Quantity rarely equals quality, of course, but it's still fairly notable that the
Android Market has now managed to top 20,000 apps just a little over a year after it opened its doors -- Apple's App Store had over 50,000 apps a year into its existence, for those keeping track. Even more interesting, however, is the distribution of free and paid apps in the Market. According to
AndroLib, fully 62.2% of the apps available are completely free, compared to just 37.8% that are paid apps. That's in stark contrast to the App Store, which now has over 100,000 individual apps, of which (by some recent counts) a hefty 77% are paid applications -- although only 30% of total App Store downloads are for paid apps. What does it all mean? Well, that's open for debate. But one thing's for sure: the rest of the app store contenders are going to have to work some special pie chart magic to come out looking good in this battle.
posted December 15th 2009 2:38PM
All you've done is repeat Apple marketing verbatim so far in your arguments, so I wouldn't get too preachy there fella.
My mum always told me size doesn't matter.
Its the quality that counts.
@MuffinsFTW
she was just trying to protect your feelings ;)
I have the Droid and Android OS is a very excellent start. Still have some things to work out but is a great OS!
The answer is simple, there are only 9 supported countries for merchants to sell priced applications.
the big question. will developers be able to capitalize on this platform?
The only problem with it is so many apps that do the exact same thing
The Android paid applications market is, in its current state, almost a joke.
My application is consistently under #30 in the paid app charts, and it sells for 99 cents. Guess how much I make? $100 a day? $50 a day? No, my friends, it's more like $10 a day.
I think the comparison to this Android Market milestone should not be to the App Store one year after opening, but rather to the iPhone itself one year after release.
Apple is mighty proud of the app store numbers, but they don't readily remind people that you could only load official apps onto the phone about a year after release.
So, in a sense I think that the score is 20k (or whatever) for Android to iPhone's zero, for about the same timeline.
@Nova461
How is that comparable? There was no app store when the iPhone was released, but there IS an Android store for Android. Since this comparison is being made in the context of the time the store has actually been available, that goes for both the iPhone and Android.
It would be like me comparing iPhone sales numbers to Droid sales numbers... before the Droid was released. That's a stupid comparison, right? Right.
@Jack
I see what you are saying. But consider this: at some (different) point in time, both Apple and Google/HTC plunked down a brand new platform. A year or so after that point, there were 20k applications for Android (let's not argue about how useful/unique they are, I concede that point), and none official for the iPhone.
People had a year to get a feel for the iPhone, to imagine what they could do with the platform, to develop the underground jailbreak community, to start hacking away a bit. When the App Store opened, the iPhone wasn't new...the devs hit the ground running. This might be part of the reason for Apple's 50k apps to Android's 20k after a year.
My point is simply that the Android Market is in its infancy. A year into development on Android with real hardware, there are far more apps available than there were for the iPhone at the same stage of life, primarily because development was allowed to begin right away.
@Nova461
That's irrelevant. The only thing that's relevant in the context of number of apps developed is the period of time in which they were developed. If you use a year as the benchmark, that's a year from the day the store opened. Not a year from the day a phone became available.
It sounds like you're making excuses because the iPhone came out so far before the Android store did. It's irrelevant. Here's why:
The App Store came online in July 2008.
Android Market came online October 2008.
That's only a 3 month difference. In the time since those respective stores went online, the App store has gained over 120,000 apps now, and Android Market has 20,000. As of July 11 2009, the App Store had 55,000 apps.
So not only were many more apps developed for Apple in the same period of time, in the 6 months between July and December of this year, an additional 65,000 apps were added to the App Store. In SIX MONTHS. That's TWELVE TIMES the rate at which apps are being added to to Android Marketplace.
Does anybody really believe Android development is going to catch up to that, with that kind of acceleration?
@Jack
No need to get defensive. I am in the market for a smartphone, but I don't currently own one...I'm not taking sides.
There's no denying that the iPhone platform has far more apps than Android...I mentioned ~50k vs. ~20k in one year. There is also no denying that there are more iPhones and iPod Touches out there than Android phones. There is probably no denying that the available apps are better on iPhone than Android. iPhone has better global penetration. Recent news is that Apple sold 10 million iPhones in one *quarter*! That's impressive.
But you asked if anyone believed that Android development would catch up...in fact I think it can and will. Right now, developers are having a hard time making money with Android, but the number of Android devices is exploding (and not just phones), and the market base is poised to become staggeringly huge. If Google makes the Market easier to search, browse, etc (i.e. easier to use)....and I suspect that this is very high on their list...the the development curve might indeed start to out-pace the iPhone.
We'll see what Apple does next...every time it seems like the competition about has them matched, they innovate. I look forward to it.
@Jack
Apple had already a large iphone userbase installed before the app store opened, where amount of Android phones were very low during 2008 and the first half of 2009. Android only took of about 3 months ago and in that period the number of apps have more than tripled.
Any way the absolute number of apps really doesn´t matter much (Apple fans have used this argument for years in the PC vs Mac debates)
@ Nova
Don't try to reason with this Jack guy. He's just a troll.
His arguments sofar have been "iPhone has more apps!" And "iPhone had more apps in one year!"
You try reason: "but the iPhone had a running start, so had a better chance of getting off the ground quickly"
His reply? A Hilarious Spinal Tap-style brain freeze: "*pause*... but IPHONE HAD MORE APPS".
You need Quantity to be noticed and valued in the mobile industry more than Quality. Thus "iPhone about to sell 10 million units," "100,000 apps," and "#1 selling smartphone" as all headlines for stories. Whereas quality of the product functioning is secondary.
@derekdevine
It's good that the iPhone has both quality and quantity which makes it the #1 smartphone in the world. Glad that's settled.
Having 100,000 apps in Android won't matter if they don't allow us to save them to the microsd card without rooting.
@gerrrg
And you think 100000 apps fit in an iPhone? (that does not has any way of expanding memory using memory cards)
Someone might have said this already, but....
The first 15k apps on the Android Market were created for the G1, and to a lesser extent, the MyTouch. There are WAAAAY fewer of these handsets out there than the iPhone. Also - iPhone was out for quite awhile before the App Store started, so there was already an established user base.
Now, a year later, we've got 20k apps on Android, a bevy of handsets, including the recently released Droid which is the first Android handset on a big network. Droid will easily eclipse the G1's install base, if they haven't already.
With a considerable amount more handsets in the market than there were previously, plus the fact that its easier/cheaper to work on the Android Market, we will see LOTS more Android apps in the near future, count on it.
With the number of android apps exploding, are there any sites that focus on spotlighting apps as they are being released. As a new Droid owner it would be nice to have a good resource for this instead of endless scrolling down the "just in list".
www.newandroidapps.com anyone?
@ECH
There are dozens... Try Google-ing it from your DROID.
@DaHarder
Do you have any favorites? What is the engadget of the android app review world?
Since when did we start calling bookmarks apps? Or the "dev" that posted up screenshots of an iPhone selling it as a theme. The same spammer who promotes his site in the Android Market? How many task manage apps and antivirus apps in the Android Market?
Someone said that apps for different firmwares don't show up but that's a load of crap too. I've ran across A LOT of apps that tells me it's not for Droid.
I think people are missing the point.I am a hero owner, and personally I have found most android apps to be pretty weak overall. Visually the majority of the apps look far far worse than most iphone apps. Visually good looking apps are hard to find on android and lets face it people are superficial particulely un tech saavy people.
Secondly we still have not got decent basic apps. Facebook for example is a complete pisstake to the point that i just go to the site on the browser cos the app is such a joke, can't do f**k all on it. Unlike on iphone where it is a pleasure to use.
Thirdly. Because of the lack of continuity on the android platform it means features like mulitouch are not supported in many apps...apple wins again.
Fourthly, as people have explained before games on android are a joke, we know why this is but still...Apple cleans up again.
Fifthly because these apps have to run on these weak ass qualcomm cpu's and now we are seeing cortex A8's coming to android, whats going to happen? Developers are probably not going to be able to make use of the extra horsepower because they have to cater for the lowest common denominator, e.g this arm 11 based sluggish qualcomm junk. Howver I appreciate that this is just speculation and may not be the case.
Finally. Androids lack of support from big names also means that we have to put up with half assed apps made by clowns who often make pale imitations. Take the bbc iplayer for example. While apple iphone users get amazingly crisp rendering and nice streaming, andorid users get 'beeb player' which pixelates to shit and isn't even worth using.
My hero has shown great promise and some aspects of it are great, and while I don't like apples 'closed platform' outlook it does bring certain benefits....namely quality control/big name support/proper gaming.
Great Job Android!
I'm finding the Android Market to be full of very useful/high-quality apps, and the one's that have required payment have been well-worth the asking price.
@DaHarder
Gee, do you really enjoy fart apps that much. Oh, that's right, you can multitask fart apps so they're more productive.
@DaHarder
You could say the exact same thing about the App Store, the only difference being that the App Store gives you a lot more CHOICE.
@Jack
Except of course the Android market gives me the unfettered option of replacing my DROID's Media Player, Web Browser, Camera App and any other OS 'core app' that I choose to augment/replace.
It's a nice luxury, and one that none of my iPhones ever offered and probably never will outside of jailbreaking or other such inconvenient nonsense.
@Average White Boy
How about you ask your parents to buy you an Android-based smartphone, actually use it (and the Android Market) for a few months, and get back to me with a credible response.
Sound Fair?
I suppose it means that Android has more developer mindshare (apps developers write for fun or because they need them), while iPhone has more financial investment (apps companies develop to make money).
Though I suppose it would be very helpful if we knew the ratio in iPhone App Store when it was a year old.
Am I really the only one who couldn't care less how many apps are in the app store? I mean really once it surpasses about 500-1000 or so good worthwhile apps, what do I care? Since over 90% of the apps for mobile devices are garbage, does it matter if iPhone has more garbage available than Android? We can't assume the percentage of worthwhile apps is the same for both platforms so the measurement is useless.
Think of it this way. If you are a guy at a club looking for a hot girl, and there are only 5 you find attractive, do you really care if the club has 100, 500, or 1000 ugly ones? You can try to make the argument that Apple is actively keeping the ugly ones out with a doorman, but in reality they seem to be letting in all the ugly ones (fart apps, etc.) and doing their darnedest at keeping out the super attractive ones out(Google Voice, Skype, etc. you know the list).
disclaimer: I judge a woman's beauty by her heart, and not her appearance, and would never be so shallow as to seek after the "hot" ones, since they are all probably shallow bimbos ;)