Dear Apple: Only 235,000 Apps? Only 47,000 Developers? Your "Closed" Model Sucks.
Total Active Apps (currently available for download): 234,915 […]
Number of Active Publishers in the US App Store: 47,370
via 148apps.biz
I'm surprised Apple hasn't shut that site down for regularly publishing Apple's shame.
Meanwhile, I'm certain Android's freewheeling, "open" (except for the native API, or Flash), look-the-other-way, Lord of the Flies approach to app development has resulted in numbers that embarrass Apple's.
Right?
And even if the numbers aren't quite as high, I'm sure Android apps are overall of a higher quality, and will run on a higher percentage of phones than Apple's.
Right?
And even if fragmentation is a bit more of an issue, I'm sure Android developers are raking in cash from the reported 160K activations (potential new customers) per day.
Right?
For shame, Apple. Don't you know "open" always wins?

Comments (11)
LOL
Personally, I couldn't care less that the App store isn't open. Actually I'm glad it isn't, "closed" gives you protection, it's kind of like wearing a condom. You know you aren’t going to catch anything.
I want to know what's going in my iPad and iPhone.
Safe Apps!
I have a Nexus One that I can hold any way I want and still make calls. Give me Android over that "walled garden" nonsense any day.
Google is going to have exert a bit more control over Android or it's gonna become the most fragmented OS of all time with about six versions of OS (1.5 to 2.2) and a dozen user interfaces. It's good that Motorola has already started to prevent people from changing bootloaders on the Droid X. Nerds think that smartphones are some sort of toy to fiddle with.
Market share ain't got nothing to do with "open" or "closed" platforms. Whatever the consumer wants, that's what he buys. It's just that cheaper usually sells in quantity. So Android will have larger market share eventually, but so what. Market share doesn't always equate to revenue or quality of product.
"Most of the apps on the Apple app store are complete and total crap"
Heh. Like the Android market place isn't full of fart apps. Have you perused Android apps? There are great ones, and ones that, for most people, are not so great. And some suck. Maybe that's like the App Store, but more apps, and a certification process, means more great ones.
"I have a Nexus One that I can hold any way I want"
Oh please. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctc96mXTjx0 Every cell phone has a death grip. Get over it.
"Give me Android over that "walled garden" nonsense any day"
Beautiful. You've hit every item on the Android talking points memo. No originality points for you.
Regarding the "walled garden" nonsense, I'd rather have a phone with some curation and a "wall" that's maybe six inches high than the free-for-all, we-don't-care, potential security-risk and privacy-invasion of the Android market place.
Look, a phone is choice, it's not a life style or a religion. I couldn't care less you prefer Android to iPhone. What I care about is pretending Android to be something it's clearly and demonstrably not. The biggest pile of horse manure in the tech world ever piled on gullible wannabe geeks and Apple-bashers is the "open" BS.
There may be apps that are sheer and utter crap in the App Store, I haven't found them yet. There are some free ones I've downloaded, played with once or twice and then dumped. But there are many, many that are truly useful. Pages and Things are two I use a lot, so is Skype.
And Art, do you seriously believe that Stephen Jobs has the time to check each app PERSONALLY?
If you're happy with Andrex, go ahead and use it.
I think you get a better wipe with Kleenex, but it's just a matter of taste.
Sorry! Bad simile.
This site will keep Apple honest and the goog boys something to console themselves with.
Tom is right. If Android is going to leave the back door wide open, then anyone or anything can get in. Open has its advantages for those who know what they are doing. But for the VAST majority who just want to be able to download an app on their phone, where it just works and does what it's supposed to, and isn't some kind of root kit where your passwords and financial data are going to get hacked, I'll take the walled garden any day. The world isn't going to come to an end because of that one app that Apple refuses to let it. The open crowd needs to take a chill pill and realize everybody is not a geek. They have other interests and priorities, but they still want a spectacular smart phone that is the fun to use with best-in-class industrial design.
And I don't understand this obsessive need for Apple to "lose". Sounds a bit psychotic. Ok, maybe just neurotic. But why should/do you even care?
And considering Apple's latest earnings call, _any_ company wishes they "lost" like this.
Whatever.
Joe
Add a Comment