The number of downloads of applications for mobile phones is expected to more than double during this year, reveals the latest study by the North American ABI Research, which presents the estimates for the evolution of the global market for the next five years.
According to the data presented, the number of applications downloaded should reach 5.9 billion in 2010, which represents a growth of 145 percent when compared to the values ​​recorded in 2009. In 2013, the number of downloads expected to be almost 7 billion.
The growth comes as a result of an increase also seen in sales of smartphones, which the company said rose 20 percent in high-end equipment over the past year.
The results also reflect a competitive bid for Apple, which will begin to bear fruit. The strategies adopted to increase the sale of tools in online stores for Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian will be directly related to the expected increase this year, says ABI.
Despite the dominance of the iPhone manufacturer – whose AppStore currently has more than 150,000 applications available and has already exceeded 3 billion downloads since its launch in 2008 – the market research firm estimates that the fastest growth will be the main driver software for phones with Android operating system, for which around 800 million downloads are expected.
The wave of prosperity in the mobile application market is expected to benefit Apple’s four main competitors, but it will still remain the market leader until 2015 – the timeframe contemplated by the study.
Despite the increase in downloads a decrease in revenues is anticipated as of 2012, due to increasing competition, which will force applications to fall in prices or make them available for free – opting for a model based on advertising revenues, predicts ABI.
