Android passes iOS for most mobile app downloads

Apple’s leads in the individual mobile sectors are dropping one by one – it’s no wonder the lawyers are working double overtime. The latest hurdle that Android has passed is the number of app downloads. In the second quarter of this year, Android accounted for 44% of all mobile app downloads, whereas Apple had only 31%.

The numbers aren’t exactly shocking. Android has been leading Apple in total device sales for months, and is now beating the Cupertino giant in almost every world market. Though Android users still download fewer apps per capita than iPhone, iPod or iPad users, the sheer number of them has led to a greater piece of the overall pie. The total number of global downloads across all devices expected by the end of the year is a staggering 29 billion.

The iOS App Store still has a lead on the Android Market by about 200,000 apps, largely because apps tend to disappear from the Android Market at a faster rate. Though the current total is less than 350,000, the number of overall published apps is cumulatively more than half a million. The Android Market is expected to surpass the App Store by the middle of 2012. Even Apple’s deathgrip on the tablet market is slipping, with Android tablets making up a full quarter of sales in the last three months.

Those Cupertino lawyers had better start working faster.

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