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Android To Surpass Apple’s App Store In Size By August

23 points by ssclafani 15y ago

nsfmc 15y ago
Arguably, the most valuable portion of the article: Evidently, there’s always the question whether this matters at all. After all, the bulk of applications that are available for both platforms don’t see much traction anyway, so how relevant it is whether there are 100,000 apps or 200,000 apps that are rarely, if ever, downloaded by anyone?
- daniel_solano 15y ago
  Quite true; what good are 100,000 choices if none of them solve my problem? A second problem: 50 apps look like they might solve my problem, but how do I know which suits me the best?
  - joebadmo 15y ago
    Yes, and you would think that Google of all companies would be uniquely suited to solving the second problem, but it hasn't, inexplicably, at least not yet.
stringbot 15y ago
In other news, Wal-Mart stocks a lot more clothes than Armani Exchange.
- sudont 15y ago
  Haven't we gone past that analogy yet? Apple isn't always high-end, Android isn't always utilitarian for the masses. If anything, it's two competing bazaars. Apple's just been able to attract more artists to sell in theirs.
  - ddagradi 15y ago
    It's more than that though. Apple attracts more customers that are more willing to spend money on their platform. In doing so, they attract more high quality applications and developers that can make a living off of that ecosystem. Android is doing that as well, but more slowly, in no small part due to the difficulty people often face with the Android Marketplace.
  - aditya42 15y ago
    How do you define high end? Because to me, and people in general out there, Apple is (always) high end in the sense that they're about as high quality as you can get as far as these kind of devices go. They don't charge "high-end" prices for some of their devices, but price isn't the metric you judge something to be high end or not. Of course, if high end for you means diamond studded or gold plated, then we have a different case here.
  - stringbot 15y ago
    It's not actually that there are more artists, it's that the Apple bazaar has attracted customers who are willing to pay money for the art.
- frou_dh 15y ago
  They do cost a lot, but my Armani fart and flashlight apps are simply divine.
- watty 15y ago
  I didn't know Wal-Mart sold the same brands as Armani Exchange. Seems like a good deal to me...
tomelders 15y ago
It feels like a useless metric to me. Would knowing the number of websites on the web tell you anything useful about the web? Beyond a certain point it's just a lot of noise and I personally think both app stores would be better with a lot less apps.
peteretep 15y ago
I feel like I've seen a lot of metrics about how Android /will/ be the platform of choice, and little that suggests the vast majority of consumers buy Android phones for anything other than price reasons.
- jnhnum1 15y ago
  There was a study a while back that said that Android is now the most desired platform: http://www.androidcentral.com/nielsen-android-americas-most-wanted-platform http://www.androidcentral.com/nielsen-android-americas-most-... I don't believe that in that study "desired" was supposed to be inclusive of price.
  - huxley 15y ago
    It wasn't a real study, it was some sort of survey done by The Nielsen Company (the ones who measure TV viewership): http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartphone-market-whos-the-most-wanted/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartp... It doesn't describe the selection method, the numbers of interviewees or even the margin of error. And the "desirability difference" is 1%.
  - ZeroGravitas 15y ago
    I believe "desired" in that report means intends to purchase in the next 12 months. So devices that are priced to sell would have an advantage. Whether that's an unfair advantage is a bit of a philosophical conundrum, particularly as people might "desire" something more if it's less attainable. It reminds me of the TED talk by Benjamin Wallace where he sought out ridiculously expensive steak, champagne, jeans etc. to see if they were worth the price: http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_wallace_on_the_price_of_happiness.html http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_wallace_on_the_price_of_ha...
    - huxley 15y ago
      The other problem with the desirability standard is that iOS and Android in the survey are pretty much even (30% and 31%). http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartphone-market-whos-the-most-wanted/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartp... If you look at their other graphs, however, they show that "recent acquirers" have favoured Android (50% bought an Android versus 25% who bought an iPhone). I particularly like how they handwave the discrepancy between desirability and reported purchases by saying "Those dynamics are already translating into sales." If one assumes their numbers are accurate, they point to other factors besides "desirability" behind the purchase of a smartphone.
guscost 15y ago
Meanwhile, true low-latency audio is still not possible on Android. Anyone developing precisely-timed musical tools and games (like myself) will be forced to stick with iOS, and there still isn't a single decent synthesizer for my Droid.
ry0ohki 15y ago
I'm honestly surprised it took this long. Considering anyone can submit "Hello World" to the Android store in 1 minute by getting a $25 dev account, and the Apple approval process is an exercise in bureaucracy....

23 points by ssclafani 15y ago

nsfmc 15y ago

Arguably, the most valuable portion of the article: Evidently, there’s always the question whether this matters at all. After all, the bulk of applications that are available for both platforms don’t see much traction anyway, so how relevant it is whether there are 100,000 apps or 200,000 apps that are rarely, if ever, downloaded by anyone?

daniel_solano 15y ago
Quite true; what good are 100,000 choices if none of them solve my problem? A second problem: 50 apps look like they might solve my problem, but how do I know which suits me the best?
- joebadmo 15y ago
  Yes, and you would think that Google of all companies would be uniquely suited to solving the second problem, but it hasn't, inexplicably, at least not yet.

stringbot 15y ago

In other news, Wal-Mart stocks a lot more clothes than Armani Exchange.

sudont 15y ago
Haven't we gone past that analogy yet? Apple isn't always high-end, Android isn't always utilitarian for the masses. If anything, it's two competing bazaars. Apple's just been able to attract more artists to sell in theirs.
- ddagradi 15y ago
  It's more than that though. Apple attracts more customers that are more willing to spend money on their platform. In doing so, they attract more high quality applications and developers that can make a living off of that ecosystem. Android is doing that as well, but more slowly, in no small part due to the difficulty people often face with the Android Marketplace.
- aditya42 15y ago
  How do you define high end? Because to me, and people in general out there, Apple is (always) high end in the sense that they're about as high quality as you can get as far as these kind of devices go. They don't charge "high-end" prices for some of their devices, but price isn't the metric you judge something to be high end or not. Of course, if high end for you means diamond studded or gold plated, then we have a different case here.
- stringbot 15y ago
  It's not actually that there are more artists, it's that the Apple bazaar has attracted customers who are willing to pay money for the art.
frou_dh 15y ago
They do cost a lot, but my Armani fart and flashlight apps are simply divine.
watty 15y ago
I didn't know Wal-Mart sold the same brands as Armani Exchange. Seems like a good deal to me...

tomelders 15y ago

It feels like a useless metric to me. Would knowing the number of websites on the web tell you anything useful about the web? Beyond a certain point it's just a lot of noise and I personally think both app stores would be better with a lot less apps.

peteretep 15y ago

I feel like I've seen a lot of metrics about how Android /will/ be the platform of choice, and little that suggests the vast majority of consumers buy Android phones for anything other than price reasons.

jnhnum1 15y ago
There was a study a while back that said that Android is now the most desired platform: http://www.androidcentral.com/nielsen-android-americas-most-wanted-platform http://www.androidcentral.com/nielsen-android-americas-most-... I don't believe that in that study "desired" was supposed to be inclusive of price.
- huxley 15y ago
  It wasn't a real study, it was some sort of survey done by The Nielsen Company (the ones who measure TV viewership): http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartphone-market-whos-the-most-wanted/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartp... It doesn't describe the selection method, the numbers of interviewees or even the margin of error. And the "desirability difference" is 1%.
- ZeroGravitas 15y ago
  I believe "desired" in that report means intends to purchase in the next 12 months. So devices that are priced to sell would have an advantage. Whether that's an unfair advantage is a bit of a philosophical conundrum, particularly as people might "desire" something more if it's less attainable. It reminds me of the TED talk by Benjamin Wallace where he sought out ridiculously expensive steak, champagne, jeans etc. to see if they were worth the price: http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_wallace_on_the_price_of_happiness.html http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_wallace_on_the_price_of_ha...
  - huxley 15y ago
    The other problem with the desirability standard is that iOS and Android in the survey are pretty much even (30% and 31%). http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartphone-market-whos-the-most-wanted/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartp... If you look at their other graphs, however, they show that "recent acquirers" have favoured Android (50% bought an Android versus 25% who bought an iPhone). I particularly like how they handwave the discrepancy between desirability and reported purchases by saying "Those dynamics are already translating into sales." If one assumes their numbers are accurate, they point to other factors besides "desirability" behind the purchase of a smartphone.

guscost 15y ago

Meanwhile, true low-latency audio is still not possible on Android. Anyone developing precisely-timed musical tools and games (like myself) will be forced to stick with iOS, and there still isn't a single decent synthesizer for my Droid.

ry0ohki 15y ago

I'm honestly surprised it took this long. Considering anyone can submit "Hello World" to the Android store in 1 minute by getting a $25 dev account, and the Apple approval process is an exercise in bureaucracy....