Apple Hits 100k Apps, Does Quantity Matter?


Apple may be picky when it comes to which apps populate its app store, but with 103,384 approved apps (and 94k or so available for purchase or download), they can’t be that picky.

For advertisers and marketers, iPhone apps, especially ones that have great entertainment value or utility, are an ideal way to target your mobile audience. Companies from Starbucks to Disney to The North Face have recently launched apps on varying ends of the entertainment vs. utility spectrum. Disney, the most entertainment-focused of the brand apps listed above, relies on its fun features to get shoppers onto Disney.com and eventually into stores.

Some are wondering if quantity hurts the quality of the iPhone app experience. But as John Gruber points out, the iPhone value comes largely from app availability, with their “there’s an app for that” slogan they often advertise on TV. Apps, like any other media where there are thousands upon thousands of options, sort naturally through popularity, cost, etc. It’s a free market once apps are approved, and users make the final choice which apps are worth their pennies and hard drive space.

The question remains if Android Apps, which there will be fewer of, at least at first, will be of any higher quality than the Apple apps. According to AndAppStore, there are 259 apps available for Android including “aBubblePop,” so let’s just say the quality competition, if Android hopes to win it, has yet hit its prime.