Android Market surpassed the Apple App Store in free app count

vegetaleb

GSM Arena wroteApple’s App Store has held the top spot pretty much since the dawn of app stores but the times they are a-changin’. The Android Market has already surpassed the App Store in terms of free apps and analysts from Distimo estimate it will soon overtake it in terms of total apps too. Well we'd be more conservative in using words like "soon" but the guys over at Distimo might have a point there.
The Android Market has 134 thousand free apps on its virtual shelves, while the Apple App Store for iPhone offers 121 thousand free apps. Still, the iOS store has the lead in total count, having about three times as many paid apps as the droid store.

http://www.gsmarena.com/android_market_has_more_free_apps_than_apple_app_store-news-2572.php

haidcar

according to these charts by june the andorid markets will be only 50,000 app behind app store and by end of summer android will be on top :D

Kassem

So if iPhone loses its AppStore superiority, why would people still buy an iPhone?

xterm

Kassem wroteSo if iPhone loses its AppStore superiority, why would people still buy an iPhone?

Why would anyon buy a Ferrari when mercedes clearly sells more cars.

Kassem

xterm wrote
Kassem wroteSo if iPhone loses its AppStore superiority, why would people still buy an iPhone?
Why would anyon buy a Ferrari when mercedes clearly sells more cars.

I do not think this is relevant. Comparing a Mercedes to a Lexus would more like it. But, my point is, most people preferred the iPhone because of the abundance of apps which would cover almost everything you would need for your smart phone. On the other hand, most Android based mobile phones are better when it comes to hardware specs (we do agree on this one, right?). So, if the same apps are available for you on both platforms, Android has better specs and is even less expensive, what would you choose? Would you still buy an iPhone just for the sake of the "i-Label"?

haidcar

xterm wrote
Kassem wroteSo if iPhone loses its AppStore superiority, why would people still buy an iPhone?
Why would anyon buy a Ferrari when mercedes clearly sells more cars.

its more like why would they buy still buy Ferrari when Lamborghini makes faster cars

arithma

As a developer, why should I be interested with a platform that is distributing free stuff, making no money, and has an "anything" goes policy when it comes to quality? Please do correct me. I am shooting in the dark here.

xterm

Kassem wroteWould you still buy an iPhone just for the sake of the "i-Label"?

Honestly, simply because iOS is more to my taste. I tried several Android based phones already and none of them was appealing to me. phones and OSes are like food, you can't enforce it on someone, either you like it or you don't.

Why are people buying Macs (I'm refering to the entire system including the OS), when microsoft dominates more than 80% of the market and there's clearly more apps available?

xterm

haidcar wroteits more like why would they buy still buy Ferrari when Lamborghini makes faster cars

Chicken or the egg haidcar.

Kassem

arithma wroteAs a developer, why should I be interested with a platform that is distributing free stuff, making no money, and has an "anything" goes policy when it comes to quality? Please do correct me. I am shooting in the dark here.

You might actually have a point here. I myself wouldn't be interested investing my time in "free" apps.

haidcar

you still can make money selling free apps. by putting ads in your app, take angry birds for example on the andorid market its free app but they make a lot of money selling ads due to its popularity

vegetaleb

Video mocking the new iphone ad by showing the numerous things you can do more on Android:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vcV7qea2V4

Georges

Kassem wrote
arithma wroteAs a developer, why should I be interested with a platform that is distributing free stuff, making no money, and has an "anything" goes policy when it comes to quality? Please do correct me. I am shooting in the dark here.
You might actually have a point here. I myself wouldn't be interested investing my time in "free" apps.

Who said that all the apps are distributed for free on Android. Like iOS, some apps cost money.
I recently downloaded Applanet which is the Android version of iPhone's Installous and from which you can download all the paid applications for free.

Not to forget that a huge chunk of applications on iPhone are also free. The advantages of Android over iOS in programming are the facilitations to install the required development tools, to sign and distribute an application on the market. While on iOS you have to be certified, apps should be revised by the apple development center, (and the rest of Apple's useless rules and regulations <-- that's my opinion only | Don't argue with me on that please until you experience it personally)...

arithma wroteAs a developer, why should I be interested with a platform that is distributing free stuff, making no money, and has an "anything" goes policy when it comes to quality?

Arithma, you don't have to make money from everything you program. Sometimes, free stuff will make you more money than you expect. Think about your reputation as an Android developer who built 5 applications with 25.000 downloads each (i'm not saying >250.000). You'll definitely get hired in a mobile development company with an outstanding salary.

And the "anything goes" policy you mentioned is not only Android related. The apple store contains millions of useless applications.