Even with that distinction between sales and downloads in mind, it’s not difficult to see that Apple has a huge hold on the mobile app market, although it’s probably not as huge as Gartner’s numbers would lead us to believe. According to the Gartner study, all other mobile manufacturers’ platforms combined<\/em> accounted for a mere 16 million apps downloaded in 2009. <\/p>\n Note, however, that Gartner’s analysis appears to focus on manufacturer-based stores (RIM, Microsoft, Google, etc.) rather than carrier-based stores (Verizon, Vodafone, etc.). It’s likely that mobile phone service providers’ stores account for a higher number of downloaded apps than the 16 million cited in Gartner’s research; the study also doesn’t appear to account for third-party stores for jailbroken iPhones, such as Cydia<\/a>. This means Gartner’s 99.4% number for Apple’s mobile application marketshare is likely to be fairly wide of the mark. <\/p>\n Regardless of the possible inaccuracy of Gartner’s figure, it’s still clear that when it comes to mobile applications, the App Store has very effectively set the standard for the market.<\/p>\n TUAW<\/a>App Store accounts for 99.4% of mobile apps in 2009?<\/a> originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)<\/a> on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read<\/a> | Permalink<\/a> | Email this<\/a> | Comments<\/a> <\/p>\n Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.stoth.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/1c4d3_iphone-soap-cjr.jpg\")
Ars Technica has reported<\/a> that a recent study from market research firm Gartner shows Apple’s App Store<\/a> is responsible for a staggering 99.4% of all mobile app sales in 2009. However, as Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points out<\/a>, Apple didn’t say it sold<\/em> 2.5 billion apps in 2009; users downloaded<\/em> 2.5 billion apps in 2009, including free apps.<\/p>\n<\/h6>\n