Study: Android Market set to surpass App Store

By Liam Tung on Apr 29, 2011 4:13 AM
Filed under Hardware

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace to take third spot.

Google’s Android Market should have more apps than the Apple iPhone app store by August, according to forecasts by research group Distimo.

“The Google Android Market is predicted to have only 40,000 applications less than the Apple App Store for iPhone by the end of June 2011, and will close the remaining gap before the end of July 2011,” the Dutch research house reported.

The projection for Android Market’s lead was based on a comparison of average month on month growth rates for the past three months.

Android Market’s 16 percent growth was higher than the rate for iPhone and iPad apps, which grew 6 and 12 percent respectively.

The Apple App Store in March had 333,214 iPhone apps and a total iOS count of 367,334, compared with Android Market’s 206,143, according to Distimo’s figures.

Apple also had a 75,755 iPad app lead on Google’s Honeycomb OS for tablets, and other tablet operating system rivals such as BlackBerry and HP.

Despite Android Market’s rapid growth in total apps, the number of paid-for apps paled in comparison to Apple's offering. Android Market had 134,342 free apps, 10,000 more than the iPhone App Store, but only one third as many paid apps available.

Distimo predicted an interesting battle for third spot in the war for apps. While BlackBerry’s Appworld is expected to take third spot by July, ahead of Nokia’s Ovi Store, the research group hedged its bets on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Marketplace eventually taking third spot.

“At its current growth rate, the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World before the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has even been available for a full year.”

Study: Android Market set to surpass App Store

6 comments in this discussion

"PS, I don't have the mission critical app Angry Birds Ace mentioned, while I do use Maps... I enjoy Ace's feedback to the Articles posted here"

By BrissyBoy

Tags

android, apps, iphone, ipad, store, windows, phone, blackberry, nokia, ovi, distimo

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Comments: 6

mrhasbean Apr 29, 2011 8:07 AM	That's great for the number of (cr)Apps available, but umm, have you got any figures at hand on how many are being downloaded, or even better still, how many commercial developers are making any income from it? Last I heard Google weren't overly keen to share much of the detail about that. It seems that data is confidential, unlike your and my browsing history. And I also suspect those figures would paint a somewhat different story.
Ace Apr 29, 2011 1:23 PM	Given that Android phone sales overtook iPhone sales last year, Android downloads (which require no user registration/credit card etc) are likely to be greater as well. I can't download any iPhone app, even free ones because Apple want all my personal details & credit card info, which I'd rather not do. The Android market has free apps that are actually free, so while I don't know much about the Apple App Store, I'm guessing it's very similar to the Android market. ie: Tons of apps, a few gems, and a load of rather average apps. What's more, many of the mission critical apps, like Angry Birds, Skype and Maps, are equally available on both platforms. I'd be surprised if the Windows App store remained anything other than a distant 3rd for quite some time.
meski Apr 29, 2011 4:03 PM	Mission critical apps like Angry Birds? Thanks Ace, I loved that.
realitybites Apr 29, 2011 7:47 PM	I concur, put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
BrissyBoy May 2, 2011 7:52 AM	I think the difference was well put by a friend on the weekend - Android equals free - iOS - $. That is iOS users are more prepared to pay for an app than droid folks. That being said, is there one Android OS or are there multiple - do the OEMs do their stuff to Android like they did with Windows? How do the apps developers paid for or free deal with cross OEM compatibility issues, if any? What support do the droids get from their host platform in the form of Crash reports, Downloads vs Usage, revenue etc all the things you would like from a a modern day market place. iOS = 1 manufacturer droid = n OEMs and 1 OS BlackBerry = 1 manufacturer OVI = 1 manufacturer Windows n OEMs and 1 OS All in all if I was to devleop for a platform and decide between Droid vs iOS vs BlackBerry vs OVI vs Windows I would probably go for BlackBerry or iOS. One of the biggest support headaches for M$ and Commercial Apps developers in that space has always been the various hardware platforms they had to take into account. Yes, before you comment, I am a reformed Windows user, I own and operate Mac everthing at home, have iPad and iPhone for personal use, and a Blackberry, Windows and iPad for work. I am a firm believer that the market will determine the winner and at the end of the day the market is big enough on the Droid and iOS platforms for both to create a brillant and vibrant apps ecosystem and that has to be good for the users of either platform.
BrissyBoy May 2, 2011 7:54 AM	PS, I don't have the mission critical app Angry Birds Ace mentioned, while I do use Maps... I enjoy Ace's feedback to the Articles posted here