There are “reports” that Android has reached a new milestone as far as the number of apps are concerned.
According to Business Insider, Android now boasts a healthy 250,000 apps compared to Apple’s 350,000 apps, putting the mobile OS within range of iOS.
While it’s expected that Android will eventually have more apps as the OS gains popularity worldwide, I am a bit skeptical about these numbers overall.
Last month, Google former CEO Eric Schmidt (now chairman) at the Mobile World Congress revealed to the world that the Android Market had surpassed 150,000 apps as of February.
Even though 150,000 apps is impressive, that pales in comparison to previous estimates by experts who estimated that the Android market would swell past 200,000 apps around December.
Reaching 250,000 apps would mean that the app store gained over 100,000 new apps in about 30 days. Although this is possible, it’s very improbable when one notes Android’s past growth since inception.
Although I’m personally baffled as to why Android doesn’t have 1 million apps already (as developers don’t have to deal with Apple’s massive iTax), Android app estimates in the past have usually exceeded official numbers from Google.
Unless someone wants to count every single app upon Android Market, for now it’s best to wait for Google to release official numbers to the public or provide us with a daily app counter detailing Android’s app stats.
(Hat Tip: GSM Arena, Image via Business Insider)
Originally posted on March 18, 2011 @ 2:00 pm