IntaPeople News
IT leaders urged to embrace ‘app frenzy’ - 31/01/2011
With the number of mobile app downloads set to more than double in 2011, IT departments have been urged to explore mobile technology while they still can.
Research company Gartner predicts that app store downloads will hit around 17.7 billion this year, up from 2010’s estimated 8.2 billion downloads.
Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner, said: “Many are wondering if the app frenzy we have been witnessing is just a fashion, and, like many others, will pass. We do not think so.”
Gartner said that it believed Apple’s App Store had driven around nine out of ten app downloads in 2010. While it will continue to remain the dominant store into 2014, the company believes that it will lose some ground as other stores grow in popularity.
It is thought that the growth of the tablet market will also make an important contribution to the overall increase in app downloads.
Caroline Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said: “While the average number of downloads per device onto a smartphone will remain stable as the market grows, it must be assumed that media tablets will drive more downloads from consumers, boosting the overall average downloads per device.”
Apple recently revealed that its ITunes App Store has seen 10 billion app downloads since its launch.