Android passes Apple, now has more Free apps in Mark

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App store researchers Distimo, known for researching and gathering factual data on app stores and reporting some accurate information on all things Apps have just released their latest publication. Taking a close look at all the app stores but more importantly to us, the Android and Apple markets. According to their report, Google’s Android Market has now passed Apple and is now offering more free apps than the Apple App Store.

This is big news considering Apple has been talking down on Android and its apps for a long time, take this Jobs. According to Distimo, Google’s Android Market currently offers 134,342 free applications for download, while Apple’s App Store for iPhone offers 121,845 free applications. This is not taking into account the paid apps, as Apple has far more paid apps than Android. This is based on free apps.
Obviously Apple’s App Store is the largest of its kind, but Android and its market is hot on its heels and is gaining ground fast. The report also mentions that the App Store was one of the slowest stores in March of 2011. Overall Apple still has a strong lead on the overall size of market, but things are looking better and better for Android every month. With all the tablets on the way to shelves things will only keep getting bigger and better. For the full story check out the link and download the latest publication from Distimo.

Dell: Android tablets will outpace iPad soon

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While the Apple iPad continues to sell well – it can’t even make enough to keep up with demand – Dell said it believes that Android tablets will outpace it in sales in the not-too-distant future. Naturally, Dell believes it will help contribute to that success with its Android-powered products.
When asked about the threat Android tablets pose to the Apple iPad, Dell CEO Michael Dell told the Wall Street Journal:

Not tomorrow. Not the next day. But again, if you look at 18 months ago, Android phones were like, “What is that?” And now there are more Android phones than iPhones. I don’t see any reason why the same won’t occur with Android tablets.

On the surface, this makes a lot of sense because the sheer number of Android-powered tablets may make it inevitable that this platform outsells the Apple iPad. Samsung, LG and a host of others are using Google’s platform for tablets but I believe the 18 month time frame may be a bit too soon.
While Android did surpass the iPhone in sales very quickly, everyone needs a phone and carriers have a massive influence on how these are distributed (at least in the United States). No one really needs a tablet right now and the carriers don’t have as much sway moving these are they do with phones.
While the Motorola XOOM and BlackBerry PlayBook sold well for new products in an unproven category, neither of these were in the same class as the iPad 2 when it comes to sales. Apple was somewhat disappointed that it only shipped 4.6 million tablets during its recent quarter but I’d be very surprised if that figured can be reached by a competitor over the course of 2011.
Please don’t label me a fanboy though, as I’m looking to replace my original iPad but nothing has quite seemed worth it. What do you think I should get?

Android Officially Cooler than iPhone

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Well Android fans – we are no longer the underdogs. It turns out that their is a new cool kid on the block. Android phones, according to a very recent Nielsen survey, are now cooler than the iPhone. Nielsen surveyed people, as their business is market research, and the results of people surveyed from January-March of this year, showed that 31% of future smartphone owners plan to buy one running Android, which has tip toed past the once great, once mighty iPhone. While the difference currently is 31% wanting an Android phone and 30% wanting an iPhone for the first time, this shift is undoubtedly part of a larger trend.

More significantly, they discovered that 50% of recent smartphone buyers purchased an Android phones, while only 25% purchased an iPhone. And, of course, Android is maintaining a healthy 37% market share in the US.

The future certainly looks bright! With 1 million daily activations likely to occur daily by 2013, how how big do you think Android will get in a few short years?

Has Developer Interest in Android Leveled Off?

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Has the golden era of Android ended? It has for developers, at least one survey is reporting. Interest in developing for Android phones and tablets has dropped, according to the latest survey conducted by Appcelerator and IDC. It had been seeing a steady increase up until this point. Interest in Android phone development was down two points, settling at 85 percent. Tablets saw an larger drop of three points for a 71 percent interest level. In the meantime, interest in Apple’s iOS remains strong.
So why are developers starting to feel cold towards Android? The two major factors in the shift are renewed concerns about platform fragmentation and what is being perceived as a rather lackluster initial run of Honeycomb tablets. The emergence of new third-party app stores also concerns some developers.
The good news is that Android and iOS still maintain the strongest hold on developers, and third-place options such as Windows Phone 7 still aren’t garnering too much attention. We still have to wonder if this is simply a minor hiccup or a trend that will continue into the next quarter. Provided Google woos us at their I/O developer conference, momentum could once again shift towards the positive for Android app development.
 

FroYo now on 66pc of Android devices; Honeycomb on 0.3pc

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According to the latest Android platform figures from Google, Android 2.2 ‘FroYo’ is now on over 65% of the total Android devices, while Android 2.1 aka Éclair is still present on 25% of the phones.
Gingerbread is limited to just 4% of the total market because the delay by device vendors in pushing the updates. First Gingerbread devices have just start reaching market from the likes of HTC, while Samsung is still waiting for release a Gingerbread phone apart from Nexus S.
Motorola is totally absent from the scene, no Gingerbread device till now, and its track record with updates is worse than none. Sony Ericsson is the only vendor with two Android 2.3 devices in the market, and third is waiting to be launched, but the Earthquake in Japan has created some supply issues.
Coming to Honeycomb, its platform share hasn’t crossed even 1% and is just 0.3%. We are hoping that the recent tablet launches by Acer and Asus will help improve this figure. Samsung is again waiting for production of their Honeycomb tablets.

Android Version	Distribution
Android 1.5	2.3%
Android 1.6	3.0%
Android 2.1	24.5%
Android 2.2	65.9%
Android 2.3	4%
Android 3.0	0.3%