Mobile apps business is booming -- for Apple
A report says the app store market will grow to $30 billion by 2013, and Apple currently has nearly 100 percent market share
Mobile apps had a banner year in 2009--with more than 2.5 billion apps downloaded and revenue of more than $4.2 billion. There are a number of newcomers to the app store arena, but app store pioneer Apple has a virtual monopoly right now with 99.4 percent of the app store market.
Gartner predicts that the app market will reach nearly $30 billion in revenue by 2013. Based on the current app store landscape, that is great news for Apple. It seems reasonable to expect some leveling or saturating of the iPhone app market over the next three years, though, and a rise in competing app stores.
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Apple has over 150,000 apps available, and claims to receive more than 10,000 new app submissions each week. The Apple App Store has already surpassed the three billion served mark, and estimates project that it will have more than 300,000 apps by the end of 2010.
In 2009, Google, Palm, RIM, and Microsoft all introduced app store competitors. Samsung developed a whole new mobile operating system basically just so it could get into the app store market, and even non-smartphone competitors like Intel have latched on to the app store concept.
Many of the app stores may falter and fade away, but Google's Android Market seems prepared to battle Apple for the long haul. The Android Market has already built an impressive library of apps -- with more than 20,000 apps and rising. Other app stores like RIM and Microsoft probably won't fade away any time soon, but also don't seem poised to offer any real competition to either Apple or Google.
