Introduced in 2010, the Apple iPad has been a staggering success with Millions upon Million sold to date. The launch of the original iPad was easily one of the biggest launches in tech history with 3 Million iPads sold in the first 3 months.
With an Android tablet coming out every other day it seems like, manufacturers are lucky to do a fraction of that. According to ABI Research, iPad owners have downloaded 3 Billion apps while Android tablets have only had around 440 Million app downloads to date.
App downloads on the iPad now count for 19% of all downloads by Apple users.
From the ABI press release:
“Discounting all those apps that were originally developed for Android smartphones, Android still trails greatly behind the iPad in terms of its tablet app offerings,” says research associate Lim Shiyang. “Many Android tablets in the market are still using older versions of Android, which disadvantages users from enjoying the better effects of apps produced from more advanced software development kits.”
This isn’t all too surprising considering the tremendous success of the iPad . Also, with the fragmentation that Android has, it can at times not be the most beneficial for developers and/or users if they’re stuck with an older version and no way besides rooting, to update their tablet.
“In terms of hardware, the iPad device still offers much more compared to the current crop of tablets in the market,” comments Dan Shey, practice director, mobile services. “Android is currently being used on many low end tablets that do not offer experiences anywhere near the iPad and this dampens the download momentum for users.”
