Despite positive outlook for the rest of the market, Ovum said Apple will steal lead the mobile app providers globally, constituting around 70% of the whole application download market this year.

This lead, however, will not enjoy a steady rise, as the firm predicts a 20% loss in market share by 2014, given the emergence of new competitors in the mobile application market.

"The global market will grow by a CAGR of 153% between 2008 and 2011, but will drop to around 33% between 2011 and 2014. In brief, we believe that a number of substitutes will emerge for application downloads, including browser-based services," it said.

Ovum added that while the hype for mobile applications is going strong, consumer willingness to pay will still determine the size of the market. Early on, however, high-end applications are getting much of the limelight, it said.

"Paid-for applications will reach 3.3 billion, up from just under 147 million in 2008," it explained. "However, this is lower than the growth in free downloads, which are set to grow at a CAGR of 88% over the period."