According to a new study by ABI Research, the annual volume of smartphone app downloads will reach 56 billion this year, with Android platform grabbing more than half (58%) of the market. Rest of the cake is split between Apple’s iOS, Microsoft’s Windows Phone and BlackBerry, accounting for 33%, 4% and 3%, respectively.
When it comes to tablets, the situation is different – of 14 billion tablet apps that will be downloaded this year, Apple’s iOS will lead the way with 75% of the market. Android without Kindle Fire will take 17%, Kindle Fire another 4%, and Windows Phone – 2%.
In some way, Android’s fragmentation can be good for the platform as Google can benefit from developers’ interest in Amazon products. In that sense, ABI’s senior analyst Aapo Markkanen adds that the presence of Kindle Fire “adds a lot of critical ‘code mass’ to Android’s proposition as a platform for tablet applications.”
These are just some of the findings from ABI Research’s Mobile Applications Research Service, where you should go for additional data in case you need ’em…