Apple claims three quarters of $3.8bn app market

Revenues from the major app stores will soar to $3.8 billion – with Apple claiming three quarter of the market, according to new research.

IHS Screen Digest included data from Apple’s App Store, as well as the stores run by Google, Nokia and Research in Motion, and predicted that the continued uptake of smartphones and tablets would see the momentum build.

“With consumers continuing to show robust, unflagging interest in downloading games and other applications to devices like smartphones and tablets, collective revenues from the four stores will climb sharply this year,” said Jack Kent, mobile media analyst for IHS.

According to the research, the combined revenue for the four stores in 2011 will rise from $2.1bn in 2010 – a marked difference to the relatively paltry $206m collected in 2008.

The company believes the download revenue from games and other applications will continue to rise over the next few years, jumping to $5.6bn in 2012, $6.9bn in 2013 and $8.3bn in 2014.

Apple domination

The original App Store, from Apple, retained the lion’s share of downloads, with the company taking $2.91bn from app purchases, according to IHS.

“App Store is expected to take in 76% of revenue this year and retain 60% market share by 2014, despite efforts by the other stores to match Apple’s ability to monetise its users,” IHS said.

“Apple will also lead the way with revenue gained from in-app purchases – or additional purchases made within a paid application, such as bonus game levels – which will serve as a key growth driver for revenue up to 2014.”

By contrast, Google’s Android Market was expected to see massive revenue growth of 295% to record $425m in 2011, which should see it push past the BlackBerry App World ($279m) and Nokia’s Ovi Store ($201m).