Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Their epic battle for book supremacy dates back to a century long past. It was a simpler time - 1995. Back in the '90's (as we called them back then) the battle between the established B&N and the upstart Amazon.com was about books. But today, more than 15 years after the first arrows were fired the battle has moved to the digital world. It's not just about e-books either. Now, it's about all sorts of digital content. Including apps.
So, while Apple and Amazon dominate marketshare and net new app additions each quarter the more interesting battle (until the Android Market gets closer to catching Apple) is between the two companies helping bring the low cost tablet to the masses. In the recently launched App Marketshare Tracker for Q4 it is clear which platform developers prefer; Amazon. Despite the Kindle Fire launching in mid Q4 Amazon's aggressive effort to court developers has allowed its Kindle Fire app store to already eclipse the established B&N store. In fact by the end of the quarter Amazon had more than 13,000 Kindle Fire Apps available while Barnes and Noble only offered 2,000 Nook apps. And while the Nook App Store grew by huge percentages - demonstrating increased developer interest in the platform it still has ways to go to catch up to Amazon.
The battle between Barnes and Noble and Amazon is just one pertinent data point discussed in the report App Marketshare Tracker Q4 - Kindle Catches Fire while Nook Slowly Smolder.
Other questions addressed include:
- Which categories are growing the fastest?
- How is the battle between Apple and Android shaping up?
- Which ecosystem is winning the battle for third place?