As if all the CTIA love that Android received wasn’t enough, the open source mobile platform made significant gains in two key areas recently.’a0 As you know, for a mobile platform to have any gravity it has two have two things: 1) a healthy market share and 2) enough applications and services to keep users interested.’a0 This excitement drives further market share.
Android Market Share Increases
According to analytics firm comScore, Android is gaining quickly in market share on the iPhone.’a0 Also, Palm and Microsoft’s share of the mobile pie is shrinking.
comScore’s report shows that in the three month period ending February 2010, 45 million Americans were using smartphones.’a0 Looking at the market share changes, Google’s growth outpaced the rest of the smartphone market, gaining 5.2%.’a0 The only other gaining mobile platform was RIM (BlackBerry), where all other mobile platforms lost market share.
Android Market Adds 9000+ Apps in March
According to AndroidLib.com, the Android market added 9,331 new applications to the growing app store in March.’a0 Yes, the iPhone app store has over 160,000 apps in it, but this 9K number in the Android Market represents a massive growth pattern.
For reference, in July 2009, only 1,558 apps were added and the Android Market is on pace to crack 30,000 apps in the very near future.’a0 It is important to state that quantity does not always make a mobile app store inherently better.’a0 After all, how many iFart or iBeer apps does one app store need?
For many mobile app enthusiasts (and casual smartphone users), every app that interests them on the iPhone is currently available in the Android market.’a0 There are fantastic apps including Google Maps (Android’s version is far better), Foursquare, Facebook, multiple Twitter clients, reference apps, and more.
The fact that Google’s Android is gaining customers quickly and developing a very robust and attractive mobile apps marketplace position Android to take on Apple’s iPhone and Nokia as well.
Are you happy with the app selection in the Android Market?
PS, if you want to check out our high quality Android apps, be sure to download Wapedia and Taptu Search!