Apple?s share of the market is astonishingly high. It?s not 99.4 percent, as Foresman indicates, but still crazy-ass high.
Update: Via email, Chris Foresman informs me that Gartner has clarified for him that their figures are indeed estimates of all apps downloaded for any platform in 2009, free or paid. In other words, Gartner is using the word ?sale? to mean ?download?, probably because that appeals to their market. So Gartner really is claiming that Apple has over 99 percent of the mobile app market. Wow.