ABI Research announced Monday that Android app downloads are rapidly outpacing app downloads from the rival iOS ecosystem.
“The annual volume of smartphone app downloads will reach 56 billion this year,” ABI forecasts. “Of different OS platforms, Google’s Android will account for 58% of the total, with Apple’s iOS commanding an annual share of 33%.”
Based on the predictions outlined, Microsoft’s Windows Phone will finish 2013 by capturing less than 4%, which is only slightly better than BlackBerry’s anticipated 3%.
In other words, it remains an Android-iOS duopoly in the mobile app universe.
All told, mobile users are on pace to download around 14 billion tablet apps during the year. iPad’s lead as a development platform remains formidable, ABI finds, as 75% of the amount will be apps running on iOS.
“For comparison,” the report adds, “Android will represent an annual share of 17%, excluding Kindle Fire. Downloads to Amazon’s tablets will warrant a market share of 4%, while around 2% of the total will be for Windows tablets.”
To learn more about these and other findings and projections from ABI Research’s Mobile Applications Research Service, click here.
