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With the amount of figures thrown around in the battle for smartphone supremacy, it is sometimes hard to keep up with the latest fact. Thankfully, Business Insider has whipped up a nice little chart to show us exactly how Android and iOS stack up in the apps category. As it stands, the number of apps in the Android Market has grown from a measly 5,000 applications in summer of 2009 to the over 250,000 apps we see less than two years later. The number of apps apple has added in that time period is nothing to scoff at, either, and Android’s biggest rival currently has claims to 350,000 applications in their own app store.
The key difference is the rate of growth Android has seen compared to iOS. While Apple’s platform continues to grow at a rather steady rate, Android has been gaining apps in exponential numbers. Business Insider had predicted Android would have overtaken Apple by now, but they still remain confident it is only a matter of months until the deed is done. With figures like these we say it is very likely, too.
[via Android Police]
Looks like march was an epic push for apps in the android market-place. Look at WP7 LOL. Sucks to be you.
Apple needs to stop worrying about apps and make sure they can get the time right.
I’m a pretty big Android Supporter but the Quality of apps is not the same so counting the total amount of apps isn’t really representative of the market…
Amount of sound boards, amount of Ocean house book apps, etc etc…
It would be awesome to have some kind of quality insurance or premium app store where only the best apps (more polished ones) would show up…I’m guessing markets like the amazon one will be more like that…
Great that Android market is growing fast!!! Just goes to show that Android is growing and getting better over time.
@Hampteezy
I did just read somewhere that WP7 got to 10,000 apps faster than both Android and iOS.
@Pitrick
I agree.
Well, I hope that the tablet apps start climbing. Honeycomb needs some love badly.
Where do these numbers come from?
AppBrain says 148k.
http://www.appbrain.com/stats/
I mean, when everyone was waiting for 100k to happen, it happened like 5 times with different companies reporting months apart.
Same with Android passing iOS. Android reportedly passed iOS’s total share in the US probably 5 times on this website and everytime it reads, “Android finally passed iOS.”
Total counts would just about be equal if you removed all the fart apps from iOS…
Well considering Eric Schmidt just said last month that Android just went over 150K apps, I am not sure how it is possible for them to have another 100K in less than a month. As ususal something smells fishy and I am tired of us Andorid people not speaking the truth. Why would we even publish stuff that is not possible.
Schmidt confirmed that the Android Market app total has reached 150,000 apps, which is three times what it was less than a year ago. No one was surprised to hear that these apps helped push the Android device total to 350,000 per day. Or is this an egg before the chicken situation and the app totals grew because developers saw the increasing number of devices being activated and realized that they had to invest more in supporting what has become the “fastest growing” mobile operating system around?
http://androinica.com/2011/02/android-has-150k-apps-350k-daily-activations-and-more-notes-from-eric-schmidts-mwc-keynote/
Who cares. Nearly every app sucks. When something on par with Infinity Blade shows up then that is something to be proud of.
the amount of quality apps is higher on the Apple App Store , the market has a few quality apps and lactose the intolerant if you remove all the porn and malware on the android market then iOS is still higher
jroc
WP7 apps came at a big cost: the end of compatibility with all the WinMo apps ever made. Fortunately, Android is getting the best of those such as Softmaker Office.
@SIGINT, infinity blade is just graphics and nothing more.
Is anyone else shocked at what a failure the chart itself is? It should be line graphs, and would be *actually* understandable that way. We’d then be able to see the difference in slopes rather than having to just guess.
The same can be said for iOS Apps as Android. For every bad quality soundboard Android has, iOS has twice as many high quality fart apps. A lot of the apps on either platform are complete junk.
Can someone please confirm if the market has 150K apps or over 250K apps? There are too many conflicting reports!
I would gladly give up 100k android apps if the rest were designed (graphically) better like on ios
It’s funny (almost) the things people tell themselves to support their decisions. iProduct fans have been touting the number of apps as one of the BIG reasons everyone should follow their “lead” and buy iProducts, while now, Android fans are sticking out their tongues and touting the idea that Android is catching up as proof that iProducts are doomed! To both batches of fools, I say, “So what?”. You like iProducts, buy them; you like Android products, buy them! Either way you aren’t spending MY money so why should I care and why do you need to justify your choice to me (or anyone else)? Neither platform is going to drive the other out of the market so what’s the point?
Android count passed iOS 10 months ago. In China there about 500k apps on many markets. These apps are better because they free and free from ads. Once these markets open up to America then US finally understand what freedom is. Go Andoird! Go and slay that POS crApple US crap! Android forever!
Yeah all those themes launchers and Widgets should not really be counted as apps
Who cares. So many apps are worthless. My iPhone never had more than 150 on it. Now my Android phone has about the same. Replaced every important app I had on iPhone with an Android one. Plus found a bunch of really cool apps I never could have on the iPhone. THats enough for me.
@19
Hope you enjoy the virus that’s going to share all your personal info and more with someone in China if you keep testing fate.
@18 if android fans aren’t willing to push for their platform, iphone will get all the good stuff. Look at blackberry, WinMo and webos. They got left behind because nobody was excited over them.
android’s app store kinda sucks to begin with, a lot of the apps are cheap knockoffs of ios apps or worthless addons or sound boards. i’m not saying it’s not good, but i had an iphone, and the apps were all phenomenal. you have apps that aren’t great, but they look great, and run awesome. i’ve had a lot of apps on android that don’t work on certain phones or are add ons for apps, and the quality’s just not always there. plus, a lot of android apps are ports of ios apps so the devs can make more money putting their stuff on another platform. i don’t think the numbers matter, just get the good apps out there.
Competition with the amazon appstore will push up the quality of android apps. The iphoneboys will have to find another thing to talk about.
“There aren’t any up-to-date android phones with 3.5″ screens!!!”
OK whatever.
@TheMokoda
If you aren’t worried about spending your money, and no-one even asked you for your money, nor have I seen anyone talk to you or any ‘justifications’. I don’t understand what the rambling post is about, just a random outburst of hyperactivity? :)
Good stuff, both stores have their advantages and disadvantages, but yes the pace of Android’s growth cannot be denied or overlooked.
Sadly, it’s not the quantity of apps that counts, it’s the quality. Google’s more open policy toward apps means that many of the apps that end up in the market are sub-par offerings.
There are many things I love about my DroidX that makes me glad I switched from iPhone. Quality of apps is not one of them.
Apple’s been playing the quantity card for a while now, as soon as Android overtakes they’ll switch to the quality card (Whether that’s true or not)
Androlib keeps stat of the android market, and I have been following it for a while.. I dont know exactly where they are getting their data from, but they’ve been pretty consistent. http://www.androlib.com/appstats.aspx <– this stats shows that the android market is fast approaching 300k apps already.. go figure!
People can love apple and ios all they want in my world it is USELESS. Android runs rings around apple and Htc bitch slaps apple every day. Google will forever rule
Android phones and market are exponentially better than the iphone….who cares about the number of apps…can you root an iphone and overclock the cpu…no can you have live wallpapers that respond to touch, noise, and your music…no can you download third party apps….not unless you jailbreak the iphone…..does the iphone come with amazing apps such as most androids do such as google goggles and navigation for free…no can you alter the devices homescreen to fit what you want ….no it just goes on and on and on….ANDROID WILL BE THE TOP PHONE IF IT ALREADY ISN’T AND IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN ANY CRAP THAT APPLE COMES OUT WITH!
OH YEA FORGOT TO ALSO ADD THE NVIDIA IS ON BOARD WITH ANDROID WHICH MEANS GAMES WILL KEEP GETTING BETTER AND BETTER….DONT SEE THAT WITH IPHONE….SORRY DONT MEAN TO RAMBLE JUST REALLY HATE APPLE PRODUCTS!
Wow!!
Google CEO said barely a month ago that Android has 150,000 apps:
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/get-ready-for-android-apps-mania/427487/
So unless they’ve added 100,000 apps in less than a month someone is lying….
I agree with 24
It doesn’t matter who’s got the most apps, it’s about who’s got the best and right now Apple has those because many devs still create apps for iPhone first.
This numbers game that Apple likes to shout about is so pointless, I fully expect Android apps to overtake Apple this year or early next; when they do it will be interesting to see what tact Apple use to defend their position. They’ll probably waffle on that more of their apps get five stars from consumers, blah, blah, yawn.
Personally I’d rather see fewer apps on Android that all rate highly, than a million apps that are garbage.
Eventually Android will pass Apple in total amount of apps, Apple will only allow so much to be posted to their market whereas Google is completely open. You can already start to see this as the growth rate for Apple declines over time, but Google increases in rate from jump to jump. While I like the ability to choose what I want, some form of control would be nice. Personally, I’m waiting for Amazon to see what impact they have, from what I’ve read, their system looks like a much more balanced approach to the system, somewhere between Apple and Google. And of course, Appbrain’s 24 hour hot list is where I find most of my new apps from. Add to that, tablet apps are becoming more common, so Google is going to have to address their market soon.
Don’t ignore the ability to port already existing apps to other platforms… if all you’re doing is porting, then Android naturally will grow faster to a certain point, and Windows will naturally grow even faster than that to a certain point. Early growth, at the very least, is likely all due to cross-platform apps..
Look at how slowly the Blackberry app store has grown in that same time frame. That’s freakin’ pitiful! At least WP7 can be like, “Hey, we’re new…give us time.”
How do you expect quality in Android apps to go up when most Android users have the attitude of “I’ll just pirate it, waahh, I hate 15 minute refund window…waahh”. If there is no money in it, quality will never increase. The users are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy here.
-Brad
When the iDud came out, I highlighted the number of Palm Apps…Crapple fanbois said “who needs apps when you have the Safari browsing experience? ” Android comes out & then they whine “Crapple has more apps!” Now Android is passing them in number of apps & the little phags whine “but Crapple has better quality apps!”
Sure little boyz, get down on your knees for Steve Jobs.
Talk is cheap. Talk from a itard user is feable. No matter what you say, how you taunt, the droid army marches onward and upward. Crushing every pus filled head itard user under foot of my droids, mighty peg legs. Soon, all you itard users will be wiped out.