07 December 2011 | Author: R Wood Media Intern
The app war between Apple and Android rages on as Android announced it has passed the ten billion download mark after accelerating past Apple in app download rates earlier this year.
The Android platform became the world's most popular smartphone after surpassing the Nokia Symbian earlier this year.
"This past weekend, thanks to Android users around the world, Android market exceeded 10 billion app downloads - with a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month," director of the Android Developer Ecosystem Eric Chu wrote on the Google blog.
The milestone is particularly impressive considering the accelerated growth in Google's Android Market - while it took 22 months for Android to reach 1 billion downloads, it took just once month for the smartphone maker to jump from 9 to ten billion app downloads.
However impressive the numbers, they still aren't enough to unsettle rival smartphone maker Apple - the iPhone maker announced it had over 15 billion downloads from the App Store in July, and had reached a billion downloads in just nine months.
While Apple maintains a comfortable lead for now, if Android continues to see such accelerated growth, it may not be long before Android users out-download their iPhone rivals.
But even with Android on track to surpass Apple, according to the BBC, industry experts are downplaying the significance.
Gartner research analyst Carolina Milanesi said: "The number game matters to industry watcher and helps advertising but it's not changing the bottom line.
"The quality of the apps and the store in general and curation in particular should be the focus for Google. This is where I still see a difference between the Apple App Store and the Android Market.
"This might not impact downloads but it will eventually impact the revenue opportunity for developers."
Android users download 10 billion apps
The app war between Apple and Android rages on as Android announced it has passed the ten billion download mark after accelerating past Apple in app download rates earlier this year. The Android platform became the world's most popular smartphone after surpassing the Nokia Symbian earlier this year.
"This past weekend, thanks to Android users around the world, Android market exceeded 10 billion app downloads - with a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month," director of the Android Developer Ecosystem Eric Chu wrote on the Google blog.
The milestone is particularly impressive considering the accelerated growth in Google's Android Market - while it took 22 months for Android to reach 1 billion downloads, it took just once month for the smartphone maker to jump from 9 to ten billion app downloads.
However impressive the numbers, they still aren't enough to unsettle rival smartphone maker Apple - the iPhone maker announced it had over 15 billion downloads from the App Store in July, and had reached a billion downloads in just nine months.
While Apple maintains a comfortable lead for now, if Android continues to see such accelerated growth, it may not be long before Android users out-download their iPhone rivals.
But even with Android on track to surpass Apple, according to the BBC, industry experts are downplaying the significance.
Gartner research analyst Carolina Milanesi said: "The number game matters to industry watcher and helps advertising but it's not changing the bottom line.
"The quality of the apps and the store in general and curation in particular should be the focus for Google. This is where I still see a difference between the Apple App Store and the Android Market.
"This might not impact downloads but it will eventually impact the revenue opportunity for developers."
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