Hard to believe that it was a little over a year ago that the Android OS, with the help of Verizon and the Droid campaign, that the Android Market had only 5,000 apps.  Since then, the plattform has made leaps and bounds and has become possibly the most popular branded smartphone OS.  With the open software initiative, tons of makers of devices and a VERY loyal crowd of followers, Android has really made a name for itself.  So from the days of a small amount of “popular” and amount of apps, the Android Market has  landed its 200,000 app in its market, as reported by AndroLib.

Android has doubled its app count from 100,000 in just a two month span as reported in late October 2010.  This app count has not been offcially recognized by Google, but anyways, this is a tremendous accomplishment for Android.  The leader of apps, iOS or Apple, did not achieve this amount of apps this quickly when it hit this magic number.  So the question is, what is Android doing right to capture the “most apps” crown?

As you can see in the above chart, the amount of apps have steadily gone up since July of 2009.  Also, with the main developers that previously only made apps for Apple, the Android Market has gone up because of them.  Some of these include of course Angry Birds, ESPN and many others.  Other factors that made this possible number of apps possible is that the OS is completely open to any developer.  Yes that’s right, even you can make an app and send it off to Google to land in the Market.  No other OS offers this, making many apps possible and allowing people to start a possible career in this area.  With Apple’s App Store and BlackBerry’s App World, a developer has to send it off to the company and wait for the developer’s word if they want or do not want the app in their “downloadable” library.  That is what makes Android great, you don’t have to wait, you are in.  Also, with carriers T Mobile and AT&T allowing their customers to bill Android app purchases to their bill, this number may be going up to new heights in a short time span.

What more can you say about Android.  With a great selection of handsets, the open platform for app creators, the Android Market is growing like nothing else in the business.  Its gonna be very interesting to see where the Markets number of apps goes next.

Related articles

• App store milestones: Windows Phone 7 hits 5,000 as Android passes 200,000 available apps (engadget.com)
• AndroLib Counts 200,000 App Submissions To Android Market (webpronews.com)
• Android Has Over 200,000 Apps In Android Market (techie-buzz.com)