Google's Underdog Eyes iPhone's Lead in Apps

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While Apple’s iPhone App Store has clearly emerged as the Big Man on Campus when it comes to mobile downloads, the Android Market — the download center for the Google-backed smartphone operating system — is shaping up like an awkward, underweight freshman.

Launched five months ago, Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) storefront hit its 200-millionth download in the third week of October, with around 5,500 apps at the time — more than 14 times the programs now available on Android.

The iPhone’s storefront also had a stronger opening — debuting with more than 10 times the applications Android offered when its market went live a month ago, when it launched with just over 60 downloads.

Yet even thought it may not win the popularity contest, don’t count Android out yet. After all, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is wagering that there’s a good chance for the class geek to show up at the reunion driving a sports car with a beauty queen on its arm.

The secret is in a rabid developer base, it said.

“We’ve had hundreds of developers registered, and there are 370 free apps are available in the [Android] catalog,” a Google spokesperson told InternetNews.com.”We are pleased with the positive response from the developer community.”

Currently the top Android favorites are Pac-Man, the price-comparison engine ShopSavvy, MySpace Mobile, The Weather Channel and ringtone editor Ringdroid, according to Google.

Other software offerings include a nightlife entertainment tracking application, a virtual closet organizer for fashion-savvy users and a guitar-playing tutorial.

While they might seem fairly trivial, such applications are behind a new front opening in the realm of mobile devices, where stakeholders are seeking new features to entice users.

As a result, the trend has seen a slew of big-name handset makers and carriers line up behind Android. Members of the Open Handset Alliance — the group officially overseeing Android’s development — include manufacturers LG Electronics, Motorola and Samsung, and carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile and NTT DoCoMo. (Google remains the chief backer behind the software, however.)

Meanwhile, Research in Motion — maker of the popular BlackBerry line of devices — has announced plans for its own mobile downloads store to launch next year. At the same time, Nokia, the world’s largest phone maker, has unveiled an ambitious plan to open source the Symbian operating system, a move that could encourage greater development on its devices’ platform.

Already, Google said it’s finding that downloadable software is a major draw to the new T-Mobile G1, the first Android-based device to hit the market.

The company claims “nearly 100 percent” of G1 users have stopped in the Market to download software, but declined to provide InternetNews.com with further details.

The G1’s exclusive U.S. carrier, T-Mobile, and its manufacturer, HTC, also have not released device sales figures, making it difficult to determine the actual number of G1 users.

For its part, however, Google is optimistic growth will continue, given the involvement by the open source software community. It also plans to provide developers with analytics tools to track usage statistics once paid applications are allowed in the Market, beginning in early 2009. (The iPhone App Store offered a mix of free and fee-based applications since launch.)

Google also noted that Android software can be offered by any third-party developer, and doesn’t have to be distributed only through its storefront — unlike the Apple iPhone strategy, which tightly reviews and controls software development and distribution channels.

A user ratings and comment system in the Android Market is similar to the YouTube model, Google said — a fact that it expects will also aid in its popularity. However, G1 users must first install an application before they can rate it.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com.