Google Play triumphs over the App Store for the 3rd year in a row
The battle between the app stores of the two tech titans Google and Apple is raging more than ever, since both companies are trying to attract as many developers as they possibly can. This is done by filling and enriching their respective app stores with more and more applications, some of which are more successful than others. In this "battle" that has been taking place for the past few years, Google Play has managed to include more applications in its store than Apple’s App Store.
Let the numbers speak
According to AppFigures, 2014 has proven to be yet again a winning year for Google Play when it comes to the number of hosted applications, as it currently hosts 1.43 million applications, made by more than 388.000 different developers, whereas the App Store currently hosts 1.21 million apps, made by 282.000 developers, consequently getting the 2nd place.
Apart from Google and Apple, Microsoft is the third strongest player, with 560.000 applications, followed by Amazon, which hosts around 293.000 applications.
[Credit: AppFigures]
It’s interesting that the number of applications in the app markets has increased significantly, with Google Play achieving a 200% increase in its app numbers, and App Store achieving a 160% increase accordingly.
[Credit: AppFigures]
But what was it that made Google Play so popular among smartphone users? An obvious reason is the high number of games available, as well as the huge amount of photo apps. On the other hand, App Store did very well on the business apps. Also, it's a fact that Google Play's search engine is way better than the App Store's search engine.
