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ABI Research: Developers looking to make apps for Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 devices

By: , IntoMobile
Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 at 1:22 AM

In one of its newer studies, ABI Research is looking at the smartphone market and the various platform shares. Android is leading the pack, accounting for 57% of all smartphones, while iOS is second with 21% of the market. When it comes to tablets, the situation is opposite, with Apple’s iPads dominating the market and accounting for 62% of the market, while Android has a 28% share.

There is, however, room for other platforms, namely Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10. According to ABI’s senior analyst Aapo Markkanen, 2013 should be seen as relative success for both Microsoft and BlackBerry. “For the end of the year, we expect there to be 45 million Windows Phone handsets in use, with BlackBerry 10 holding an installed base of close to 20 million. Microsoft will also have 5.5 million Windows-powered tablets to show for it,” he added.

The figures mentioned above refer to actively used devices, which is what app developers should generally treat as an addressable market for their releases. And in that sense, the installed bases of this scale would be large enough to keep these two in the game.

As you’ve probably already heard, BlackBerry 10 was launched with 70,000 apps, making sure Z10 and Q10 users have a choice of apps right from the get-go…

Additional information, in case you need it, is available from ABI’s Mobile Application Technologies Research Service.

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • Anonymous

    And we want developers to make more apps for these platforms to make them more attractive. :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/bruce.nichols.37 Bruce Nichols

    I think wp8 and BB10 look like better options then ios and android. Why do people say bad stuff about the 70k apps for BB10, its not even released in the US yet. Pretty impressive start I think. A new platform can’t complete in volume with a system that has been out for years. Out of those 750k apps per platform how many are left if you remove all the apps developed for previous versions like ios4 and android 2.3??