Android Market to Overtake Apple App Store Within 2011

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Apple prides the App Store as having the most paid and free apps for the iOS platform. But with Android fast eating into the iPhone’s market share, is it time for Android Market to catch up sooner or later?

Market analysis firm Distimo has recently unveiled a study of application markets and has determined that Android Market will soon overtake Apple’s App Store in terms of total number of apps by Fall of 2011. Among Distimo’s findings:

• Android Market has already eclipsed Apple App Store in terms of free applications. Market has 134,342 free apps, and App Store has 121,845 free apps for their mobile platforms, respectively.
• At the current rate, Android Market will be the largest app store by Fall this year (both free and premium), followed by Apple App Store, WP7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World, and the Nokia Ovi Store.
• The WP7 Marketplace will be quick to overtake both the BlackBerry and Nokia application stores, and this will be done within just a year’s time from its launch.

Apart from raw number expectations on the application stores, Distimo also says that about 58% of the more popular iPad applicatinos are already cross-platform, with the developers already having non-iOS versions or having non-iOS editions in the works.