Apple’s App Store is still the king of the hill, but the Android Market is gaining ground in the paid-app category. So says a report from mobile-security company Lookout.
Lookout’s second report from its App Genome Project, a database created to map more than 500,000 mobile apps across different device platforms and app markets, aims to offer visibility into mobile-market dynamics and identify security threats in the wild.
The latest results show that the Android Market is rapidly maturing. The emerging market has seen strong growth in the number of new apps available, with 127 percent growth since last August. The growth is triple the rate of Apple’s App Store — and the proportion of paid apps also rose dramatically.
“Android is beginning to catch up to iTunes in terms of several key metrics. As Android has gained momentum, it has attracted more developers to its platform,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “What’s most striking to me, however, about the report is the degree to which Google’s AdMob dominates both Apple apps and the Android Market in terms of adoption by publishers and developers.”
Apple Fights Back
Of course, the App Store is still leading the pack. As of late January, Apple reported more than 10 billion apps have been downloaded from its store by more than 160 million iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users around the world. The App Store offers more than 350,000 apps, with more than 60,000 native iPad apps available in 20 categories.
On Tuesday, Apple upped the app ante by launching subscriptions on the App Store. The new service is available to all content publishers, including producers of magazines, newspapers, video and music. Subscriptions purchased from within the App Store will be sold using the same App Store billing system that has been used to buy…