The latest research from
Gartner indicates that, for the year 2009, only 16 million app sales were executed on mobile devices not bearing the infamous bitten apple logo. In reporting this data,
Ars Technica inadvertently conflates Apple's latest announcement of three billion apps
downloaded with the notion of three billion apps
sold and pegs the App Store's market share at a whopping 99.4 percent -- but more realistic calculations still show it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 97.5 percent. Going off estimates (obtained by
GigaOM) that a quarter of App Store downloads are paid-for apps, and taking a
rough figure of 2.5 billion downloads in 2009, leaves us with around 625 million app sales performed by Apple, which comfortably dwarfs all its competition. Considering the fact 18 months ago there wasn't even an App Store to speak of -- whereas today Cupertino is gobbling up the best part of $4.2 billion in annual mobile apps revenue -- maybe you can now understand why we're covering every tiny drip of info about that
mythical tablet.
posted January 19th 2010 2:47AM
This is really splitting hairs but technically even "free" apps are still purchased; just for the cost of $0.00.
That's why you get receipts for "purchases" of even free apps.
@Nerdtalker I think not counting free apps is bloggers splitting hairs. When you get two Blackberry phones in a BOGO they are still counted by RiM as 2 units sold, as they rightfully should be.
@Nerdtalker -- Human nature being the way it is, I would think that free apps versus paid apps would be downloaded at a ratio of at least 10 to 1; unless of course, the free apps are perceived as worthless. But then again, human nature being the way it is, I would expect folks to keep downloading free apps until they find a good free app that meets their need. But then again, paying $0.99 for an app is a no-brainer.
@Nerdtalker -- I wonder how many of those downloads are coming from high school kids who bought into the iPhone the years Apple did not have any competition in the smart phone business. Also, I am sure that 2010 will be different as Android picks up speed and the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi at Verizon and Sprint builds momentum.
@Thinker
Android device sale figures at least are starting to look pretty good. I think that will turn into loads of app sales.
Mustn't forget Maemo either. N900 came out 2 months ago and at least where I live, they still tell people to take a number and come back in a week or two. Nokia seems to finally have its big OVI store update ready too.
I don't think apple can stay anywhere near these numbers during 2010.
@Nerdtalker @Nerdtalker This is sad. We are all talking about statistics that are dead wrong, and a "news article" with no news.
Engadget says this is "downloads", not sales. And since other platforms allow direct downloads from the software authors/publishers, it means that 99% of their downloads aren't counted. So even if we are talking about downloads, the statistics are dead wrong.
Better to claim "97.5% of all downloads from APP STORES are from Apple". Duh. Most of the other platform's app stores are dwarfed by online software stores like Handago and Handmark.
And when Engadget does talk about sales, they quote the Apple sales, but provide no data on sales for other platforms. 635 million is impressive, but unless you know what the sales are to other platforms are, it really has no context.
This is a great example of a news article that has meaningless statistics and not a shred of news into it. And it isn't even funny or sufficiently sarcastic to be enjoyable.
Nice non-reporting job.
@tmarks11 This is a blog, not the WSJ, or the NYT, or even the BBC so lighten up. but you are correct, it says downloaded, and in italics no less.
To the other posters, I don't think 2010 will see more than a small decrease in Apple's percentages. Apple's installed base is millions larger than all of the Android phones combined. And while Android sales are increasing, it's not at the expense of the also increasing percentages of the smartphone market that the iPhone has. I see iPhone app download market share decreasing to maybe 90% in 2010. The real year to watch will be 2011.
@bullshitexpresscom They might seem to be a blog, but they are trying to be an online magazine. Hence, my comment about the validity and accuracy of this as news is valid.
"Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics." That is what the ABOUT ME link says.
@Thinker
Let's not forget the millions of iPod users out there that chose the iPhone for the continued iPod/iTunes intergration (besides the Apps). That's the hidden gem you don't hear mentioned much because of the popularity of the App store. Until Android and others can match this ecosystem, I just to see how 2010 will be any different. And another area Apple have the advantage is their marketing.
@Nerdtalker
no idea what you're talking about.
I only receive receipts when I purchase an app.
downloading and purchasing are independent of each other.
when I download a free app, I do just that.
I download it, not purchase it.
hence, I'm not bombarded with receipts for free applications.
@Nerdtalker
seriously, why is this guy highest ranked?
downloading a free app requires neither any sort of billing statement nor my credit/debit card credentials.
@rayln
Try checking your email. ;)
Would be nice to have a new platform for iPhone OS 4.0/tablet and start all over from scratch. There's far too many apps to sift through the junk and crap right now. A fresh approach would be nice for some.
@Almo And then having to face all the fart apps again, no please. Let's keep the app-store as it is.
@Almo Nah, most likely the Tablet is being designed to utilize all of those existing apps. The apps will probably exist the same way cards do in WebOS. I'm expecting Tegra2 to be in this.
@iMick Ah come on, I was just finishing up the work on fart.0. What do they expect people to do with the 4.0 SDK, make productive apps?
I just gotta say. Apple is a bloggers goldmine. You just have to look at the amount of comments on ANY given article to see that. Stuff i dont even care about. Rumours at best. 435 comments about the announcement of an event (not even the product)....REALLY???
@Adamgs, You have to admit .. Apple does magic ..
Watching an Apple event is like watching a suspenseful & thrilling movie with turns & twists that'll take your breath away ..
@Aziz S
Are you nuts?
@Aziz S - I take it your most thrilling movie experience other than Apple presentations was an episode of Teletubbies then?
@Aziz S
Dude, seriously. Get some help.
Of course Engadget must talk about the tablet someway or another...
Nah I'm just messing with you, I'm pretty damn excited to see what Apple's got in store :D
"...maybe you can now understand why we're covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet."
*Cough*fanbois*Cough*
@Mr w00t
Seriously, if the mobile app sales *would* be the reason, it would be pretty poor one.
While apple can make a great tablet, it is not going to sell anywhere near as much as cellphones. Everyone needs a cellphone, only more techie people are going to feel they need a tablet. Especially on top of the cellphone.
Techies on the other hand aren't really the Apple main target group. They would have to create some sort of revolution, and I really don't believe in that.
(And no, iPhone was not a revolution, merely a good revision. At least outside US)
@Rev I agree 100% with you...
@Rev
If you have to constantly try to convince people that something was not a revolution, then there is a good chance that it was a revolution and you're just in denial.
If it wasn't for the iPhone, we would still be using WAP browsers and listening to voicemails in the order they were received. And there would be no focus on listening to music on your phone. I don't think several phones would even exist if it weren't for the iPhone. Do you think companies like Palm would have trashed their old phones and started from scratch if it weren't for the iPhone?
And what the heck would Android even look like it the iPhone had never appeared? The iPhone was a revolution, it was just a revolution that you weren't all that happy about.
@Rev
I agree with the Church man and I don't even like Apple that much, but I would be crazy to conclude that the iPhone wasn't revolutionary. Multi-touch in itself was a revolutionary concept, to say nothing of the App Store.
The App Store has even influenced the Linux community to kick their code in high gear. You can see the envy with the appearance of stuff like Apperi and the yet to be releeased Ubuntu App Store.
@Peter Church WAP browsers?!
Oh please, opera browser was already full steam ahead just to mention one. Nokia N95 displayed full pages dont try to cover the the truth with this revolutionary BS. This long before iPhone came to light...
Mentioning Nokia, its tablets had, N800 for example, touch screen and gecko powered engine. Just do a wikipedia search and compare the dates. Or you are going to deny that too?
What you people fail to realize is that Apple has a huge PR machine and things that were done before (and not given credit for) when done by Apple (thanks to Steve Job's aura too) are "revolutionary" "incredible"
It is just pathetic that you people dont even check the facts.
@Peter Church
As others have said. There is very little that iPhone did first. I can currently name only pinch zoom. You were probably only following phones that were published in US and Apple broke the real smartphone "ban" that the operators were creating there.
For example 3rd party apps were first introduced in Nokia 9210 back in 2001. First MP3 capable Nokia was 5510 also from 2001. It was also able to do things like record music from its internal FM radio.
The list goes on. Apple only put these things in a nice package and was able to crack the US telecom controlled market. Something Nokia was never able to do.
@Mr. woot
The N95 was introduced in March of 2007. The iPhone was introduced in January of 2007. Nokia was copying the iPhone and the Opera browser was not the full internet. It was a web front serving a proxy server, so no, not the same at all.
And what does Tablet have to do with this discussion. Apple had the Newton years before other companies had Tablets.
@Rev
No, Multi-touch was more than "pinch zoom." Could you scroll through lists by flicking with your fingers on other phones? No. Could you flick from side to side on our phones? No. The iPhone was the first phone to have Multi-touch. Yeah, there were many touch screen phones, but they didn't have Multi-touch.
And I didn't say anything about "third party apps." I was talking about the App Store, which was the first App Store that could be accessed by an app directly from the phone. That was an innovation that Apple came up with. I know it pains you guys to admit it, but Apple revolutionized phones.
And the fact that Apple "cracked" the US market, changing the very nature of the way cell companies dealt with phone manufacturers was itself, a revolutionary act.
@Peter Church
App stores could be accessed directly from the phone long before Apple store. There even used to be WAP based ones back in the olden days. The thing Apple did differently was that offered its own store and closed the doors to everybody else. You call this innovative, I can think of couple other names.
Kinetic scrolling was not Apple invention, although I do agree they probably were the first to bring it to a mobile phone. It also doesn't require any kind of multitouch. I would still call those things pretty minor. Newer phones like N900 wouldn't even really benefit from the pinch zooming browser anymore, since the whole idea is you don't have to zoom.
iPhone is far far away from real revolutionary products like Nokia Communicator (first with email & web back in 1997).
@Peter Church I did the favor of seraching for you:
The phone was unveiled in September 2006 and was released at the end of March 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N95
Release date:
Original: June 29, 2007[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
No one mention tablets, just me. But technology ideas come from everything right? Or you think that iPhone was the FIRST EVER device in the world to use touch?
@Mr w00t
Nah, Apple is the Daddy when it comes to app stores. Anyone arguing that one at present is a fool.
That said, LOL at Foreman's logic and assumptions!
So how are they measuring phone applications for non-iPhones when they're generally sold direct rather than through a gatekeeper?
I still don't get it. Why does the Apple Store even exist when we have the web? An official app directory (think Firefox Mozilla plugins) is probably a good thing, but it shouldn't stop developers distributing apps themselves. And what's a bit sad is the apparent success of the store means everyone else in this space seems to think they need one too.
@jbond
-- "I still don't get it. Why does the Apple Store even exist when we have the web?"
You're asking why... 18 months after the Apple App Store opened?
-- "the apparent success of the store means everyone else in this space seems to think they need one too."
Oh, there's your answer ;)
@jbond
"Why does the Apple Store even exist when we have the web?"
Because I've had winmo for years, and apps are either free, like pocket putty, or cost $40 for a really basic app so the developer can recover the cost of running their own app store... Apple has allowed specialization, meaning most useful apps cost less and are easier to install. Their app store is nothing new, its effectively a copy of repositories that linux distro's have been using successfully for years the only real difference is their criteria for choosing apps is way different and they've implemented a billing system.
"And what's a bit sad is the apparent success of the store means everyone else in this space seems to think they need one too."
Of course they do, it allows all their users to get apps that *should* be reliable and free of malware etc (of course it'd be useless for alot of people here, but would stop people n00bs getting anti-virus 2009 every 5 mins). I'm just amazed that windows 7 & macOS aren't shipping with something similar, imagine the money to be MS & Apple can make allowing people to sell pdf writers etc for a few $$.
@psc2
Dude, you're a liar. No basic app was $40 bucks. Even SPB mobile shell was only $30-$35 bucks when I had my WinMo phone (got stolen and waiting for HD2). Apps come in all price ranges on WinMo with the majority (98% or higher) being free. Free was in fact the norm until Apple started this app store nonsense and people buy into it not realizing how much they're spending on a phone.
@jbond I'm better there was no measurement of applications sold outside of manufacturer app stores, which makes these numbers pretty misleading to developers. In addition to missing carrier app stores and 3rd party app stores, the direct purchase model is very strong on platforms like WinMo.
> maybe you can now understand why we're covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet
Because you're easily mislead? No I get why you're covering apple, but you did fail to explain the limits of the study -- which are extreme. Apple's app store has far less than 97% of the mobile app market. You should at least note those limitations.
@jbond
Let's see: 16 million non-Apple apps sales divided by 365 days = ~44K of sales per day.
44K non-App Store sales per day, worldwide??? Sorry but this is pure BS.
It's sad that in this day and age, lots of people just swallow whatever "info" they come across, especially those so-called "market researches". The media just take that two lines summary of the "research" and makes an "article" out of it.
And people will take it as fact. Pretty much no one cares about what methods were used in the "research" because people assume these guys know what they are doing. You know what? Those financial analysts on Wall Street were supposed to be honest and know what they were doing too.
Google could change these numbers if they, oh i don't know, opened their market for paid apps outside the 11 countries they currently serve?
I simply don't get it. Scandinavia has 15M people and all the payment infrastructure is ready and waiting, but some monkey doesn't feel like flipping the switch. I'm sure this goes for a lot of other countries.
@vman81
because scandanavia is really gonna push the needle against Apple's 98% marketshare.
pass me whatever your smokin' buuuuuuuuud
@Wesscoast if it would come from the us would be marvelous right?
talks the person from the country that is being left behind in broadband(and other issues)
Wanna make a phone call? There's an app for that.
With these kinds of numbers Apple must be itching to drop AT&T exclusivity.
@deepdigits
not really, people who want an iPhone get one, people who already have a phone contract to deal with get an iPod touch. And then a year later they get an iPhone.
"today Cupertino is gobbling up the best part of $4.2 billion in annual mobile apps revenue -- maybe you can now understand why we're covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet."
So you are getting a share from it, is this it?
@GeceBekcisi
Boring. Get some new material. A million people made the exact same comment before you. It's been done.
3 billion? Now that's a lot of fart apps!
@MikeZ
You do know that Iphone / Android / Symbian users all pretty much use the same apps?
Surprising, eh?
So everytime someone downloads the free 'lite' version followed by the full version that counts as 2 unit sales?