Let’s face it. At the moment, there are only two major online app stores to speak of: Google’s Android Market and Apple iTunes. Sure, Amazon has an app store as does Barnes & Noble, among others, but these are still primarily feeders for the Android brand as a whole.
Based on the latest figures out of the Android Market, it would almost seem that Google doesn’t need much help. The Android Market has reached 10 billion downloads and counting as of this past weekend.
We can likely expect download numbers to increase even more rapidly as the Android Market is now growing at a rate of one billion app downloads per month.
To put it into perspective, the Android Market hit 1 billion downloads in July 2010 after launching in 2008, and later surpassed the 6 billion mark during July 2011.
Of course, one has to throw in the necessary comparison to iTunes. The Apple App Store reached 10 billion downloads as of January 2011 after launching in July 2008.
To celebrate and reward Android customers, Google will be making select paid apps available for 10 cents each. A new set of apps will be up for promotion each day for the next 10 days.
[Image via Android Developers Blog]
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