App store battle: Android Market vs Apple App Store

Applications are the foundation of a successful smartphone platform and the two operating systems with the most to offer are iOS and Google's Android, but which one gives users the best app experience? Let's find out!

Number of Apps - When talking about sheer volume of software available the spotlight is immediately shone upon Apple's App Store. With over 350,000 titles available you're sure to find something for even the most mundane of tasks. The Android Market is no let-down in terms of numbers though, and offers over 250,000 apps, but something worth considering with Android is that the number of titles is growing far more rapidly than with Apple's App Store, so it may be ahead now, but it won't be for long.

Winner - Apple App Store

Pricing - If you're on the lookout for a platform that offers the most competitive pricing you'd do well to give Android a look. Of its 250,000 apps over 75% are free, and pay apps are still priced competitively, with an average paid app price of £2.74. Apple's App Store does offer some free apps, in fact 33% of its titles are free, which equates to roughly 115000 titles compared to the Android Market's 190000.

Again, iOS offers a fair pricing structure, with an average app price of £1.60, but the proprietary nature of Apple's iOS means that professional/paid applications make up the bulk of what's on offer. Take that as you will.

Winner - Android Market

Tablets - If you're looking for dedicated tablet applications then Apple's App Store is the go-to destination, with over 65,000 tablet-specific apps on offer for users.

Android Market, on the other hand, offers a measly 100 tablet-centric apps, making this round as one-sided as it gets.

Winner - Apple App Store

App Quality - The open nature of Google's Android OS is appealing to smaller app developers and even hobbyists, resulting in some great projects and free titles, but the lack of control that Google exhibits over submitted apps means that you do have to sort through a fair bit of chaff to get to wheat. Whereas Apple's cold, regulated approach to the titles on offer in its App Store means that you get a higher quality of software consistently across the range. It's apples and oranges though, would you rather have a walled garden approach or a more free eco-system?

Winner - Draw

Navigation - Negotiating either store is far from taxing. Apple's App Store is nicely laid out, offering you shortcuts to jump to the top 10 paid or free apps, and spotlight's certain titles that are popular or featured. Searching's a doddle, as you'd expect and search results are consistently spot-on. The Android Market is a similarly nice experience but focuses more on user criteria to spit-out the best results. You will find top free and top paid selections though, and featured apps on the home page.

Winner - Draw

So it's a solid victory to Apple's mighty App Store. For sheer number of apps, and higher overall quality Apple has things sewn up but for how long? Apps for Google's Android platform are proliferating at an enormous rate and the introduction of a less fragmented OS, in 3.0 (Honeycomb), will see the quality of titles on offer rise exponentially. We suspect that if you ask us next year, our findings might not be so cut and dry, but for now at least, Apple's App Store is the top of the heap.