Apple stays on pace to control app space

The latest report on app downloads doesn’t pack many surprises, but it does shine a brighter light on the runaway hit that mobile apps have become.
According to the latest data from ABI Research, Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iOS will command more than half, or 52%, of all app downloads in 2010. Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android operating system will account for 26% of all app downloads this year, but at that rate it’s only half as impressive as Apple and its wildly popular App Store. Combined, the two Silicon Valley giants will grab 78% of the app download market this year.
While the sale of Android devices has grown dramatically to more than 160,000 new activations every day, Google’s Android Market is still considered woefully insufficient compared to Apple’s App Store. Indeed, Apple has a big lead on the billing front with more than 100 million registered iTunes accounts. Meanwhile, Google’s Checkout has failed to reach mass scale and the company is now working on adding carrier billing to its storefront.
“The iPhone will continue to be the leading app platform, with a database of over 125,000 applications offering niche and localized content,” ABI wireless research analyst Bhavya Khanna wrote in the report. “Other platforms are still playing catch-up, with Android being the fastest gainer among them. ABI Research expects that with over 30,000 applications now available, over 800 million Android applications will be downloaded in 2010.”
Apple’s seat at the top isn’t exactly secure though.
“The iTunes App Store’s days of being the only game in town are over, although the store will continue to be the biggest player in the market,” Khanna added. “However, downloads from other platforms, such as BlackBerry’s App Store and Nokia’s Ovi Store remain sluggish, hampered by a lack of variety and fragmentation among both manufacturers’ many devices.”
The firm expects more than 6 billion mobile apps to be downloaded this year, which is up from an estimated 2.4 billion last year.