If you’re talking about innovation in mobile technology, you’ll be guaranteed to hear this word…Apps

‘We’ve got an App for that’. I’m sure you’ve heard that term, a genius little piece of joy from the guys at Apple – Incidentally, the word Apple is only a few letters removed from the word Apps (those guys are even cleverer than I first thought).

Being the preeminent force in the world of Apps, Apple have undoubtedly made their iPhone the handset of choice for trendy professionals and, well…just about everyone else. They have achieved that feat because they have the highest volume and variety of Apps on the market – it’s that simple. iPhone users have downloaded a massive 1 Billion Apps to their shiny touch screen handsets – and that was the count as of April 2009!

By the end 2010, the total number of mobile App downloads was being estimated around the 8 Billion mark. The message is clear, Apps are the key component of a successful modern mobile phone. To compete with the Blackberry’s and iPhone’s of this world, a manufacturer needs to be sure their potential users have access to a vast array of the things – or they face a dismal sales failure.

With Apple’s Apps downloads going up by crazy amounts over the last few years, and with new pretenders to their thrown like Android, the total figure for Apps downloaded is only going to go up. Android and the other newer kids on the block will be confident they can eat into Apple’s share, a point illustrated by research associate Fei Feng Seet:

“The iTunes App Store only targets iOS users; that leaves more room for other platform application stores to step up and focus on ‘non-Apple’ clientele. Android smart phone quarterly shipments now exceed Apple’s. There is still a long way to go, but accumulated downloads from both Android Market and third-party platforms surpassed 1.9 billion by the end of 2010. Android Market currently features more than 130,000 Apps in 48 countries, nearly half of iTunes App Store’s catalogue.”

So the point is clear, the battle ground over which the mobile phone battle will be won and lost is Apps. Apple have won the battle so far, but will they win the Apps war? Over to you Android…

Speaking of Android, here are 5 Android Apps that show just how random the Apps world can be…