There are plenty of smartphone users that will stick with what they like and there are some that want the most apps available. For the latter, it might start to get a bit difficult to choose since Android apps are closing the gap with Apple apps. App downloads are powering towards 5 billion by the end of 2011. In the Asia-Pacific region, Android apps are set to take over Apple apps for the first time. With increasing smartphone usage in the region and more smartphone users getting familiar with Android OS, the numbers are set to shoot through the roof. This year, the region can expect to see an increase of 189 percent on the number of app downloads.
Experts expect mobile app downloads to reach the 14 billion mark over the next 5 years. In this region, the research showed that revenues could climb to as much as $870+ million compared to only $300+ million last year, with those numbers climbing each year as more smartphones become available to the area. Downloads from all app stores around the world is increasing as the demand for smartphones rises in areas of the world that were not able to get access to the phones over recent years.
Apps that add features to phones and allow users to complete tasks on the go are the most popular type of app. Apple saw about 15 billion app downloads and the iTunes App Store is showing about 425,000 apps at this time. Even though Android only listed about 1.8 billion apps download this year, it is actually about higher than Apple’s 1.5 billion. That is a major increase from last year when the region saw 244 million Android apps downloaded compared to Apple’s 424 million apps over the same time period.
Android is set to take over Apple in more ways than one, but for now it is just in the app marketplace. As Android devices gain in popularity and lower prices to lure more customers, the downloaded app numbers will continue to increase over the years. The Asia-Pacific market is large and some say that Android could hit the 6 billion download mark by 2016 and that would be double what experts say Apple apps will be by the same year. The Apple iPhone is still the most popular smartphone and has the highest in paid app revenue, which is set to climb to $800 million by 2016.
