Google said its Android Market has accrued over 10 billion application downloads since its launch in October 2008. Apple has notched close to 20 billion downloads to its App Store.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) said its Android Market application store exceeded 10 billion application downloads this past weekend, clearly helped by the fact the more than 200 million Android devices have been activated all over the world, with 550,000 activated each day.
For perspective, the Android Market tallied 6.5 billion downloads through July and 4.5 billion through last May, when Google revealed the number at Google I/O. The Android app growth has accelerated considerably when one considers that it took Google from October 2008 to July 2010 to hit the 1 billion app download mark.
The search engine, which is counting on smartphones, tablets and TVs based on its Android operating system to help it funnel more ads to consumers, celebrated the milestone by offering new applications for 10 cents a piece for the next 10 days.
Titles costing a dime a piece today include Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity and SwiftKey X.
Eric Chu, director of Android Ecosystem, wrote in a Google corporate blog post.
"None of these apps would have existed if it weren't for the developers who created them. Every day, these developers continue to push the limits on what’s possible and delight us in the process. For that, we thank them."
Hitting 10 billion apps is a nice mark for the Android Market, which had been much maligned since its launch for offering too many spammy apps and a weaker user experience than that offered by Apple's App Store.
Apple would likely greet Google's milestone with a shoulder shrug and point out that its 18 billion app downloads are cooler than Google's 10 billion app downloads. That's Apple's app download figures across the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch through October 4, 2011.
ABI Research has the stats to back Google's ascent. The researcher said the Android operating system vaulted over Apple's iOS platform in market share downloads by a count of 44 percent to 31 percent.
Yet ABI also said that while Android took the lead in mobile app downloads, Apple's app downloads per user bested Android by a ratio of 2-to-1. "Apple's superior monetization policies attracted good developers within its ranks, thus creating a better catalog of apps and customer experience," reasoned ABI analyst Dan Shey.
Clearly, Google's Android Market team has work to do.
COMMENTARY: In a blog post dated July 12, 2011, I reported that Apple issued a press release saying it had hit the 15 million apps downloaded figure. These werre Apple's numbers:
- 15 billion apps downloaded
- More than 200 million iOS users (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)
- Over 100,000 native iPad apps
- 425,000 overall apps
- Consumers in 90 countries
- Over $2.5 billion in revenue share to developers thus far
This meant an average app download rate of about 415 million per month. But at the WWDC developer conference just a few weeks ago Apple noted it had sold 14 billion apps, which means over a billion sold in just a single month (and it added 10,000 apps to the iPad catalog in the same period). This means the pace of App Store sales is accelerating at a rather rapid rate. That's quite definitely changing the mobile marketplace, and having a ripple effect on the entire software market.
In a blog post dated October 29, 2011, I reported that Apple had slipped to fifth place among the top five mobile phone brands. However, this was before the deliveries of the iPhone 4CS, which did not begin shipping until Q4 2011. We can expect to see quite a jump in iPhone sales during Q4 2011, with the addition of Sprint as the third wireless carrier to carry the iPhone. Sales are also likely get an added boost due to China, where sales of the iPhone 4CS' were selling like hotcakes.
In a blog post dated November 30, 2011, I reported mobile phone sales by brand for the Q3 2011. and Android phones outnumber iOS phones by a ratio of 3-to-1. The Android OS accounted for 52.5 percent of smartphone sales to end users in the third quarter of 2011, more than doubling its market share from the third quarter of 2010.
There is no doubt that competition between Google's Android and Apple's iOS has intensified. For the short-term, the advantage still favors Apple, because they dominate tablets with the iPad, but this is likely to change with the introduction of Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet which was unveiled in September 28, 2011.
In a blog post dated November 25, 2011, I reported that CITI analyst Mark Mahane estimates that 4 million Kindle Fire tablets will be sold in Q4 2011, and that Amazon could sell an estimated 12 million Kindle Fire tablets in 2012, and steal 15% of the tablet market from Apple.
Courtesy of an article dated December 7, 2011 appearing in eWeek.com
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Posted by: android app development | 12/08/2011 at 09:28 PM