iPad will lead tablet app market through 2017
Apple’s iPad will lead the market for tablet app downloads for the next five years, despite the fact that its dominance in device sales is expected to weaken, according to figures from Strategy Analytics.
The research firm forecasts that the App Store will account for 56 per cent of tablet downloads in 2017, with the launch of the iPad mini and continuing high sales of the iPad ensuring Apple’s store remains the ‘premier destination’. Overall, Strategy Analytics predicts that a total of more than 350bn smartphone and tablet apps will be downloaded between 2008 and 2017, with Google Play leading the phone market, accounting for 45 per cent of downloads.
“The launch of the iPad mini and the continued dominance of the iPad allow Apple to be the premier destination for tablet downloads in the next five years,” says the report.
The figures will be a boost for Apple, which has seen its dominance of the tablet market slowly eroded by lower-end and cheaper tablets from the likes of Google and Amazon. Its share of sales fell to 50.4 per cent in Q3, down from 59.7 e in the same period a year ago, with Android taking advantage of the decline, according to IDC. This has also, in part, caused a recent drop in its share price from a high of US$700 in September to just US$512 on 16 November.
However, Apple’s stock market performance now appears to be improving, with its shares up 7.1 per cent on Monday, equal to a rise in market cap of US$35.8bn and helping to boost the performance of the overall US stock market.
