The Android (App) invasion

The chief criticism of Android phones so far has been the lack of Apps – especially when the devices are compared to Apple’s iPhone. Apple still has the lead, by far, but Google’s system is catching up faster than anyone might have expected.  

There are now over 20,000 apps available for Android, most of which have been introduced over the past five-and-a-half months. The increase has been a steady one, according to Androlib, which has been tracking apps for the device. (See chart at right)

(Edit: Google tells Engadget that Androlib's numbers are a little bit high - and the actual number of apps is a little over 16,000.)

As with the iPhone, a large percentage of the Android apps are games – with roughly 3,000 currently available. The tools category comes in at a close second. (It’s worth noting that fart apps are popular are any platform, it seems. Android has over 30 at the moment. iPhone has hundreds.)

Because the system is new and the installed base is small, most big corporations aren’t paying a lot of attention to Android at present. That same attitude let garage developers gain the upper hand among Apple users. Think history will repeat itself?