Android Market reaches 20,000 apps mark

Android Market now has over 20,000 applications

In another sign that the Android operating system is slowly gaining in market penetration, the Android Market application marketplace has recorded a new milestone of 20,000 available apps, according to new figures.

AndroLib, a news and reviews site dedicated to the platform, has been tracking the performance of Android since its launch, and yesterday announced via Twitter: " Early Christmas present from Google: 20,000 Apps in the Android market."

According to the site, around 62 per cent of applications available for the platform are free of charge. User satisfaction with the applications appears high, with around 45 per cent receiving a rating of 5/5, according to AndroLib. In the English market this figure drops slightly to around 44 per cent.

Only around 15 per cent of Android Market applications are games.

However, Android still has some way to go before it can truly challenge the dominance of the iPhone in the apps market. Just last month Apple declared that it had passed the 100,000 mark for applications available via the App Store.

It has not all been plain sailing for Apple, though. There is growing dissatisfaction among developers at what they believe to be an inadequate review and approvals process for new applications.

Several high profile developers have walked away from the platform as a result, including the developer of the popular Facebook iPhone application.