Google Play Store
launched in March 2012, is Google's official digital distribution platform for Android devices. It provides a vast array of applications, games, music, movies, TV shows, and books for users to download and enjoy on their Android devices. Originally known as the Android Market, it underwent a rebranding to Google Play to reflect its expanded content offerings.
The Play Store offers both free and paid content, and developers worldwide can publish their apps on the platform. Users can access the Play Store through the pre-installed app on their Android devices or via a web browser.
Over the years, Google Play Store has evolved with updates and features, including improved security measures, user interface enhancements, and additional content categories. It plays a crucial role in the Android ecosystem, serving as a central hub for users to discover, download, and manage their digital content.
Apple App Store
is Apple Inc.'s digital distribution platform for mobile apps, initially launched on July 10, 2008. It serves as the official marketplace for iOS applications, including apps designed for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac. The App Store allows users to browse, purchase, and download a wide variety of apps, ranging from games and productivity tools to entertainment and education.
Developers worldwide can submit their applications to the App Store, and Apple reviews them to ensure they meet quality and security standards before being made available to users. The App Store has played a pivotal role in the success of the iOS ecosystem, contributing to the popularity and functionality of Apple's mobile devices.
In addition to apps, the App Store also offers other content such as movies, TV shows, books, and music through various dedicated sections. It has seen numerous updates and enhancements over the years, continuing to be a key element of the Apple ecosystem.
Differences
Apps from the Play Store cannot be uploaded to the Apple Store because their file extension are not the same. However, you can find some apps available on both Apple Store and Google Play Store. In such cases, developers must use cross-platform app development software and programming languages like React Native and Flutter (Dart). Alternatively, they can develop separate apps for each platform— Google Play Store and Apple Store—using Kotlin or Java for Android and Swift for iOS.
2012: 700,000
2013: 1 Million
2014: 1.4 Million
2015: 1.8 Million
2016: 2.6 Million
2017: 3.6 Million
2018: 2.6 Million
2019: 2.9 Million
2020: 2.9 Million
2021: 2.6 Million
2022: 2.7 Million
2023: 2.6 Million
How many apps and games were available on the Apple Store each year (from creation date to now)?
2008: 10,000
2009: 100,000
2010: 300,000
2011: 500,000
2012: 700,000
2013: 1.0 Million
2014: 1.4 Million
2015: 1.8 Million
2016: 2.6 Million
2017: 3.6 Million
2018: 2.6 Million
2019: 2.9 Million
2020: 2.9 Million
2021: 2.6 Million
2022: 2.7 Million
2023: 2.2 Million
Which has more apps and games, Google Play Store or Apple Store?
Answer: Google Play Store (For Android Users)
Why do the number of apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store sometimes decrease each year?
1. App Removals: Apps might be removed for policy violations, lack of updates, or developer requests. Also Google and Apple remove older apps that fail to meet the requirements of their newest operating system update and tighten rules for developers looking to get their app on their stores.
2. App Mergers or Consolidation: Developers might merge multiple apps into one, reducing the overall count.
3. Quality Control: Stores may implement stricter quality control, leading to the removal of low-quality or outdated apps.
4. Market Trends: Changes in technology or market trends can influence the types of apps being developed and hosted. Users prefer quality over quantity, and tend to download and use the same popular apps across all platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, the Weather Channel, and Angry Birds. This reduces the demand and incentive for new and niche apps
5. Developer Decisions: Developers may discontinue or unpublish apps for strategic reasons. Developers remove their own apps due to various reasons, such as low profitability, high maintenance costs, legal issues, or lack of user interest.
6. Developers consolidate their apps into fewer but more comprehensive ones, to avoid duplication and fragmentation of their user base.
7. The decrease in developers publishing their apps to stores is attributed to the heightened challenges imposed by Google. The stringent processes, such as demanding extensive documentation and encountering errors during developer account creation for number verification, have dissuaded many developers. Furthermore, numerous Play Store accounts have been terminated, preventing these developers from creating new accounts to continue distributing their quality apps. Any attempt to create a new account often results in termination once Google identifies the association with a previously terminated developer account. Unfortunately, a significant portion of Play Store developer account terminations occurred unintentionally, with developers pleading ignorance about violating Google's policies. Additionally, the sharing of virus-infected apps among developers to uploaded to Google Play Store, who may not be aware of the malicious content, has led to account terminations, contributing to a sense of disappointment in the developers community(according to developers around online).
These factors contribute to the dynamic nature of app counts on both platforms.
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