Android Market surpasses 20,000 applications

Google's Android Market application storefront has unofficially surpassed the 20,000 app benchmark according to analytics provider AndroLib.com [1]. Android Market reached the 10,000 app milestone in early September, meaning the store roughly doubled in inventory size in under four months--according to AndroLib.com, about 62 percent of all Android applications are available for free.

The spike in new Android apps appears largely attributable to the introduction of Verizon Wireless' Motorola-produced Droid--according to mobile in-application analytics provider Flurry, Android software project starts increased 94 percent [2] between September and October, coinciding with the Droid announcement. "Flurry market data shows that Android continues to gain interest from application developers, and that iPhone is no longer the only game in town," said Flurry president and chief officer Simon Khalaf in a prepared statement. "Developers who used to develop only for iPhone are now adding Android applications to their lineup in record numbers."

In related Android Market news, T-Mobile USA announced it will now spotlight recommended Android applications to its subscribers via T-Mobile Top Picks, a new feature within the store. T-Mobile Top Picks (supported through Android 1.6) currently features 20 applications including Absolute Fitness, Location Scout, FlightStats for Android and Pandora Radio. Last week, T-Mobile USA said [3] it is now pushing out a software update enabling Android device customers to bill Android Market download purchases directly to their account instead of entering credit card information.

For more on the Android Market milestone:
- read this MobileCrunch article [4]