Apple AppStore Down to 59% Market Share at End of Q1 2011

Android has been slowing grinding away at Apple’s dominance in the smartphone app store market and at the end of Q1 2011, Apple maintained only 59%, down from a high of 81%. While they showed a 2% increase over the end of 2010, thanks to app heavy iPad users, says Research2Guidance in their new Smartphone App Monitor Vol 2.

If Apple manages to slow down its market share loss over the next two years it will be difficult for other players to overtake Apple for a long time. Two factors are narrowing down the time for competitors to catch up.

• Mass-market effect: Smartphone penetration will reach 50% in most of the developed countries by 2014/2015. The more smartphones become a mass-market phenomena the less app downloads a new user will add.
• Lock-in effect of downloaded apps: The more apps are downloaded and the more money is spent on apps, the less likely is the switch to another platform and, in the case of Apple, to put aside iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Android is already the dominant smartphone OS having passed iOS earlier in the year. With projected growth to continue. As that margin grows, so will the app market share I imagine. R2G predicts that they will probably only push Apple down to 40% by 2015, but with the wide range of Android devices coming, everything from smartphones to tablets to TVs and home automation, I think Google is going for total domination. That could translate into at least 50-60% market share for Android alone as Apple is only in portable electronics really.

Good for Gamers

This is all great for gamers as more competition means more variety and choice of platform, hardware and interface. While the touch screens on the major devices are generally much the same, the range of hardware available means there will always be something for everyone and almost every budget. Android tablets range from the low end of $120-150 to the Motorola Xoom at $500 or so. Meanwhile, the iPads are in a slightly higher range of $250-600 or so. That could be a major factor for many but prices will continue to drop as technology advances and new models continue to become available.

Plus the upcoming Project Kal-El Tegra chips from NVIDIA could really have a major impact in not only hardware specs, but also in gameplay experience and mobile/portable gaming could become as good as home console in terms of experience.

Diversity and choice breed competition and that is exactly what we need in gaming.