Mobile Application Downloads to Hit Five Billion in 2014

SINGAPORE - December 17, 2009

ABI Research expects application downloads to reach five billion by 2014. That is an increase from an estimated 2.3 billion applications downloaded in 2009. The growing adoption of smartphones which saw sales rise 20% in 2009, as well as the proliferation of application stores, are the major drivers for this expansive surge.

“The iPhone’s share of the app market will contract from its 2010 level during the latter part of the forecast period, but it will remain the leading platform for applications,” says wireless research associate Bhavya Khanna. “The big beneficiary will be Android, which will see its market share of total application downloads increase from 11% of the market in 2009 to 23% in 2014. This rapid growth is driven by the mass adoption of the Android OS by both vendors and consumers from 2009 onwards. There are now more than 14 phones that run the Android OS, and many more will launch in 2010. This, coupled with the rollout of application stores from both smartphone vendors and network operators, will see the iPhone’s share of the total market shrink between 2010 and 2014.”

ABI Research expects revenue from mobile app sales to decline by 2013, as competition will lead to downward pressure on application prices, and a greater proportion of “must-have” applications will begin to face competition from free or advertising-supported substitutes. This has already started to happen, with the launch of Google’s free turn-by-turn navigation service.

ABI Research’s “Mobile Application Downloads, Revenue and Traffic” tracks mobile application downloads and revenues segmented by mobile operating system platform. The database includes historical data and forecasts for application downloads for all major mobile OS’s including Symbian, iPhone OS and Android. It also provides mobile application revenue forecasts, and an overview of the major mobile application storefronts.  

It is a component of the Mobile Consumer Research Service, which also includes Research Reports, Research Briefs, other Market Data products, ABI Insights, ABI Vendor Matrices, and analyst inquiry support.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advise thousands of decision makers through 28 research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.