ABI Research says that the figure represents 19% of all downloads by Apple users and added that the iPhone took two years before reaching three billion app downloads. The firm revealed that Android tablets have only reached 440 million app downloads to date.

“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.”

ABI Research’s Mobile Applications Market Data also tackled smartphone downloads and forecast that annual Android smartphone app downloads will rise to 58 billion by 2016, putting the platform comfortably ahead the 27 billion app downloads expected for Apple’s iPhone.