Apple to Rule Tablet Downloads for Five Years, Paid App Market to Decline

By Rob Scott
November 26, 2012

Despite its tablet market lead experiencing a dent in Q3, Apple’s iPad will continue to dominate the market for the next five years, according to Strategy Analytics.
“In its Mobile Apps Download Forecast: 2008–2017 report, Strategy Analytics forecasts a total of more than 350 billion smartphone and tablet app downloads between 2008 and 2017,” reports TechCrunch.
“The analyst predicts the Google Play store will account for more than 45 percent of phone-related downloads in 2017, while Apple’s iTunes Store will account for 56 percent of tablet downloads in five years’ time.”
By 2017, free apps will account for 91 percent of downloads, although paid apps will continue to be “an essential component of the app ecosystem,” according to Josh Martin of Strategy Analytics.
“Paid downloads will remain an important way for smaller developers to monetize their efforts,” he says. “For developers committed to paid downloads transitioning to tablets may be the smartest way to preserve the business model over the long term.”
“App Stores will also see a revenue crunch as more revenue is earned from advertising — revenue generated outside the bounds of the app store — and will need to prepare,” adds Martin. “Newer platforms such as Windows 8, BlackBerry 10, Tizen and Firefox are building their operating systems and storefronts with this knowledge which should go a long way to making them attractive to developers and end-users.”

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