24 hours have passed since the launch of the Android Market, the Google equivalent to Apple’s App Store. Medialets has conducted a thorough analysis of the two store launches. The verdict: the size of Android Market pales in comparison to Apple’s store at launch, and won’t allow for paid applications until next year. But the stores are more alike than they are different, with very similar applications launching on both platforms, and an overwhelming focus on games.
Android Market launched with a total of 62 applications, all thoroughly vetted by Google (we’ve heard that Google only wanted to launch with the cream of the crop, but will relax the process in the future). In comparison Apple’s store launched with around 552 total applications that had to go through a lengthy approval process that Apple continues to enforce.
Because both app stores obscure the total number of downloads every application sees, it’s difficult to gauge exactly how popular each app is. When Apple’s store first launched everyone could view exactly how many people had downloaded a given application, but this data was removed less than a day after launch (now the best estimate is to look at the total number of reviews). Android’s store has some very vague popularity descriptions: you can see if an app falls within a certain range (100-500, 500-1000, etc.) but above 10,000 downloads apps simply fall in the overly broad “10,000-50,000″ bracket.
Medialets reports that nine applications made it to this top bracket on Android, with ShopSavvy (an application that allows user to take a photo of a barcode to compare a product’s price with other stores) taking the top spot. Apple’s most popular app at launch was its iPhone Remote, which allows users to control their iTunes library remotely. Only three of the top nine apps in Android’s store are games, but games are still the dominant presence on the store as they are in iTunes.
It’s possible that this skew towards games is a result of developers trying to approach Android the same way as they approached the iPhone, which may wind up being a mistake. Apple has openly embraced the store’s emphasis on gaming, heavily advertising “the funnest iPod ever”. Android phones (particularly the G1) appeal to a different market – one that cares less about aesthetics and fun and more about flexibility and a built-in keyboard. Don’t be surprised if games wind up being significantly less popular on the Android marketplace.
To get a taste of what’s available on Android, check out our top 10 picks, along with AppVee’s video reviews. For more analysis, check out the Medialets report here.
people will buy it just for its name
http://makethemoola.weebly.com
I doubt that. The iphone is sexy. Apple did something that no other computer company really has been able to copy and that is make their products fashionable. If you look at the top TV shows people are using Mac PC’s and Iphones. I remember this lady trying to sell me on some fancy phone saying it does everything the iphone does and I was like but it isn’t the iphone. The iphone has become like brand name clothing. If it ain’t red tabs levi..so 1990’s, it is garbage type attitude.
Android is like orange tab levi’s. Looks the same, provides the same function but in the end it simply is not the red tab.
Great analysis. I’m just waiting to see how many (if at all) of the current iPhone developers defect to Android.
Your right Lance
http://www.para...alknowledge.com
Give Google a year to get more phones out and I think they will give iPhone Apps a run for their money!
Didn’t people say the same thing about zune or whatever that MS product was?
People learn in patterns. A ton of us have learned the whole online music thing through itunes. We are comfortable using that interface. We can get movies, TVshows, books and music all in one place online. The best thing is it connects to our iphone and our itouch. We can even download songs from an itunes store on those interfaces.
Not to mention Apple is cooler than google. It is used in multiple TV shows and movies always looking sexy as heck. Say what you want about their commercials but to the general public Apples are still a 1000 times better than MS. People know the pattern of itunes, they love the sleek design.
Furthermore people don’t like to learn new patterns when the old one works just fine. People are not going to change over. They are going to stick to what they know and what they like.
Google will get a small percentage of the market, just like Chrome has a small percentage of the market but it will take years before it can be a true competitor to Apple in this market.
Not exactly a fair comparison between ipod’s success and possiblity of similar success with iphone. IPod created a new market segment and iPhone is disruptive. Cellphones are volume business and very much dependent on the carriers patronage. If android can get traction with other carriers and manufacturers, there is a very good chance of beating the iphone numbers. For an app developer, it would all be about the market size. Lot of people do want the phones to be hmm… just a phone! So, if android devices become much more sleeker (like Samsung handsets) it would give the iphone good run for it’s money. Apple can ignore android at it’s own peril, otherwise it would be 1980’s all over again for AAPL. If you dont learn by history, it is bound to repeat!
The IPod was not extremely successful until it was released for the PC as well. Similarly, until the IPhone is available on other networks google can still capture market share.
Also… google’s pretty sexy as well…
We will agree to disagree. Iphone is like the Cadillac of phones. There are cheaper imitations but ultimately people want a caddy and will get a caddy when they can afford one.
Furthermore if this squidget becomes a reality http://www.macl...aled?page=0%2C1
apple will become the hardware of choice for another generation.
People want to talk about how apple is elitist. Well we all want to go to the clubs that have the line around the block because it is human nature to want to be a part of the elite in crowd. Apple is the in crowd for mobile. Google is the in crowd for search.
By the way how did zune do against the Ipod?
Yes I am going to go down fighting on this one.
apps are a fad and in a couple years no one will care about them. end of mobile app wars the top 5 apps will rule similar to the search engine market. no more please, lets integrate the ones we got. i got a question how many apps does it take to find a job. games being most popular is a sign that no one really wants to run or perfom serious business from a cell phone. games are fun but sooner than later app developers are gonna have to wash the dishes and take the trash and find a real job.
PlayNoGames.com- seriously
Lance & Jason– That’s what people say about the iPod. And that is the single reason I even CONSIDERED purchasing an Andriod (a phone like this is kind of out of my price range). I decided not to after the reviews though…
So you are right in one sense–I considered it more because I usually love google products, but once I read how annoying the “lip” is on the phone, I was out. Not because the lip itself bothers me, but it was one of those hotel room thoughts “If the bed doesn’t look very well made, how clean can the bathroom be?”
That’s so cool. I’m still waiting for an Android phone but to be honest I’ll be stuck with an iPhone until Google pushes into the Canadian market.
http://androidforums.com also has a listing of applications and http://phandroid.com has reviewed a bunch of apps.
Android will eventually beat the iphone because its Android Logo is much cooler… http://www.RawHideNation.com
android may have only launched with 62 apps out the gate, but that is exactly 62 more apps than the original iphone launched with. nice to see that google isn’t leaving its customers with their tounges hanging out for important core features like an app store.
Speaking of google android and iPhone.
Here’s a post on Google Products that Nobody Knows About:
http://www.scottdig.com
Apple will lose when it comes to business users. But I guess that’s not their target market.
But Android should also be able to “beat” iPhone on the consumer side… if they don’t restrict app distribution to the Android Market, like iPhone does with the App Store.
Open source loses something when it’s locked in to restricted distribution.
And a T-Mobile G1 can be unlocked more easily compare to iPhone :
http://www.unlo...k-tmobileg1.com
No Software, no partial unlock, no relock after firmware update !
At this moment, iPhone has a much broader market. So Apple’s apple is bigger than Google.
Well, when nobody actually buys the G-phone, clearly there is a distinct market difference between that and the iPhone 3G Apps market.
Even the FREE iPhone 3G apps get even more traffic/turnover from ads!
- Kevan / Free-iPhone-3G-Apps.com
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Of course Apple is bigger…Google left alot of gaps to be filled by Devs. Hopefully the dev’s can fulfill googles dreams…
http://www.applevsandroid.com
iphone is not the gadget that “has it all” but now being sold all over the world it has a great advantage.
I have no doubt that Android will be a big success. Everyone except the big competitors have the motivation to make it a success.