By Google’s made some pretty big strides with Android in recent years. Adoption rate exploded through the roof and it’s on track to become the number one smartphone operating system worldwide in just a few short years (it’s already taken more than 50% in the US market).
With more users comes more developer support because no one wants to develop for a small crowd. That’s a big reason why the Android market was so empty starting out and why there aren’t nearly as many apps available for WebOS as there are for other platforms.
To the point, though – Android now has 400,000 applications in its market, only 100,000 shy from iOS’ count of 500,000. Not all apps may be quality (in fact, some have turned out to be malicious offerings) but there is still a huge abundance of quality applications available from top developers and even some smaller independent developers. Let’s hope 2012 brings many more to the table! [Distimo via The Verge]
When the number is this large, who cares which store has more apps? As long as the majority of the most popular apps are on both platforms, it’s hardly a selling point now if you actually take time to think about it.
I agree. I will care just as little once Android has 1 Million apps. Now if there were 1,000(more like 100) apps that I wanted to keep on my phone then I would shit a brick.
I got roughly 80 applications on my phone, meaning there’s 399920 I’m not using. (And I’m a power user, most people I know have about 15-20 apps installed) As long as there are enough high-quality apps I couldn’t care less about the total number.
The question is, how many of them are clones?
By you saying that, you must somehow not realize that at least a quarter of those are clones of other apps. Troll-on playa.
What’s funny about you and your comments is the fact that I’m a proud S2 user. Assuming I am an iClone just because I made a negative mark about the Android Market makes u sound like the sheep buddy.
What’s funny about you and your comments is the fact that I’m a proud S2 user. Assuming I am an iClone just because I made a negative mark about the Android Market makes u sound like the sheep buddy.
That number doesn’t seem that impressive when you think about how many of those apps are:
Themes
Keyboards
Live Wallpapers
Minor tweaks
Clones
For example… I am sure the market still has Chomp SMS…. AND Chomp SMS with built in keyboard for Android builds under 1.5 (Before Android had a software keyboard)
Those are all added into Google’s numbers.
Also… kinda interested to hear how many of the 400,000 are Honeycomb + Tablet apps.
What’s this? You can have custom Themes, Keyboards and Themes on Android?
FOUL! They can’t count these since iOS doesn’t expose that power to developers or end users!
As opposed to all the fart and burp apps and Angry Bird ripoffs on iOS? Keep trolling, you’ll get it right one day.
I have over 250+ on my phone, and that’s after recently going through the list and getting rid of ones I don’t want/need/use. I’d say there’s plenty of high-quality apps.
Since the same app can usually adapt it’s UI for tabley use, there’s no real distinction between a phone and tablet app in the Market, something iOS users are not used to as Apple differentiates between them.
Looking for a point to this post.
Still looking…
Found it! Apple trolling.
Don’t hate on something just because your phone doesn’t allow you to do it.
If the quality of the apps in the Android Market matched that of the Appstore, that would be one thing. There are a lot of quality titles that are either delayed or never released on Android. Chuzzle, Bejewled, Infinity Blade 1 & 2, Mini Gore, Machinarium, and those are just some of the ones I am missing on my GNex.
Terrantula
Chuzzle, Bejeweled and minigore (Called age of zombies on android) are out on android, have been for donkeys!
I just searched again and none of the apps I mentioned are available on the Market. Is there some other location I can get Chuzzle, and Bejewled? Scribblenauts would be another one I would like to get again as I miss it from my iPhone.
Terrantula
It’s probably not showing up because it might not be compatible with your phone. Do a search in market.android.com and you’ll find them.
Would love for that to be the case, but a search there only turns up a Chuzzle Fan App. Im not looking for clones as I know those exist throughout the Market, but would love for some of the originals to show up for Android. App quality is the area that really needs to mature in order to match iOS. I have been through a variety of Android phones and iOS devices and this has always been one of my issues with Android.
Terrantula
Bejeweled by EA showed up when I searched for it.
I have a GNex. What Aeries said is exactly the case. The apps are there (eg. Bejeweled) but they are not compatible with ICS yet that’s why they don’t show up in the Market. If you have another device registered with the online market (market.android.com) that runs an older version of Android (e.g I have a Galaxy TAB registered as well as my GNex) then the apps will show but under each app, it will state whether it’s compatible with the GNex or not. Give them some time, Android 4.0 is still new and there’s always a small price for being the first.
Also, Samsung isn’t blocking any apps, lol.
There is a lot of high-quality apps in the Market and that number is constantly rising. Yes, some games haven’t been ported yet (and some may never be) but the offer is far from being low. We are starting to see new apps or updates coming to Android first (Riptide GP, Facebook) so it’s only a matter of time before most developers can’t ignore the platform anymore. The iTunes App Store has a headstard of almost a year on the Android Market and we can’t expect an overnight increase of apps past what they have, but it will happen eventually.
Wow, didn’t realize my posts were going to cause so much hate…. That might be the case about Samsung blocking certain titles or not being available yet available for the GNex. Not really sure. The Market Place quality has improved substantially since my OG Droid and Droid X days, so im fine with what I have to the GNex so far.
Terrantula
Android still significantly behind on tablet apps. There are a few good exceptions, but as a rule; your favorite ipad app either doesnt exist as android (honeycomb or ics) or it is much cruder.
can we do an assessment of the crapware % of apps between both stores? I see way too much junk in the android market
There’s crap in the iOS market as well, it’s just more polished.
Case in point, a friend of mine was showing off this iOS app that could tell you what color your underwear was by reading your thumbprint.
App counts are just marketing tools, not really important for the end user. I get what you’re saying about developers jumping on the OS, but that’s attracted more from the handsets sold than how many apps there already are.
What Google needs credit for is what they did with the tools in play. The new UI is far superior to the old market, and the ability for developers to key apps for specific devices is helpful. I don’t think it will ever be as far as Apple in terms of control, mostly because it’s not needed, but Google has finally started to pay attention to important things like the market. Adding things like books, movies, and now music also gives the user a better experience and helps the credibility of the OS as a legit platform instead of being perceived as one just half baked. I don’t read comments about where the Android ecosystem is anymore, so good job to Google for bringing it all together and for improving it as much as they have. It’s still not a complete product, but it’s come a long way and looks good so far.
The # of apps/market has always been a pointless statistic. That said, when android app volume passes iOs I’m going to be all over the ios trolls. lol.
it really doesnt mean anything at all. apple isnt stupid,when android surpasses IOS in number of apps,they’re not going to just say “oh well,i guess you win,android”, they’re just going to point out that the IOS environment is more controlled,so even though there are more apps on android,there are higher quality apps on IOS,wo which do you like more,quality or quantity?
at the end of the day,as much as i like android,what apple has done with one phone a year is waaaaaayyyyyy more impressive that what android phones have done with a new phone every other day. so articles like these,and any other ones that are numbers based comparing IOS to android,should really have an asterisk next to them
Lots of people nowadays want bigger screens, 3.5 inch isn’t enough!
Sig.com
“Dude”,either your’e 14 years old,and your parents need to start monitoring you’re internet usage,or you need some serious anger management classes,because no normal person gets that angry over a cell phone.
using caps lock and cussing at people doesn’t make you look smart,it just makes you look like a troll with nothing better to do than go around trying to intimidate everyone who disagrees with you on the internet,something you pretty much fail at,by the way.
i would just suggest to you,sir,that before you start angrily commenting on peoples posts,trying to look smarter than them,you learn how to fully spell the following words:
you
your
you’re (because i’m sure you don’t know the difference)
and i’m pretty sure “dick-holes” would actually be two words.possible “fan-boy” too.
and just so you know,i have a droid X right now,had the original droid before that and haven’t owned an apple product outside of an ipod before in my life
just because some people tend to like to point out facts,doesn’t make them a “fan boy”……
It doesn’t matter on BOTH sides of the fence because quality apps to accomplish almost anything can be found in both App Stores. I happen to prefer Android’s ecosystem and the Google Apps.
At the same time, crap apps can be found in both app stores as well. I was once an iPhone user (it hurt to say that :) ) and remembered having to wade through lots of poorly written crap. Some looked great until I installed them and they either crashed or was just a complete waste of time. Others were great.
What’s really significant about Android’s app number is how fast it grew to what it is. And yes Google should be proud!
google should definently be proud,but things like number of apps or number of activations,just dont impress me when it comes to android,because of the number of phones out there.
take christmas for instance,with the hundreds of android phones out there,there were still more iphone activations this christmas than there were android,and there is only one iphone (or three,if you count the iphone 4,and even the 3gs,which im sure some people are still buying).
i love android,but the numbers game just doesnt impress me
Don’t take this the wrong way, but is there a particular reason you chose to use an Android phone? Seems to me an iPhone would better suit your tastes.
The only reason I’m asking is because I never saw the need to have both OS types after finding the one that suited me best. I had an iPhone 3g for one year and decided IOS wasn’t for me and never turned back.
I dabbled with WebOS for seven months (Palm Pre) after which I got disappointed, and got my first taste of Android with the Droid. Since then, Android has been it. It’s not perfect but for me, it’s pretty close to ideal. The only reason I’d look at an iPhone now is for comparison research (curiosity) or to help someone with an issue. But there’s just no way I’d actually go back to using one. Same with WebOS, I can’t see myself ever going back to that system. It had some great ideas but the execution and hardware choices were just horrible.
i’ve messed with an iphone before,i think its nice,but the OS is just boring to me. i appreciate being able to customize a phone when i dont like the way it looks.its the same reason i dont like the ipad. if apple had gone the same route as google,and created an OS specifically for tablets,then i might like it,but the fact that its just a big version of the same operating system is a turn off for me
They may have had more iOS activations on the one day, but overall android still has a considerably larger chunk of the market share. To me it almost looks like ios may start going the way of the blackberry (not as it is now, but what happened when the iphone first came out and started muscling its way into RIM’s territory).
The numbers game is due to Android having one HUGE advantage over iOS and that’s versatility. There is a smartphone style for pretty much everyone when it comes to android. With iOS, what you see is what you get and that’s it and that’s one of the main reasons I go with Android.
These operating systems are just built for different demographics. iOS is definitely more for the mac crowd, while Android is more for the PC crowd, and the fight between the two is basically another mac pc holy war.
Cursing and raging only serves to weaken the point you are trying to make. If you are going to try to repudiate someone’s argument, I would suggest doing it in a much more controlled manner. Unfortunately, this is the internet and my advice will almost certainly fall on deaf ears (or I guess in this case blind eyes)
Now let’s start subtracting duplicate apps. I don’t think “Lighter” and “Lighter Plus” should be considered 2 apps. Just saying.
Oh and don’t get me started on “Fake Gun”, “Shoot Gun”, “Gun Shooter”, and some other random names that involve the word “Gun” that do the EXACT same thing. LoL!!