At the moment, most mobile applications for smartphones are downloaded from app stores. According to ABI Research data, last year consumers downloaded some 2.4 billion applications from such stores, which is an impressive figure. What’s more, that number is set to keep growing and peak in 2013 at just below seven billion. As expected, Apple’s AppStore will continue to lead the field.
However, in the years afterwards, smartphone download rates from app stores will start a slow decline. ABI argues that more and more people will start visiting mobile websites, which thanks to HTML5 will be able to do many of the tasks currently only apps can do. Moreover, handset makers will pre-install apps on their products (most likely social networking apps and some mobile office suites), removing the need for downloading those kinds of applications.
On the other hand, as mobile operators are building their own app stores, we’ll have feature phone owners starting to embrace apps on a bigger scale. This will especially be true in the emerging markets where smartphone penetration is lower…
And you can get additional information from ABI Research’s new “Mobile Application Storefronts” report.