MacUpdate Weekend Sale :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013.      
toggle

Android tops Apple with global app share of 44 percent

updated 04:30 pm EDT, Mon October 24, 2011

 

ABI finds Android app downloads overtake iOS


New research from ABI shows that Android mobile operating system surpassed Apple's iOS in the market share of downloaded mobile app downloads. During the second quarter of the year, Android saw a 44 percent market share compared to iOS' 31 percent. ABI research associate Lim Shiyang said Android's open source nature is the driving factor behind its recent success.

As it is installed on a wider variety of devices in all markets, it has attracted a wider developer base and offers more third-party apps and mobile operator stores. Also, compared to iOS, there are more free apps for users to peruse as well.

When looking at app downloads per user, however, Android is still behind Apple's numbers by a factor of two. This is due to Apple's better monetization policies that attract developers who create a better selection of apps and deliver a superior customer experience, said ABI's Dan Shey, practice director, mobile services.

Hardware shipment rates also helped Android app downloads take the lead. The second quarter growth of Android smartphones was 36 percent compared to 20 percent in the first quarter, while iPhone shipment speeds slowed to nine percent in the same time period, down from 15 percent in the first quarter. The Android install base is 2.4 times higher than that of iOS, ABI found. It expects this factor to grow to 3-to-1 by 2016.


By Electronista Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :  

industry, software, developer, Android, mobile phones, Apple, ABI Research

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Previous Comments

  1. prl99

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2009

    +9
    10/24, 04:50pm | report spam | reply

    counting accurately?

    With the iTunes App Store, one app can be purchased and used on multiple iOS devices. Is that counted as one or several? How does ABI know how many apps have actually been downloaded from any store. I doubt Apple releases that information to them.


  1. phillymjs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2000

    +9
    10/24, 04:59pm | report spam | reply

    Occam's Razor

    "When looking at app downloads per user, however, Android is still behind Apple's numbers by a factor of two. This is due to Apple's better monetization policies that attract developers who create a better selection of apps and deliver a superior customer experience, said ABI's Dan Shey, practice director, mobile services."

    I'd be more inclined to chalk it up to Android users being notorious tightwads. Ask any dev who writes for iOS and Android which platform they actually see more sales on.


  1. pairof9s

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Jan 2008

    +7
    10/24, 05:10pm | report spam | reply

    So what you're saying is...

    iFart is not just for iPhone users; in fact, there are even more types of iFart apps available to Android users than iPhone users.

    Interesting considering that was the mantra a year ago from Android followers that iPhone's apps selection was dominant because it was filled with worthless offerings.

    /


  1. facebook_Collin

    Via Facebook

    Joined: Oct 2011

    +6
    10/24, 05:40pm | report spam | reply

    Open Platforms

    While open platforms have an advantage for statistics like these, you have to factor in the disadvantages of an open platform as well.

    1) Viruses, malware, spyware etc... will always be more rampant on an open platform. How many of those Android apps counted were malicious in nature? How many of those apps counted are "required" to prevent infections?

    2) OS fragmentation inflates app counts if the OS vendor does not take extra precautions to provide legacy API support (which in itself causes OS code bloat). How many of those apps in the study were simply different versions of the same app made to run on different versions of the OS.

    3) Race to the bottom hardware ensures software integration problems will always be an issue. This means more work for developers on open hardware platforms to write, test and debug special case code to deal with the hardware integration issues. How much of the software in the study is going to cause a hang on the devices it is written for? As a result, how many apps is a user going to have to dig through on how many different stores to find one that works without incident?

    So in the next study you see like this look for the following:
    - Are the apps broken down by version of the OS for the open platform?
    - Are the apps for the open platform categorized into malicious, security and safe and what are the percentages?
    - Are the temporal and monetary averages for app development, bug fixes, testing, and support quoted?


    Comment buried. Show
  1. slapppy

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2008

    -14
    10/24, 06:20pm | report spam | (2 replies) | reply

    Deny

    Apple people are in such denial. Androids has crushed Apple. Google doesn't even worry about apple. They continue to out innovate Apple. Hahaha. For all the bragging Apple did, in the end they lost!


  1. SockRolid

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Jan 2010

    +7
    10/24, 06:47pm | report spam | reply

    There are 2 types of Android users

    Type 1: Verizon (etc.) subscribers who signed up before iPhone was available. This is the vast majority, and they'll be able to get the iPhones they really wanted when their 2 year contracts are up.

    Type 2: Ideologically challenged hobbyists. This is the tiny minority. All Fandroids on electronista.com are in this category.


  1. lvavila

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2011

    0
    10/24, 07:11pm | report spam | reply

    ABI what a joke

    I bet they could tell you who won last years Superbowl and why.. :(


  1. simon42

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2010

    -6
    10/24, 09:04pm | report spam | reply

    Business as usual

    Apple going back to its 10-20% marketshare, where they belong. What MacTards want to ignore is that the average customer won't spend money for a fragile and overpriced iThingie when there's a cheaper equivalent available. Steve Jobs was a huge MacTard and he wanted to destroy Android because it offered a cheaper option that would OF COURSE net most of the market.


Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

Recently Commented Articles

Related Forum Posts

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

Sponsor

Recent Reviews

Brother HL-3170CDW LED Printer

We've mentioned before that we are far from a paperless society. For now, at least, there are tasks that require a piece of paper for ...

HTC One

It is hard to overstate just how critically important the HTC One is to the Taiwanese company’s fortunes. Despite its alarming decline ...

Samsung Galaxy S 4

Samsung's new flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S 4, faces even stiffer competition than its popular predecessor. With a five-in ...

Sponsor

 
toggle

Popular News