Google has announced its Play store now has more than 700,000 apps available for download. The announcement comes shortly after Apple revealed that its iTunes App store had hit 700,000 apps.
The figures, first reported by Bloomberg Businessweek, shows a significant surge since Google surpassed 600,000 Android apps on its apps store back in June. According to the report, the growth registered by Google Play store has been ‘constant’ and ‘swift’. However, the dearth of tablet-specific applications, as pointed out by the report, has hampered the growth. The forthcoming Nexus 10 and refreshed Nexus 7 tablet series are likely to improve the situation.
“By luring software developers to its Android platform, Google is attempting to eliminate a key selling point Apple has used for the iPhone and iPad. Applications have become a battleground as the two companies look for an edge in the $219.1 billion smartphone market, akin to how Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) dominated the personal-computer business by getting other companies to write programs for its Windows operating system,” says the Bloomberg report.
The number of apps offered on an operating system is considered to be an important factor that drives users adoption. Apple has long led the race, but Google is evidently quickly catching up. Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS is also seeing a growing number of apps, and its app store recently crossed the 100,000 apps mark. The 100,000 apps is pretty big figure but it significantly lags behind Android and iOS.
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