Apple Apps Remain Developers’ Favorite Even as Android Expands Footprint

Google has turned Android into the most popular operating system for smartphones. And yet the platform may be losing ground to Apple’s iOS in a major area: new applications. Relative to Apple, fewer apps were created for Android in January than a year earlier, according to Flurry, a company that analyzes mobile-software data.

Developers made roughly one new Android app for every three Apple apps, Flurry found. A year ago, they created two Android app for every three Apple apps. While the study only tracked developers who design apps using Flurry’s tools, the shift suggests that Google’s bid to overtake Apple’s industry-leading App Store may be losing some steam. Apple has more than 550,000 apps in its store, compared with over 400,000 for Google’s Android Market. Both companies count on the array of apps to make their phones more enticing and lock in consumers who are already using the devices.