The number of smart phone-devices for which developers can create native applications will be increasing rapidly in the coming five years, according to new research from In-Stat (www.instat.com). By 2013, In-Stat projects nearly 30% of Smart Phones representing over 100 million unit shipments will be based on an Operating System that supports app stores.
Apple’s highly promoted App Store set the stage for a flurry of similar handset-based application discovery and sales portals. Google’s Android (included under “Linux – Other”) was also conceived around a similar app store, as was the Palm WebOS, the replacement for Palm’s aging Garnet operating system. Several other operating systems can also be expected to add application stores of their own. Recent research by In-Stat found the following:
* iPhone users are by far the most active Apps store users, significantly outpacing users of Blackberry, Palm OS or Windows Mobile phones.
* Smartphone users overall are significantly more likely than feature phone users to leverage advanced mobile services, such as Internet access, music downloads, Instant Messaging, Email and Multimedia Messaging (MMS).
