Who Will Win The App War? Google Inc (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL)

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Despite the iPhone’s popularity, Android dominates an overwhelming portion of the smartphone market share. This is why it comes as no surprise that Apple’s iPad accounted for most of the iOS platform’s revenue growth. Daily revenues for the iPhone increased by 40%, while apps for the iPad saw a 71% jump. The surge in app purchases signals the growing demand for a host of services that are offered via mobile.

Enough Developer Interest for Writing Apps for Microsoft and BlackBerry

The total number of smartphones worldwide will reach 1.4 billion by the end of 2013, and of this number, 45 million will reportedly be active Windows Phones, and 20 million will be Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s active BlackBerry 10s, according to ABI Research. In addition, Microsoft will likely have around 5.5 million Windows-powered tablets at the same time.

These numbers may seem unimpressive, but ABI is reporting that it is still enough to keep developers interested in writing apps for Windows Phones and BlackBerry 10, despite the steep competition they will face from Android and iOS.

Microsoft has had a lot of interest in writing for the operating system and has had to add staff and computers to process and approve the submissions, Antoine Leblond, the vice president in charge of the Windows app store, said in an interview. Because apps written for the program can be sold not just to tablets and smartphones users but to hundreds of millions of customers who will get Windows 8 on personal computers, Microsoft has a chance to win over more developers, Leblond said.

“Microsoft feels pretty strongly that the platform they have built is compelling to both users and developers,” said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Washington. Miller’s own examination of the Windows app store indicates there were 7,873 apps worldwide, with hundreds being added daily.

BlackBerry has announced a name change for its app store from App World to BlackBerry World. Along with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend incorporated into the BlackBerry, the company is focusing on integrating its new smartphones into different platforms. There are an endless amount of apps available for old App World, yet a large portion of them prove to be low quality and inefficient. For the new BlackBerry World, CEO Thorsten Heins said that it will aim for quality apps, not quantity, with about 70,000 applications available in the new BlackBerry World.

The Bottom Line

ABI forecasts that 57% of all the global smartphones will run on Android by the end of 2013, and 21% will run on iOS. Tablets are also set to hit 268 million active units by the same time, with 62% running on iOS and 28% on Android. If that happens, Schmidt’s claim will be confirmed once again. But more importantly, it will set Google to win the app war by a significant margin.

The article Who Will Win The App War? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Anindya Batabyal.

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