There’s this really nice write up at TechCruch about the Android Market app count surpassing the iOS App Store count at some point this summer. If you download the reports and read them as I did, you will notice one key point: quality of apps was not a factor in the research.
Is it enough to simply have more
I don’t take issue with the projections that the reports from Distimo and research2guidance make, the volume of apps in the Android Market will surpass the App Store at some point in the near future. It just won’t matter at all.
Both stores have their fart apps and gaydar games but the Android Market has something that the iOS App Store will never include: themes, font packs and widgets. All of these “apps” count in the Android Market total and it really skews reality.
Garbage in, garbage out
If you do a search for theme on AppBrain.com there’s nearly 10,000 results. Try font pack next and there’s another 2,000 “apps”. How about widgets? Over 10,000. That’s nearly 15% of the total app count in the Android Market, but it doesn’t even include all of the garbage app categories. How about searching for settings? Another 23,000 apps, or now nearly 30% of the total Market count.
It actually does get worse from there. If you add in the pumpers like Handmark, My Local TV and Zumobi who release the same app under many names the numbers are watered down even further. Viewed another way, if it weren’t for the garbage apps and pumpers the Android Market wouldn’t even be in the app count race, Apple would be far in front.
Android Market will win the app count battle
By late summer the Android Market will nose ahead of the iOS App Store in total app count. Regardless the amount of wasted space people will continue to find apps that they need and games that they want to play in both. Who’s in front only matters to companies selling research reports and chest thumper’s on both sides.
Source: TechCrunch