Google Play now tops Apple's App Store in total number of apps

[Himanshu Arora]

With an overall growth of more than 50 percent, Google Play topped Apple's App Store in total number of apps for the first time last year, according to a report from AppFigures. The Play Store had a total of 1.43 million apps by the end of 2014, compared to 1.21 million apps hosted in the App Store.

Coming in at a distant third was Amazon's App Store, which had just 293,000 apps, although it witnessed a whopping 90 percent jump in its app catalog during the fourth quarter. The Windows Store wasn't part of the report, likely because it's not being tracked by AppFigures. 

There was also a significant growth in the number of developers creating apps on Google Play in 2014, exceeding Apple for the third year in a row. According to the report, there are nearly 400k developers offering apps on the Play Store, compared to ~300k on Apple App Store, and nearly 50k on Amazon's.

Per the graph above, in terms of the number of developers, Google Play recorded a growth of nearly 180 percent, while Apple App Store and Amazon App Store grew 160 percent each in the past 12 months.

This latest report doesn't contradict App Annie's Q3 2014 findings, as Android drives a considerably larger volume of app downloads. But when it comes to revenue, Apple is usually ahead of Google, with Android apps still not making as much money as their iOS counterparts.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59430-google-play-now-tops-apple-app-store-total.html

 

[stewi0001]

And how much of it is malware and crap?

I want to be happy about this but quantity doesn't mean quality.

 

[wastedkill]

And how much of it is malware and crap?

I want to be happy about this but quantity doesn't mean quality.

Probably 70% in all apple, android etc. all equal.

 

[Laf904]

And the proportion of free apps is higher on Google Play compared to the App Store.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I never even knew Amazon had an app store.

 

[Guest]

Haha, I like that image. Anyone know who made it?

 

[Archean]

@Wasted
Mostly true, I'd slightly change one thing I.e. at least with Apple, there are lot stricter controls in place for app publication, consequently, it 'may' have lot less malware apps compared to Android.

 

[captaincranky]

I get frustrated trying to decide between themes for Firefox. I can't imagine the complex decision process one must employ to determine which 10 out of 1,430,000. will help to actualize your phone's full potential.

What have we learned here kids? Well, that there are far to many people who can write code, but can't a hold down a real job, or have any truly useful skills to contribute to society.

Too many programmers, and not enough farmers. Oh well, I know what Marie Antoinette would say about this, "let them eat code"...

Is it still possible to become a programmer after getting a C- in C+?