Apple has revealed that 40 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store to date - with close to half of those having been downloaded in 2012, and December breaking records.
However, Apple's supremacy in the mobile app space is being seriously challenged by the growth of its Android counterpart, Google Play.
The App Store was launched in 2008 and reached the 25 billion download mark in March last year, and 35 billion by October. According to Apple, December was a record-breaking month for the App Store, with more than two billion downloads in that month alone. According to Apple, there are now over 500 000 million active accounts in the App Store.
Senior VP of Internet software and services at Apple, Eddy Cue, says 2012 was an "incredible" year for the iOS developer community. Apple also says it has paid out a total of $7 billion (about R60 billion) to developers. The App Store currently has a total of 775 000 apps, up from 700 000 in October last year.
As of October, Google Play also had 700 000 apps available, and current estimates place that figure at about 800 000. A recent report by Sociable said based on observed growth trends, "we predict that Google Play will reach 900 000 apps before April 2013 and will reach one million apps as early as June 2013".
Playing catch-up, Research in Motion has said when BlackBerry 10 is released, BlackBerry App World will have more than 100 000 apps. By comparison, Windows Phone Marketplace has over 125 000.
Market data also showed that a record-breaking 17.4 million iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day, along with an equally record-breaking 328 million application downloads across both of those platforms. A total of 1.76 billion applications are also estimated to have been downloaded on iOS and Android over the last week of 2012.
Revenue edge
In another report released by app analytics firm Distimo, it was found that while the Google Play Store is growing rapidly, Apple is still streaks ahead in terms of actual revenue.
According to Distimo, daily revenue on Google Play grew 43% in the last four months of 2012, while the same figure for the App Store was 21% growth over the same period. However, the App Store had average daily revenue of $15 million in November last year, compared to Google Play's $3.5 million.
Distimo says key growth in monetisation of apps is coming from in-app payments - which accounted for 69% of the App Store's total revenue at the end of 2012 (up 16% from the beginning of the year).
According to ABI Research, market data showed the global mobile application market was expected to surpass $30 billion in revenue by the end of 2012.
ABI senior analyst, Aapo Markkanen, said at the time that while consumer interest in apps has always been high, "it's 2012 that will go down in history as the year when the economic side of the business finally took off. We're no longer talking only about a short-term gold rush. Apps have become a major digital industry."
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