The latest research from Canalys' App Interrogator reveals Android and iOS still have the stronghold in the app market, as Windows Phone and BlackBerry don't offer the same level of quality apps.
The report looks at the rankings of the top 50 free and top 50 paid apps, over the first 20 days of May, featured in both the Apple App Store and Google Play in the US. Of these apps, only 34% feature in either the Windows Phone store or BlackBerry World.
The Windows Phone store contained only 16 of the top 50 free Apple App Store applications, and 14 of the top 50 paid. It did fare better against Google Play, featuring 22 of the top 50 free apps and 13 of the top 50 paid.
BlackBerry World, however, featured only five of the top 50 free Apple App Store apps, and nine of the top 50 paid. Like Windows Phone, it contained more apps from Google Play, but still only had 11 of the top 50 free apps, and another 11 of the top 50 paid.
Earlier this month, Microsoft said its Windows Phone store contains over 145 000 apps, while BlackBerry at the same time revealed it has more than 120 000 BB10 apps available for download. In comparison, the Apple's App Store and Google Play each have more than 800 000 apps on offer.
Canalys senior analyst Tim Shepherd says the report again highlights the level of competition for a third eco-system to take on Android and iOS. "These stats underscore the scale of the job Microsoft and BlackBerry each still face in their respective bids to build up their app ecosystems, and to deliver still more compelling - and crucially - genuinely competitive offerings around apps, and both vendors must continue to work hard to rise to the challenge.
"The availability of key apps is a factor in motivating consumers' initial mobile device purchasing decisions, and it will only become more so. But moreover, it is a major factor in determining ongoing consumer satisfaction," he adds.
Shepherd says Windows Phone and BlackBerry customers do not want to miss out on apps based on their choice of smartphone. "It is, therefore, imperative for the success of both Windows Phone and BlackBerry that their respective app ecosystems attract and offer the high-quality content that consumers want and would otherwise miss."
Owner of digital communications agency Retroviral, Mike Sharman, says BlackBerry has never been the most desirable platform, because of the inconsistencies between handsets. "It's a developer's nightmare when you build an app for one device that's not necessarily going to be compatible with another. Buttons were an initial barrier for developers on BlackBerry, which was not experienced with the likes of the consistent touch experiences seen on iOS and Android devices."
He adds that Windows Phone 8 apps will continue to grow, as the demand for the handsets continue to penetrate various markets. "But if I was a developer, I would back the horses with the greatest ROI - Android and iOS."
Sharman says BlackBerry has a great reach in Africa, but BBM was one of the only features keeping people on the platform. "Now that it is being opened up to a wider range of competitor handsets, I expect BlackBerry to be negatively impacted locally, especially as Samsung continues to increase its market share."
He adds that Windows has also not managed to capture the imagination. "I've had a poor experience on the desktop version and it has left me with no desire to engage with a mobile device packing the 8 OS."
Local innovation
At BlackBerry Live, held in the US earlier this month, local mobile shopping app, PriceCheck, won the BlackBerry app of the year category in the BlackBerry Achievement Awards, beating competition from more than 100 000 apps from around the world.
Formerly the Wireless Achievement Awards, BlackBerry's annual Achievement Awards sees the best BlackBerry apps from across the world go head-to-head for gold in five categories: app of the year, putting customers first, mobile innovation of the year, making the world a better place, and entrepreneur of the year.
This year, two home-grown apps - PriceCheck and Waytag - competed for first place against 15 top apps worldwide.
Another player
Last month, online retail giant, Amazon, announced it would launch its Appstore in over 200 countries, which includes SA.
There is, however, doubt that the Appstore will take off locally, as its real value proposition is the integration with the Kindle Fire tablet, which is not currently available in SA.
But, this is set to change as Amazon last week announced its Kindle Fire HD (7-inch) and Kindle Fire HD (8.9-inch) will be available in SA from next month. The retailer says the shipment of the tablets to 170 countries will commence on 13 June.
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