Q1 2011 Showed Market Share Loss for Apple App Store
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In the Smartphone App Market Monitor Vol.2 released by research2guidance, it was indicated that the Apple App store has shown a reduction in market share down to 59% from a past high of 81%. This represents a nearly 1/3 loss of market share in the past 2 years, a number that should be of some concern to Apple.
While most other independent stores are focused on increasing market share, Apple’s primary focus should be on not losing further ground –although 59% does show stabilization and a 2% increase since the last quarter of 2010. This rebound is being credited to the iPad and the heavy download practices of their users.
One of the largest contributors to the decline is the increase in the number of app vendors –with the report citing an increase from 18 stores in 2008 to 57 in 2010. While Android offers stiff competition among these vendors, the further saturation of smartphones in the marketplace combined with the lock-down effect (the tendency for a consumer to invest in a single platform and not stray once an app investment has been made) gives Apple the opportunity to further solidify if not increase their dominance.
Research2guidance’s Smartphone App Market Monitor report also features detailed information regarding the smartphone, tablet, user information and application market. In their report, research2guidance calculates market share using a cumulative sum of the paid and free apps that are downloaded from each store. It would be interesting to see if Apple’s App Store would have scored better if only looking at paid applications.
Do you think Apple can maintain it’s stronghold in the app store market? Do you think Apple consumers download more than their Android or RIM counterparts?
[via research2guidance]
