Android Eclipses Apple's iOS As App Download Leader

According to ABI Research firm its become apparent that inside the second quarter of 2011, Google's mobile OS Android has accounted for 44 percent of all app downloads while Apple's iOS only accounted for 31 percent, this indicating a jump not only in Android usage but in app sales on the whole. ABI notes that Android also had a whopping 36 percent jump in phone shipments over the previous three months as well. Could this be the first sign of the apocalypse? Fanatical sources all say yes, definitely!

Meanwhile the ABI Research team stays conservative about the taking over of the world by Android in the face of Apple. Dan Shey, practice director of mobile services at ABI, notes "Android's app downloads per user still lag behind Apple's by 2 to 1." This of course means what there has to be one whole heck of a lot of new Android device purchasers out there buying up 1 app per every 2 a single iPhone user downloads. Of course that includes Android tablet and iPads as well. ABI continued that there is to be a rise by 29 billion global downloads this year of games, music, news, and other applications – this more than three times the amount downloaded in 2010.

All of this comes atop news earlier today that the Android Market (where they keep all their apps) had reached 500,000 app submissions with something like 315,000 on the market and up for sale, all of this inside September. The numbers for Apple's iTunes App Store were clocked in at 600,000 submissions and 456,000 apps on the market today, all of this coming from research2guidance numbers for September (again, inside 2011.) A far cry from less than 5 years ago when apps where only called applications and they all came in big boxes in the store.

Then there's the new big version releases of Android and Apple's iOS with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and iOS 5. Have a glimpse at both of these fabulous new environments in the videos below:

[vms 4b1be110b7bf70c8362d]

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]