Android Continues To Explode, 400,000 Apps Now In Market

At one time, Android was playing a game of catch up with Apple’s mobile operating system, but it appears that’s not necessarily the case anymore. 400,000 apps are now available while iOS has over 500,000 apps. The massive growth can be attributed to the increase in free apps which is the most popular option for app developers.

Android has the largest percentage of free apps, 68% accounting for 65% of total revenue, compared to iOS which less than half of it’s revenue is made from freebies. Despite the large number of apps for both platforms, it’s interesting to note that even though Apple has a strict review process and Android doesn’t have a review process quite to that extent, there’s still more apps, 100,000 more to be precise, in the App Store.

As The Washington Post puts it, “The next big gap for Google to close will be in total income, as Apple collects around four times as much from its App Store as Google does from the Market — and that’s before you even factor in the iPad.”

Yes. Four times as much revenue. Both tech companies do exceptionally well with monetizing, particularly Google as far as monetizing content, though it seems the App Store has a more profitable offering. Combine that with users who historically spend more on tech whether that be gadgets or what have you, and you’ve got a winning combination.

At the end of the day, while sheer numbers are great, Android has some work ahead of itself to become even more of a money maker.