Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc.�s Android mobile software may offer as many as 150,000 applications by the end of 2010, as the company chases Apple Inc. for downloads, according to a mobile-application research firm.
�A lot of developers have come onto the Android platform� because of efforts by Verizon Wireless, Motorola Inc. and Google to promote the system, Flurry Inc. Chief Executive Officer Simon Khalaf said today in an interview. Flurry, based in San Francisco, is a firm that studies applications and their use.
Android currently offers more than 12,000 programs. More than 100,000 are available on Apple�s site for its iPhone and iPod Touch devices. The company may have at least 300,000 applications by the end of next year, Khalaf said. Google will have 100,000 to 150,000, he said.
Motorola, which is rebuilding its phone business around Google�s software, is one of several handset makers that may release more Android devices in 2010. Google, owner of the world�s most popular Internet search engine, disclosed that it was working on a phone in a blog posting on Dec. 12, saying that employees were using the device to provide feedback. Android is free to anyone who wants to develop applications for it.
Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones and 10.2 million iPods last quarter. More than 125,000 software designers are registered to create programs for the devices, Apple said in September.
Google�s press office in Mountain View, California, didn�t immediately respond to an e-mail and telephone call. Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller declined to comment beyond a Nov. 4 company statement.
Google rose $10.56 to $611.68 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, gained $1.74 to $202.10. Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola fell 17 cents to $7.93 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Verizon Wireless sells Motorola�s Droid phone in the U.S.
Quality over quantity is the best. That said a lot of developers aren't developing for Android because of the fractured OS 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.01, 2.1 not to mention there's something going on with developers and Google Checkout (I'll try to find the article).
