(Image source: TalkAndroid.com)

BY JIM FLINK

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

Half a million apps -- and still growing. The Android marketplace -- is apparently bursting at the seams with new stuff. Now trailing rival Apple in the app wars -- by a mere 100 thousand apps. 

Or so says market researcher Research2Guidance.

“Android developers are significantly more productive than Apple’s. We’ve noticed that the average publisher on Android has placed more than 6 applications in the Market since launch, compared to just over 4 apps on average that have been published by iOS developers.”

So is Apple getting out-hustled here?  PC mag says not so much.  Apps come and go like the wind.

“For example, by September, 37 percent of all Android apps and 24 percent of iOS apps had been removed for various reasons. An app could be killed if it’s not updated to be compatible with the platform’s current operating system, or if the developer abandons it, among other reasons.”

And by the time you take in that math, PC Mag says, Android’s real number is closer to 300,000.  Apple’s, closer to 450,000. Mobot has it’s takeaway.

“...a whopping 180,000+ have been removed for whatever reason. Cripes. The guys add that 78% of removed apps were free, suggesting that paid apps are generally of higher quality.”

Beyond the quality versus quantity debate, are app numbers really a gauge of success? SlashGear says without clear numbers, it’s hard to say.

“Quite simply...apps come and go every day. With regulations in both app stores different on how app submissions are made, accepted, and eventually pulled from the market due to a variety of circumstances, there is no exact number outside what Apple and Google have behind the scenes.”