In the mobile OS world, Google’s Android is still a challenger but with the amount of devices that will be running the system that are due to come out in the coming months alone in combination with its open approach it is definitely a contestant to watch closely. The success of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone / iPod Touch is often measured by how many apps have already been developed for the platform (around 70,000), but since Google doesn’t disclose exactly how many apps are available through Android Market it was difficult to compare the two on that particular level.
But thanks to AndroLib, which provides a useful website where you can browse Android apps from your computer (unlike the Android Market website), we can conclude that there are currently at least 10,000 applications and games available on the platform today.
AndroLib’s latest stats show a total of 10,072 apps that were crawled by their system, the majority of which were free (64.2% to be exact).
The company is first to admit that there are probably more than the 10,000 applications they can track, but says there’s no better way to get an idea of how many applications are currently in the Android Market. The only time that type of information was disclosed that I can remember is when T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman told PC World back in May that there were 2,300 applications in total available for the platform at that time.
Going by both numbers, that means the Android market has grown 4.4 times in size in just four months.
For the record, the Android Market was first announced on 28 August 2008 and was made available to users less than a year ago, on 22 October 2008. Priced application support was added for US users and developers in the US and UK in mid-February 2009, and UK users gained the ability to purchase priced applications on 13 March 2009.
You also have to remember that Android is an OPEN PLATFORM. That means unlike iPhone, anyone can make an APP store for Android and sell whatever apps they want. Or, an app developers can just put the app on this personal website. That means while you can compare iPhone App Store to the Android Market to compares stores you can not use them to compare number of apps.
If “OPEN” was a factor in success then “the Year of Linux on the Desktop” would be a reality, and not a reoccurring joke. The end-users do not care about “open”, only what they can use. Same goes for most developers, “open” is nice, a viable revenue stream is essential.
I which the chanting of more Android devices would stop. The number of different available Android devices is irrelevant, they all compete for the same fixed pool of consumers. So today many devices, especially from different device manufacturers may even hurt Android, by cannibalizing device manufacturers.
This can only change when a truly spectacular Android device, with no obvious rough edges in hardware and software, arrives.
Sadly true that open and technologically superior is not a gurantee for market success (seems often quite the opposite when looking at the general IT/OS market), but I as a user do care about *open* in a way that nobody controls which apps get approved or not.
In the Android market, *users* report applications that should be thrown out, but don’t get controlled by a single entity. This process is not only more social Web 2.0-style, but also more fair and faster.
As for devices, just look at HTC (Magic, Hero) and other very well done new Android-powered “phones” which get very good reviews, so the hardware problem seems to be quite well solved by now.
For the record: I own a Magic which is very well integrated not only with Google (surprise) services but also with my local provider, A1 (car navigation etc.).
I selected the Android platform exactly because it was open in a way that any device manufacturer can suit it to their needs and what they think customers want, which is not possible for the iPhone, which is also the more *expensive* option, not only in initial and recurring fees but also because the percentage of free applications is much lower than for Android, which is more open source friendly (also for developers, i.e. Eclipse and free tools instead of Apple’s proprietary and closed tool landscape which is bound to the Mac and X-Code)..
Android is still a challenger! Androlib.com continues to innovate which provides a useful website where we can browse Androidapps from our computer. iPhone might have a great platform to download stuff, and be a very good competitor to the Android! But, does Android cope up the needs?
Stats shows the dynamic growth of Android Market with 10k of apps. The major reason is Android’s open system. Android Market attracts the utmost percentage of free apps. Hope Android will continue to be an open platform and promote new apps in a short period. But I feel Android has a long run and needs to stabilize more to become a tough competitor for Apple.
Didn’t anyone see the irony with this mobile apps craze? While the desktop computing world tries to move towards web-centric apps, using the web browser as the platform, the mobile computing world move BACKWARDS with OS-specific flavors of an app. Facebook needs to write an app for the iPhone, one for Android, one for Palm’s WebOS, one for S60, eventual one for Maemo, etc.
Isn’t this crazy? Hey, we have this wonderful thing called the Web that can “united” all platforms. Are we going to move several steps backward only to return to square one 5 or 10 years from now???
Not sure what you mean. You can’t browse apps not on the store, and you can’t install them (Android will disallow installing outside apps unless you override the security settings).
The sad thing is that Android Market is still closed for paid apps from developers outside Austria, France,
Germany, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. What about Canada, Central and Eastern Europe, India, etc.? It is really annoying as google remains quiet on that giving no estimate at all, and just go through the first pages of the Feature Request forum on the Android website to see how frustrated people are:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/label?lid=6c2f25659505b63d&hl=en
In India situation is pathetic.. no Google and Market App.
What do you mean no Market App in India? I can get to the market from my G1. Or do you mean that there is no way to purchase an app from India?
Just download Market Enabler and be done with it. It’s been out for a while now.
Androlib.com continues to innovate. Pretty cool. I also saw that they have details stats for each application….They also released the ability to upload screenshots before Google. Very nice
I wasn’t sure about Android at first. We have all had that iPhone moment, when we witness both its power and its great interface. However, since I got my HTC Dream, or T-mobile mytouch you guys call it, I have no doubt Android will be huge.
Its missing a few apps – thats for sure – and the interface isn’t quite as slick as the iPhone’s. But if you use google services like gmail & calendar, the integration is sublime. The notifications from all apps, not just google ones, are so useful and completely outclass what the iPhone has. The synching of your local changes with your google accounts is also done perfectly. You even find things that you never even use are really helpful – Anyone can send me a gtalk message and it hits my phone instantly, even if I’m not logged into gtalk. As it appears on the sidebar in gmail – anyone I’ve got as a contact can just send me a message which I will get instantly. OK, you could send a text, but its so convenient and you can seamlessly start having a chat if you want.
I was surprised that Android could have such a good offering already. Once it has more time to be developed and more phones come out it will be great. So too will the iPhone, so it will be interesting to see which platform can add all the best features the other has. And it seems a lot more likely that Android will be able to do everything the iPhone can, than the other way around.
well said… Not just that but iPhone might have a great platform to download stuff, but Google has Killer apps out there that integrate extremely well and are designed for everyday use.
You’ve outlined exactly the reason why I’m looking forward to an Android phone…eventually. I’m just waiting for a device with a processor at least comparable to the 3GS and Pre.
I’m hooked on Gmail, Gchat, GCal, and am waiting to use my GVoice once I have Android.
I have an iPhone 2G now and as you said, it seems likely that Android will have everything I want before iPhone.
EAT THIS UP APPLE!!!
LG-Entna (COMING)
Motorola – Morrison (COMING)
Motorola – Sholes (COMING)
Samsung – Galaxy i7500 – Available
Samsung – Galaxy lite – (COMING)
HTC – HERO200 – (COMING)
Philips – V??? – (COMING)
Dell – ??? – (COMING)
I actually think Apple is welcoming this. All these devices will run pretty much the same software, on very similar hardware. In short they compete for the very same pool of consumers, without adding anything extraordinary that would widen that pool. None of these devises introduces anything that would entice a potential iPhone buyer to instead go for an Android device.
Instead we have six different device manufacturers all competing for the same consumers. Risks are very high that one or more of them well be cannibalized by the others and go under.
I believe this. While iPhone/Android devices are getting sold, the overall market share is not growing as fast. ergo, people are buying both, or replacing really fast.
For iPhone loves instead, you can browse and search for iPhone apps on the desktop via a recently released search engine for the AppStore: http://uquery.com
-Marc
Still loving my iPhone 3GS but I’ll be first in line for one of the upcoming motorola/android devices. They have something to prove and I believe they shall.
10k horrible apps
Thanks your input, Apple Fan Boy.
What a big box of shite! Just try to see what is available when you have a real need, and you’ll get a sense of the weakness of the offerings available.
I say this as a long-term Android user, always “waiting for godot” for that great handset we are always promised (The mytouch being the latest disappointment for me).
Soon Apple Fanboys won’t have the excuse that the Android Market can’t compare to the App Store. Then where will their precious iPhone stand? It will still be a hot seller, but Android is quickly picking up handsets soon to go out…
Not waiting for the store, waiting for the SDK functionality to improve… Perhaps, by 2.0 things will be in good shape. It will happen, and I look forward to this.
At least the Android Market’s 10k Apps aren’t cluttered with 9k fart and ‘pull my finger’ Apps :]
Sure they are. Android doesn’t have a decent Facebook, Pandora or VPN application. It’s garbage.
It has third party facebook applications that work pretty well.
Pandora? Perhaps not, but it has last.fm and imeem. And those actually play as you surf the web.
VPN? Perhaps not, but it has a nice free ssh client – all I ever need.
VPN works flawlessly on Cyanogen’s build. So I presume it will be in the next release.
I believe Android just released Facebook. Pandora is being worked on as we speak.
Actually they now have Pandora and Facebook. Wow – they are moving quick.
http://www.androidguys.com/2009/09/09/first-look-pandora-brings-their-streaming-music-app-to-android/
One of the things I love most about Android is that a developer can distribute their app outside of the “official” marketplace. This does mean that a dev needs to either make it free, or have their own payment software to charge for it, but the point is, this makes it a truly open system. And that’s amazing.
This is one of my biggest complaints about the iPhone, that Apple is in complete control of what software is available to the general public.
The majority of consumer electronic systems are completely closed and offer very little or no app system compared to the iPhone. Blackberry and Palm control their systems the same way. And you are assuming that all Android phones will have no controls.
I don’t find Android nut swinging attractive.
anyone know when verizon will have a phone with android available?
Sometime before the end of the year, estimated late October according to this: http://theandroidsite.com/2009/08/23/verizon-document-shows-motorola-sholes-coming-late-october/
As the marketplaces become similar, I think we’ll see a convergence in a lot of the apps where developers release apps to support both iPhone and Android and to a certain extent, also RIM, Windows Phone, and Palm Pre. At least that’s our plan with CloudProfile with our upcoming mobile application release.
In my view, it should be for the end-users to decide and where possible they should be able to “bring their own phone” to a wide range of apps covering common needs.
While apps are great and rather important for a platform to be successful, the most important and overlooked aspect of a mobile platform is the usability, which Apple owns all the best patents on. No platform – period, can compete with the iPhone because of it’s usability patents and tight integration into Itunes.
I recently had a myTouch from HTC, which is a seriously under-performing product/hardware that I believe is an embarrassment to Tmobile and Google. I spent most of my time ‘force quitting’ applications and missing the little things like being able to pinch windows and tap into specific sections of a web-page. The UI isn’t polished either, too many meaningless features that 99% of users don’t know how to configure or operate. I missed the tight integration into iTunes for all my Music, Video and Pictures.
The iPhone has cool factor that the Android won’t be able to compete with (I know that this sounds stupid but the US is full of followers who all have the have the most popular thing(s) even if they’re garbage). It’s expected that Apple will end it’s exclusive relationship with AT&T and will open the iPhone across multiple US carriers. When this happens I don’t know of a single person who’d choose an Android over an iPhone.
Google is trying to grow it’s revenues beyond its search business and is getting into many different areas and should I remind all of you readers how well this has worked for Microsoft?
ok funboy. You keep thinking that. 15-20 Android phones by end of year. How many is crapple unvailing?
Besides. So what if 12 year old girls think the iPhone is cool. Myspace also has the coolness factor.
@gwon,
‘confidential confidential’ has one point that would have proven true… had Apple not sign with Cingular/AT&T exclusively…
No doubt, A LOT of people would jump the AT&T ship to Verizon or another regional GSM compatible carrier.
This is the whole Windows hardware variety versus a unified Mac OS X… except in the mobile space.
I agree. I still think Apple can get a bigger market share if they go to different carriers (within 1-2 years). If not, Andriod will overtake them within 1-2 years.
@gwon: What does it matter if there is one or 12 Android phones to choose from if none compares favorably to the iPhone?
For Apple that does not matter at all, for the Android device manufacturers it means that all devices have to compete for the same customers.
The number of available Android phones IS IRRELEVANT. Only the quality of the hardware, software, and service.
Also Android can not compete against Apples CURRENT offering by promising FUTURE phones.
Not everyone likes the same thing. That’s why there are different fashions, different movies, different books – catering to different tastes. Same thing with the devices.
While you (and certainly many others) may love the iPhone, not everyone does. I liked my iPhone, but switched to the G1 because of the keyboard. And I love it.
The iPhone is certainly a better hardware today. But the UI is showing its age. The Sense UI is sexier and more usable with live widgets than the static iPhone home screens.
But the Hero is still underpowered, still has poor battery life and most importantly (for me) has no physical keyboard. But it will be loved by a set of people who didn’t like the G1.
IMO, Android already has more innovative and compelling apps than the iPhone. The syncing with Google is brilliant. Background processing with notifications make for much better usability.
The iPhone is still more consistent over all and will likely always be the case. But in a short one year span, as far as I’m concerned Android is already superior to the iPhone.
“…is still a challenger but with the amount of devices that will be running the system that are due to come out in the coming months alone in combination with its open approach it is definitely a contestant to watch closely.”
Hey Arrington. Can you please hire people who know how to construct a sentence?
You are using the term market incorrectly. Number of available applications market, $$ = market. Growing from 2500 to 10k apps does mean the market is quadrupled. The question is how many $$ are people spending on these 10k applications. Compare that to Apple app sales and you will be measuring the market.
That’s nonsense in this case, as the article points out that 64% are FREE. Therefore, it is foolish to assume the monetary value of the market.
Not necessarily.
If developers can’t hope to profit from their efforts, many will not bother to develop for the platform. And, without apps users want, hardware sales will suffer.
According to AdMob, fewer than one in five Android owners currently pay for apps, compared to half of all iPhone users. That may have something to do with whether there are as many apps for Android worth buying. Or it could be connected to the ease of purchase.
Either way a healthy (and profitable) market for Android apps is likely to be fundamental to the long term future of the OS.
With more and better handsets coming soon that could well prove the case. But as of now it seems that Android apps are a not for profit opportunity.
http://www.reviewsreviewed.co.uk/index.php/mobileblog/For-now-Android-apps-are-a-not-for-profit-opportunity.html
Once again it is mainly connected to the fact that MOST ARE FREE!
So far I have bought every application that I wanted/needed. The price has not stopped me, as the most expensive RDP was $5.98… i.e. not a big deal of money. The price wasn’t a factor.
Of course, the quality of apps is a factor, but if it is good, paying for an app is not going to stop me.
I have no idea how the pricing on the Market is governed, is it down to the developer or Google…? However, if you (as a developer) believe in your product, make it chargeable…. If you put it out there for free, don’t complain.
good job
Nice work and good discussion..Android have such a good offering. here is a Andorid Google. Check em out…http://www.justcompareit.com/s~q-Android.aspx?ag=3
We have some similar stats over at http://androidstats.com. Although only for the US Android Market, we are putting the numbers together to calculate monthly worth (around $1M USD / month) . http://jtribe.blogspot.com/2009/08/android-market-monthly-revenue-revealed.html
If you’re interesting in the apps of the smartphones. We give you more.
http://www.111download.com/list/video-converters-1.html
This has been a long time coming. The iPhone has actually elevated and accelerated the adoption of all mobile apps.
We published a ten page report that came to this exact same conclusion a couple of weeks ago:
Take a look:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/18382905/iPhone-Apps-New-Media-Life-Cycle-Analysis
One amazing android app that can help you track all your online accounts (bills, credit cards, banks, investment…) is Personal Assistant by Pageonce.
Best of all – it also have a free version!
Recommendations from trusted sources could be the new gold rush.
TC should make an RSS feed of good app.’s. Then people can make recommending services that combine RSS feeds from different sites and filters the 10k app.’s to a practical list of choices.
true, but these apps arent compatible with every android phone, unlike the Apple App Store.
Yes, all apps are compatible across all android phones that have been released.
All iPhone apps are not compatible with every iPhone.
3G cannot take advantage of Augmented Reality apps that 3GS can.
3G cannot take advantage of the Video capable apps like Qik unless you jailbreak..
So the statement you just made isn’t 100% correct.
BIG fan of Android! Would like to see adoption by Nokia. Check out my fan android commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8CqMVa6ZeU
Does anyone know the initial distribution of prices regarding iphone apps? I mean, money talks.
Last time I read something about it most were “$10 or less with the bulk at under $5″.
Which, Commercially, isnt that much money but things might have changed since I last read about it.
However, Android on the other hand is the same OS on multiple handsets. Multiple handsets for multiple flavours. Multiple flavours a.k.a potential customers.
I wouldnt worry too much about cannibalization.
Apple apps are clean and designed by people that know what they are doing, taking both aesthetics and usability into consideration.
One of the reasons windows has fallen behind is because apps are designed by a bunch of scientists who have no clue about the end user. Cant help but feel Android is going down the same route.
These new mobile OS’s are doing stuff apple was 5 years ago.
Yeah…that…
You heard it, The Internet: windows apps are made by scientists.
Learn to smart….
Android news from past few weeks: new phones! new apps! new carriers! more users! great reviews!
iPhone news from past few weeks: C64 emu..maybe…yes..no..sure…ok here it is and there is goes!
Exciting, exciting times to be an Apple user. Also, welcome to 2003 with that MMS support. …
Also – Apple giving Palm another big F U for iTunes.
And congrats on the MMS support Apple/AT&T. I hope it does not bring your AT&T network down to its knees.
Because it’s an Open Platform it’s only a matter of time before the Market hits 70,000+ apps.
Android sucks… ;-) ;-P
just kidding…
Android sucks… ;)
;P
Just kidding…