Android applications marketplace reaches 10 billion downloads

Friday, December 09, 2011

Google's Android may have entered the ever-expanding smartphone market later than its competitors, but the operating system's mobile application marketplace recently surpassed a milestone.

According to the official Google blog, the Android Market recently surpassed 10 billion downloaded applications, growing at a rate of 1 billion apps per month. In fact, Android users have downloaded 4 billion applications since July of this year, and 7 billion from March.

Mobile applications are expected to play a key role in the enterprise as more employees adopt smartphones and tablets. While traditional apps were developed for consumers, companies are expected to create their own platforms to benefit their workers.

According to a study conducted by research firm Gartner, application marketplaces were named as one of 10 strategic technologies expected to benefit the IT industry in the near future. By 2014, more than 70 billion apps are projected to be downloaded annually.

"With enterprise app stores, the role of IT shifts from that of a centralized planner to a market manager providing governance and brokerage services to users and potentially an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs," the report stated.