People with iPads download five times as many apps as all Android tablets combined, another stark reminder of how much Apple dominates the tablet market. But can the Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD change that?
The figures on app downloads come from ABI Research's Mobile Application Markets Research Service, which tots up numbers of app downloads and the money made from them.
The service estimates that five times as many apps were downloaded for the iPad than by all Android tablets put together in the first half of the year. That's before the Nexus 7 and a number of other popular tablets were released -- but also before the iPad mini, which takes the fight to the iPad's smaller rivals.
Despite fine showings from the likes of the Asus Transformer series, no Android tablet has seriously challenged the iPad at the tills, selling in only small numbers while the iPad continues to do boffo business. It seems for the average consumer 'iPad' is synonymous with 'tablet' and vice versa -- hence the disastrous failure of the HP TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook.
Changes are afoot in the world of tablets, however. The first potentially disruptive event is the arrival of the Nexus 7, a cheap-as-chips Android slate that re-invents what a tablet can be -- and how much it should cost. Last week the 7-inch Nexus 7 was joined by the Nexus 10, which is the same size as the iPad and is therefore a direct competitor -- only £100 cheaper.
The Microsoft Surface is also gunning for the iPad, Microsoft gambling big on tablets. The whole look and feel of the radically revamped Windows 8 is designed for tablets and touchscreens, and unless you've been walking round with your eyes closed in the last week you'll be well aware of the amount of money Microsoft has thrown at advertising the Surface. Whether that ambition is matched by a decent lineup of apps remains to be seen -- at the moment its Marketplace is woefully understocked.
Meanwhile, when it comes to smart phones, the situation is reversed: phone app downloads are dominated by Android blowers, while people with iPhones download less than 30 per cent of apps. The iPhone figure is in decline, but figures for later in the year should be given a boost by the arrival of the iPhone 5.
One major reason for the decline of iPhone downloads is that Apple has clamped down on download bots that automatically grab apps to boost the download count and push an app further up the iTunes charts.
Do you have insatiable appetite for apps? What are the essential downloads for iPad, iPhone or Android? Tell me your app thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 16
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anonymous 6 November, 2012 13:51
they've still go it:
"The service estimates that five times as many apps were downloaded for the iPad than by all Android tablets put together in the first half of the year."
i know all the little android fan boys will bring out 'wah wah that was before the nexus 7' but those results aren't out yet and i am going by this article.
apple is still bossing it.
Melial 6 November, 2012 13:53
The nexus 7 hasn't proved to be much competition to the iPad.
With only 500,000 shipped the first month of availability, 6-700,000 the second and less than a million the third month according to the manufacturer Asus, it is a rounding error compared to the 3 million iPads sold in the 3 days after launch this last week.
Likewise, the Amazon Kindle fire HD with similar numbers of tablets shipped as the Nexus 7 according to IDC has failed spectacularly to beat the iPad despite costing half as much.
And then there is Samsung's Galaxy tabs which sold all of 37,000 in Q2 2012 in the USA according to court documents putting the lie to IDC's grossly inflated estimates of 2.5 million that quarter.
The iPad's web share of 91% according to Strategy Analytics and 98.1% according to OnSwipe suddenly makes sense with these facts.
No, I don't think Apple has much to worry about.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 14:02
@anonymous 6 November, 2012 13:51
That's funny, because you're the epitome of an Apple fanboy.
Irony.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 14:04
Funny how people are going to read so much in to one fairly meaningless statistic. Cue the Apple v Android fanboy warfare ...
anonymous 6 November, 2012 14:20
Agree with the guy above. These stats are ridiculous and border on pathetic actually. I think of all the problems in the world and when I read news like this I just feel embarrassed.
ConcatNonsense 6 November, 2012 14:21
As lovely as it is to have carte-blanche over reasoning due to unspecified detail it's absolute nonsense without context.
For instance; I could insist this only proves that iPhones have 5 times as many terrible pre-installed apps that drives users to find alternatives. Navigation for instance ;-)
Include detail in your analyses please.
Kevin Partner 6 November, 2012 14:51
Firstly, I'm not sure what point the article is making - perhaps Android tablets do more of what their users want without needing apps? Secondly, in the first half of the year Apple accounted for 75% of tablet sales so you'd expect at least 4x as many app downloads. Thirdly, in the 3rd quarter, Apple's share of sales dropped to 50%. This is looking a lot like the smartphone market of a couple of years back - and we all know how that ended up don't we?
anonymous 6 November, 2012 15:13
I have a Nexus 7 and an iPad2. The Nexus 7 is awesome but I was really surprised by how few apps there are that are tablet optimised. ebay, Facebook, Twitter, Flipboard, The Verge, Engadget to name just a few are just upscaled phone apps. There are also a lot of apps such as Barclays that aren't compatible with the Nexus 7. iPlayer is on android is also very poor compared with the iOS app.
Not being biased, not being a fanboy, just stating a fact.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 15:30
@anonymous 14:02 - how is that being an apple fanboy..he is merely reiterating what Rich has said and underlining the point that from this article apple are 'bossing' it.
surely if there was a apple/android fanboy here between you two..it would be you!
anonymous 6 November, 2012 16:00
Happy FIFTH Birthday Android - FIVE times less downloads than Apple & iOS.
gutted.
Bassam Al-Mawry 6 November, 2012 16:14
Android is a much better OS then iOS BUT Android needs to sort out its ecosystem....
anonymous 6 November, 2012 17:02
I have an Android phone but wouldn't have bought an Android tablet up until I saw the new Nexus range that came out last month. The older Android tablets prior to the Nexus seemed a bit clunky. Also post Jelly Bean Android is a lot smoother in the transitions making the UI feel silky.
In the near future I'll be looking to get either a Nexus 7 (3G) or 10. From my albeit limited use of iPads I can see why people like them as they work well in the Apple ecosystem - with the obvious exception of iOS6. Myself I'd never buy into the Apple ecosystem, I've had a dislike for iTunes from the first time I downloaded it, I then realised that Apple wanted control of everything.
I think the market will change post the new Nexus line-up. So all you Apple Fanboys, suck it up while you can.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 20:01
I think it will be a matter of time before more apps on Android will be tablet optimised. Developers will develop based on demand, in the past android did not have tablets backed by Google or Amazon. Now these are just coming on to the market and when they make up market share then this would drive up demand in turn developers will focus on where there is demand. Market forces!
anonymous 6 November, 2012 21:54
I'll admit that up to now virtually every Android tablet has been a big disappointment, with many being just trash, but things are now changing as Android matures as an OS.
I've got a Nexus 7, it's good but I'd advise anyone looking at the 7" category to hold off for a while, because having seen the iPad Mini, I think the Nexus 7 still isn't really up to iPad standards yet.
Tech specs alone don't necessarily make a better product and that was evident when I saw the mini screen next to my Nexus.
Things might be different with the Nexus 10 though.
anonymous 7 November, 2012 13:53
My brother in law has an android tablet and an ipad and its clear that the quality and diversity of tablet apps is in apples favor. Some of the best developers just dont bother to import there apps over to android because of the screen diversity. While I love my GS2 a million time more than my previous 3GS in the tablet field apple dominate the tablet market through the wealth of quality apps despite what die hards of either camp will say about sheep following the herd. Its a shame, maybe goole should set some standards for tablet resolutions so developers can make/port some decent apps. Just use the retina standard for tablets.
anonymous 17 November, 2012 12:35
My brother in law has an android tablet and an ipad and its clear that the quality and diversity of tablet apps is in apples favor. Some of the best developers just dont bother to import there apps over to android because of the screen diversity. While I love my GS2 a million time more than my previous 3GS in the tablet field apple dominate the tablet market through the wealth of quality apps despite what die hards of either camp will say about sheep following the herd. Its a shame, maybe goole should set some standards for tablet resolutions so developers can make/port some decent apps. Just use the retina standard for tablets.