Apple and the App Store have near absolute control of the mobile app industry, says Gartner. The research firm notes that approximately 2.5 billion iPhone apps were downloaded in 2009, the 3 billion total downloads mark having been hit earlier this month. By comparison only 16 million apps were downloaded last year through other, newer app stores, giving Apple a 99.4 percent share. Overall industry sales revenue was $4.2 billion.
