A report from mobile app store analytics company distimo released this month revealed that the Android Market has the largest share of free applications compared to all other app store available today.
This includes Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPad, RIM’s Blackberry App World, Nokia’s Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalog and Windows’ Marketplace. Interestingly, Windows has the least number of free apps amongst all the app stores.
What does this mean?
It means that the Android Market still has some way to go before it can compete with app store leader, Apple. Free apps may be good for users but it also highlights Android Market’s biggest weakness – distribution. Currently, paid apps distributed in the Android Market are limited to a few countries, this means the selection of apps from Android users in countries like Malaysia are limited to whatever that is currently free.
As it stands currently only 13 out of the 46 countries that can download apps from the Android Market have access to paid apps.
The open nature of Android and the Android Market is great and everything but Google really need to look into polishing up the Android Market to really take advantage of a strong and steady growth in terms of both the choice of devices as well as the number of users using its mobile platform. On top that Google has the very real issue fragmentation amongst Android devices that it has yet to resolve.
Head on over to after the jump for more juicy details of the report as well as a link where you can download the report for yourself.
- More than 50% of applications are priced below or equal to $2.00 in all stores, with the exception of BlackBerry App World and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
- The average price of all paid applications and the 100 most popular paid applications in the Apple App Store for iPad ($4.65) is higher than in the Apple App Store for iPhone ($4.01). However, the average price of the 100 top grossing applications is higher on the Apple App Store for iPhone.
- Google Android Market has the largest share of free applications (57%) and Windows Marketplace for Mobile has the smallest (22%).
- Twitter, Inc. published their native application in the Apple App Store and Google Android Market, becoming the monthly number 10 free application in the Apple App Store for iPhone, and the number 6 free application in Google Android Market.
- Nine out of the ten most popular free applications and eight out of ten most popular paid applications in the Apple App Store for iPhone are games.
- In the competitive e-reader market, both the iBooks application by Apple, Inc., and the Kindle application by Amazon.com are ranked among the 10 most popular free applications in the Apple App Store for iPad. Apple’s application is ranked number one however, and Amazon’s application is ranked number ten.
- Five out of the ten most popular free applications in Windows Marketplace for Mobile are published by Microsoft Corporation.
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