There Are Now More Free Apps For Android Than For The iPhone: Distimo

Robin Wauters

Robin Wauters is the European Editor of tech blog The Next Web and lead editor of Virtualization.com. He was a senior staff writer at TechCrunch until his departure in February 2012. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in... → Learn More

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

App store analytics provider Distimo today published its latest report, once again zooming in on the pricing of mobile applications across a variety of platforms. We got an exclusive early look at the new report.

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.

The number of paid applications available in Android Market, in contrast, is about one-third of the total number of paid applications available in the Apple App Store for iPhone.

According to Distimo’s data, the App Store for iPhone remains the largest store in terms of all applications available, although it was among the slowest growing mobile applications stores in terms of relative growth in March 2011.

The Apple App Store for iPad grew by 12 percent last month to 75,755 applications, of which 34,120 are designated for iPad only. The total number of available iOS applications now equals – a whopping – 367,334.

Distimo observes that applications for the iPad have become more expensive over time, while other application stores have trended in the opposite direction. The proportion of applications featuring in-app purchases has apparently decreased over time as well.

Interestingly, Distimo expects Android Market to become the largest store in terms of number of applications in about five months from now, provided current grow rates across all different application stores are somewhat maintained.

When that happens – not if – Android Market will trump the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store in size (in that order).

Distimo also forecasts RIM’s BlackBerry App World to double in size over a six-month period and likely surpass Nokia’s Ovi Store in size by the end of May 2011. A couple of months later, even Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will be bigger than the Ovi Store, the company adds.

Company: Distimo
Website: distimo.com
Launch Date: May 1, 2009

Distimo has a very clear objective: to make the app market transparent. The company was born out of the frustration of a lack of insights into the performance of apps and the manual work needed to track important metrics. Our goal is to provide the best and most actionable app intelligence for anyone who wants to compete in the app market. Our data-driven team seeks to help developers, brands and financial services companies gain actionable, timely and factual knowledge...

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