Google to take on iPhone in smartphone war

APPLE’S iPhone will likely dominate the high-end smartphone market in the next five years but is set to face very strong competition from handsets using Google’s Android platform.

By 2015, total mobile application downloads in the Asia-Pacific are forecast to reach 5.3 billion, of which 597.15 million, or about 11%, will be for the iPhone, technology industry consultancy Ovum said.

Downloads of iPhone applications are estimated at 62.16m in 2010, rising to 597m downloads in 2015, Ovum said in an analysis released four days before the launch of the new-generation iPhone 4 in another 17 countries and cities worldwide on Friday.