Every now and then I tend to write a “warning” post and this, I’m afraid, is another one for Microsoft. One of the first came in 2007. I said that Microsoft needed to improve the GUI, enhance the update roll-out process and become more customer-focused. A year later I warned of the same problems and the fact that they were becoming critical. They still weren’t fixed and, with Android arriving, Microsoft was busy rubbishing the competition. Eventually, nearly two years after the initial post, Microsoft finallly admitted that they’d “screwed up” with the OS.
A massive reboot button was pressed and, on February 15th 2010, Windows Phone 7 was announced. The new OS should appear on handsets in time for Christmas and it looks very pretty indeed, but today more stats appeared showing how well the Android OS is doing. Sales figures are booming and now details from androlib.com show the huge rise in games and applications for the OS. I think it’s pretty obvious now that a big catalogue of apps and games equals a successful OS, so Microsoft needs to ensure that thousands of apps are ready and available in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace at the end of this year.
As you can see, in March 2010 9,309 new apps and games were added to the Android Market. This is a huge leap from the 5,532 new apps in February and shows that the platform is experiencing massive growth with 44,216 Android apps now available. Google still needs to keep a handle on fragmentation issue and the quality of these apps (plus the amount of dupes / spam apps and keeping everything categorised) but, if they can do that, then there’ll be more people visiting the supermarket than the corner shop.
Link – androlib.com
Android Apps Catalogue explodes
April 8, 2010