In the press release for the T-Mobile G2, Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google, confirmed that the Android market has grown from “50 applications two years ago to more than 80,000 applications today.” This latest 80K figure is up 10,000 from the 70,000 figure announced back in July at Google’s Q2 2010 earnings conference call and up 12,000 from the 68,000 figure tossed around at the DROID X launch in June.
Though it is still behind Apple’s App store which boasts of over 200K apps, Android is surging forward at a record rate. Google is activating over 200,000 devices a day. A figure that is on the low side since Google only tracks Google-experience devices, not those released without Google’s suite of applications. These untracked handsets include some, if not all, of the eleven Android devices Motorola offers in China. Android also outsold the iPhone in Q2 2010. Phones with Google’s mobile OS grabbed 27% of last quarter’s smartphone sales, while the iPhone trailed slightly behind with a 23% share.
We could go on and on with stats that show the amazing growth in the smartphone market and the heated competition between Android and iPhone. Suffice it say, both mobile platforms are exploding in what is becoming the year of the smartphone. I for one am happy to see this category of devices gain more mass market appeal, without losing the advanced features that make them smart.
[Via Android Central]