Mobile App Market Research

In my last blog, I noted a few steps you should take when choosing which mobile device to go with to write your application.  The amount of available apps and how to get published are two factors that will affect which market is the one for you.  I will compare the two major ones, iPhone and Android markets, to give you a place to start.

Apple

Market
To date, Apple has in the ballpark of 224,000 apps for download.  This number, and many more, are pulled on a daily basis from the website: 148apps.biz.  The site takes their measurements on a daily basis to determine which applications are active.  There are many other stats to be found and I highly encourage reviewing them for yourself.

What does this mean for developers?  With over 224,000 apps already on the market, you’ll need to ensure your application stands out or is truly unique.  You have a lot of competition out there and if you can come up with that new and best idea, be ready for subtle copies of your app to start popping up.

Approval Process
Currently, to get yourself published on the iPhone market, you have to go through a long approval process first submitting it to Apple, and then waiting for them to manually go through and approve it.

After submitting to Apple, it might take anywhere from a week to three weeks depending on demand.  As per 148Apps.biz, the current average wait time is about a week.  This means, once you have your application done, you’ll need to wait for them to approve and place it on the market.  This time isn’t as bad as it used to be.  Reports of over three weeks were not unheard of.

The major problem with the Apple approval process is that it’s not overly clear what is fully acceptable and what is against their business model.  To date, Apple has come forward with clear guidelines to what you can and cannot have.  Be sure to read other people’s reviews as to what you can do to avoid this.  One such resource is on StackOverflow.  As it points out, it’s purely unofficial, so Apple still holds the right to simply reject your app because they feel like it.

Once approved and the cost of downloading is decided, Apple will give you 70% of the sales of each downloaded app.

Android

Market
To date, the Android market has over 74,000 as per the site androlib.com.  Much like 148Apps, this website trolls the Android market and gives us much needed information on how many new apps there are, how many paid, and how many free apps are available.

Does this lower number mean good or bad for you the developer?  It could mean very good things for you.  With fewer apps on there, the chances of coming out with something not already there is much higher.  You will need to keep in mind that the amount of new apps added to the market is increasing every day so this might not stay true for long.

Approval Process
Currently, there is no approval process you have to go through to get your application on the market, but there are clearly outlined requirements that need to be followed or your application will be removed.  You can find the start of those requirements on their Developers Guide.

Does this make the Android apps unregulated?  Not at all.  Android proved this when they announced they remotely killed two apps.  Stick to the written regulations and you should turn out alright.

Similar to Apple, once on the market and a price is set, Android will give you 70% of the sales.  At least both agree on one aspect of it.

Conclusion

Both markets are still quite open and always looking for new apps but Apple has unclear rules and regulations with a wait time that could go on for weeks should your app keep getting rejected.