Humble Apple pie may be on the Cupertino menu in 5 years time when a more even playing field will see the end of Apple’s downloadable app leadership. Melissa Chua reports.
Like a computer a smartphone is only be as good as the applications available to it and with its 225,000 apps it’s easy to see that the Appstore has done much to ensure the iPhone’s undoubted success in the market.
It may not sell the most smartphones (Nokia and RIM are still well ahead of it), but after 3 years Apple’s iPhone is still regarded as the best platform by developers and users alike. And much of that current success must be down to the establishment of application store, the accumulation of those 225,000 apps and the skills of developers worldwide who support it.
Steve Job’s company is no doubt hoping to maintain its pole position in the app store race, but fast forward five years and things may not be looking too rosy for the company many other (long established) companies in the mobile industry love to hate.
A report from analyst firm Ovum forecasts that Apple will eventually lose out as time progresses and competitors up the ante. Apple currently lays claim to an impressive 67 per cent of all smartphone app downloads, despite iPhone sales accounting for just 14 per cent of the overall smartphone market. By 2015, however, the entire apps market will have been growing at a compound annual rate of 41 per cent and Apple’s app store download share is expected to reduce to just 22 per cent of all app store downloads.
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