Apple has the app store later plu: currently iPhone users can choose from 350 000 apps. But how many apps people really use - and the size of the Apple App Store should affect your next smartphone purchase? It should not.
An analysis of the top apps on competing smartphone app stores PCWorld reveals that the majority of the most popular iPhone applications is also available on Android, Windows Phone 7, Palm, BlackBerry RIM, and Nokia phones. This dispels the myth of the smartphone as claims buyers: "like the app store, the best phone."
After reviewing the top 35 iPhone applications, we found that a larger store does not always win, especially when it comes to core and popular applications. For example, Google's Android market, currently somewhat more than half of Apple App Store (200,000 apps), has the same selection of popular applications - with the exception of the games. Even in the most recent and less populated app stores such as Microsoft Windows phone Marketplace (11 500 apps), you can get most of the same top apps of the page.
Leave the platform Best victory
Looking at the applications reached 35 for the Apple platform, Android comes the closest corresponding to what is available in the Apple App store. Android is missing three popular iPhone apps: the Netflix and StickWars Cro - Mag rally. Android offers Blockbuster Rental app, but this application requires you to download a whole movie before watching (as opposed to the Netflix app iPhone, which allows to stream films).
The Windows Phone 7 platform is not eight top iPhone apps, including Google Earth, the hump utility and games like Tap Tap Revenge. The Nokia Ovi Store is missing top apps page 11 of (mainly); BlackBerry App world lack of 13, and the Palm App Catalog is missing 14.
Our methodology of comparison
We compared Apple App Store with market Google's Android, world of app for the BlackBerry from Research In Motion, Ovi Store for Nokia, App Catalog of Palm and Microsoft Windows phone market.
We have started with list of the all time most downloaded apps Apple's App Store. In this list, we have selected the top 10 paid apps, paid apps and free games free, games, removed duplicates and added a couple of all time favorites - end up with a list of 35 most apps iOS downloads of all time. Then, we compared this list with applications available for competing smartphones.
iPhone Fun and games
Apple has the upper hand when it comes to games - and that is not a small matter. According to Nielsen Media Research, games is the most popular category of app, with 61% of surveyed smartphone owners who run an application set on their handset in the past 30 days.
For smartphone owners lose interest, games, however, competition equalizes.
Look at the list of Nielsen of the non-most popular categories (weather, maps/search, social networking, music, news and entertainment), almost all smartphone platforms offer identical or equivalent applications.
For example, according to Nielsen, applications weather ranks in the category non-most popular unprecedented, regardless of the platform. Apple provides the Weather Channel application - and the same app is available on all competing smartphone platforms. Are also available on all platforms such as the Facebook application, Google Maps (part of Google Apps Mobile suite), the application of the Pandora streaming music (equivalents are available for the Ovi store and window Phone 7) and the entertainment and shopping app Yelp.
Compared to a list of Top 20 of the iOS of Apple applications that are not games, Android offers 19 apps identical or similar. Windows Phone 7 is missing three, Palm is not six, and Nokia and BlackBerry are missing seven.
BlackBerry and Palm smartphones offers the less identical or comparable top 35 nongame iPhone apps and games.
Category app ventilation
Depending on angry birds, no. - no big just for you would be the BlackBerry platform (the game arrived on Windows Phone 7 in May). Several other prominent titles - such as Bejeweled, log Jump and flight controls - are also available for most platforms. iOS has a few exclusives such as the Cro - Mag rally and cut the rope (games copy side).
Business apps: Smartphone serious shoppers seeking serious apps have a wider choice. For example, if you want to view and edit Microsoft Office documents, you can get an app to do this on all platforms in this comparison. The only exception is the contact Bump sharing application, which is only available for Android and iOS.
Audio and music: If you want to listen to online radio, Pandora is available for all platforms, with the exception of Nokia and Windows Phone 7 phones. You can obtain Slacker Radio as an alternative. If you want to chat with Skype friends, you can get on all platforms via a formal application or Fring (equivalent).
Productivity and social media: Calories monitoring or follow-up of your flight? Check - you can do with iOS, BlackBerry, Android, Nokia, Palm and Windows Phone 7. Facebook and Twitter? Check. Weather and Yelp? Check. Reading of the Bible? No problem. You can find pretty much identical or equivalent app on all modern smartphones, regardless of the brand and the operating system.
Entertainment: Your options to reduce a little when you search for other popular applications. For example, you cannot obtain the official Amazon Kindle app on a Nokia or Palm smartphone. Netflix is limited to iOS, and Windows Phone 7. And Flixster and IMDb are not available on Nokia smartphones.
Choose the best Smartphone
For years, that apple has marketed the iPhone by stressing its slick, with its mantra applications "it is an app for that." But buyers do not have to worry about private mobile applications should they choose a competitor phone.
Our prediction is that the playing field continue to level out when it comes to available cross-platform apps. Apple App Store and the Android Market may still be top dogs in terms of variety app. But as the cliché goes, it's quality, not quantity - and this is true for applications and hardware.
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