Google says 3 billion Android apps downloaded

Google during its fiscal results call on Thursday revealed that three billion Android apps have been downloaded since the platform launched in October 2008. Senior Commerce and Local VP Jeff Huber didn't say how many had been downloaded in the winter but said the figure was a 50 percent surge from the fall. The install is believed, but not confirmed, to include all stores and not just Android Market.

He further made official recent claims from last week that Google was activating 350,000 new Android devices each day. The increase came about five months after reaching 300,000 in December and suggested a minor slowdown.

Huber made no mention of how many were tablets versus phones and said it was "relatively early on," hinting that very few were tablets.

While the app install count was a significant milestone, it shows Android continuing to trail in app use relative to iOS. Apple reached 10 billion App Store downloads in January, or more than triple the size despite the App Store only opening three months before Android arrived. Apple's longer investment in tablets and its encouragement of non-phone devices like the iPod may have played a part, though its holding over 350,000 apps versus the estimated 120,000 for Android may have played its own part.

Apple hasn't given out its daily activation rate in recent months and last updated in September, when it reached 230,000 iOS devices per day. The number will almost certainly have increased after the first holiday season of iPad sales along with a surge in iPhones and the addition of the Verizon iPhone in February.

By Electronista Staff