Android Market Apps Grow by Leaps and Bounds (NewsFactor)

A new report indicates a big jump in Android Market applications, just one day after another report found that Android tablets had taken more than one-quarter of world market share from Apple's iPad. According to mobile-research firm Research2Guidance, the Android Market has been undergoing what it described as "exponential growth."

In the recently completed third quarter of this year, the number of active mobile apps in the Market was about 319,000. This is lower than the 460,000 in Apple's app store, but the firm found that, on average, each Android developer has placed more than six apps in the Market since its launch, while iOS developers have only placed an average of four each.

500,000 vs. 600,000

If measured as total number of applications published, rather than active mobile apps, the Android Market has had about 500,000 and the App Store about 600,000. Over 37 percent were later removed from the Market for various reasons, while the App Store removed only about 24 percent. Some of the reasons for removing apps included multiple trials, incompatibility with the latest operating system, developer abandonment and low quality.

But, in a way, the comparison of how many have been published and later removed is apples and oranges. Google lets virtually any app get published, and later removes the bad ones, while Apple has a rigorous approval policy that occurs prior to publishing.

When measured by the user base, the research firm projects that the user base for the Android Market will actually exceed Apple's by this year's end.

A new analysis from ABI Research shows that Android phones are now downloading more apps total than iPhones, and have a 44 percent worldwide share of mobile app downloads. However, it also notes that there are now 2.4 Android handsets for every iPhone, which means that each Android phone is downloading half as many apps as each iPhone.

'Apple's Superior Monetization'

ABI also noted that Android handset shipments in the second quarter increased by 36 percent year-over-year, while the iPhone increased 9 percent.

A key for Apple is whether the best third-party developers continue to write for its platform. ABI said in a statement that "Apple's superior monetization policies attracted good developers within its ranks, thus creating a better catalog of apps and customer experience," which is helping to maintain its developer ranks.

Android's key advantage, the report said, is its open-source nature, which has rapidly expanded the installed base and made an attractive target for developers.

On Friday, a report from research firm Strategy Analytics found that the worldwide market share of Apple's iPad, which had been 96 percent of the tablet category earlier this year, was now at 67 percent. Android tablets accounted for 27 percent, up from 2.3 percent at the end of 2010. This dramatic change in market share occurred even though Apple increased its unit sales by 20 percent from the second to the third quarter.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111025/bs_nf/80727

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