Android finally has as many apps as iOS

Google has announced that there are now 700,000 applications available to download from its Google Play store. Google Play, formerly known as Android Market, has been playing catch up to Apple’s dominant App Store for years, but according to the big G it’s finally caught up to its Cupertino-based rival.

Apple announced last year during the iPad mini and new iPad 4 launch event that its App Store packed over 700,000 applications, and now Google is saying the same.

The number of apps in the App Store has always been a key boasting point for Apple at its events, and while it will still claim its offering is cleaner, safer and better than Google’s all-for-one and one-for-all Play store, it’s got a real fight on its hands.

It seems that Google and Apple are going head to head in almost every way imaginable, with law suits, budget tablets, mobile operating systems and next-gen smartphones all thrown in as they battle for supremacy.

Surely the next milestone is who can get 1 million apps in their store first, with Google currently the favourite thanks to the sheer speed of growth – but don’t be surprised if Apple launches a fresh onslaught.

Source: Bloomberg