Android Market hits 100,000 apps
Google has announced that the number of apps in the Android Market has hit the 100,000 mark. But is that necessarily a good thing for users?
The number of apps in the Android Market has now hit 100,000.
Google announced the milestone in a post on its Android Developer Twitter account. The figure still leaves Android apps a long way behind iPhone apps in terms of quantity -- Steve Jobs said last week that there were 300,000 apps in Apple's App Store.
The creation of 100,000 apps -- a threefold increase since March, according to Google's Android chief Andy Rubin -- indicates that Android is becoming increasingly attractive to developers, which should mean that users will get more and more choice. That's certainly a good thing, but it's important to remember that there are loads of poor-quality apps in the Android Market that no right-thinking member of society would ever want to download.
Indeed, most people will only ever download a tiny fraction of those 100,000 apps. Many people will also agree with Christopher Dawson of CNET UK sister site ZDNet.com, who argues that the browser is the only app that really matters.
The Android Market still has issues too. For example, it can be hard to find apps, and Google Checkout is inimical to impulse purchases. Also, downloaded apps don't always run as well on some phones as on others -- a consequence of the wide variety of Android handsets available.
Nokia doesn't disclose Ovi Store app numbers, but Windows Phone 7 has already hit the 1,000 mark, according to wpcentral. That's a drop in the ocean compared to the number of apps in the Google and Apple emporia, but it's not a bad start considering that Microsoft's new mobile operating system was only released last week.
What do you make of Google's achievement? Do you like the fact you have so many apps to choose from, or would you rather have the wheat separated from the chaff? Let us know in the comments section below.