Research firm IHS ISuppli has picked Apple as the front runner in the apps race which it predicts will generate $3.8bn this year from sales of downloadable games, tools and other applications.
Four players – Apple, which pioneered the app industry, Google, Nokia and Research In Motion (RIM) – dominate the apps industry.
In its report, IHS ISuppli said that revenue from app stores owned by Apple, Google, Nokia, and RIM is set to grow 77.7% this year, reaching $3.8bn, and may rise to $8.3bn in 2014.
Apple’s App Store is likely to fetch $2.91bn in revenue in 2011, up 63% from last year, ISuppli said.
The firm said that Google, which quadruple its share, is at a distant second place after Apple in the apps market with $425.4m revenue.
RIM, growing at 69.2%, is at the third place with $279.11m, while Nokia is at the fourth place with an estimated $201.48m revenue.
The research firm also says that total apps downloads are slated to double in numbers and will reach 18.1 billion from last year’s 9.5 billion, and 3.1 billion in 2009.
