Apple to take three quarters of mobile app store revenue in 2011

The market for mobile applications will grow 77 per cent this year, according to analyst predictions, and Apple will take more than three quarters of the revenue generated.

The latest figures from IHS iSuppli show mobile application sales growing very quickly, from $206m in 2008 to a projected $8.3bn in 2014.

Apple is predicted to have 76 per cent of the market this year, and to be selling six out of 10 mobile applications by 2014.

While Apple remains the top choice for buyers, the fastest growing marketplace will be for Android applications.

Android sales will grow 295.4 per cent this year to $425.4m, the analyst house predicts, still small compared to Apple's position but considerably better than RIM's application sales, which are predicted to bring in $297m this year.

Nokia's Ovi Store is estimated to bring in $201.5m, and 1.1 billion downloads from Nokia's Symbian smartphone users this year. It will remain in fourth place in the market, unless Microsoft plans a merging and dramatic expansion of the pair's consumer appeal.

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

Some 18.1 billion applications are expected to be downloaded this year, nearly double last year's total, and the figure is expected to surpass 33 billion a year by 2014.