Android is reaching critcal mass and knocking on the iPhone's door

Over 1 million devices sold, 5,000 apps, Android's growth, even compared to the iPhone, is remarkable

By Source Seeker on Mon, 06/22/09 - 2:18pm.

When T-mobile announced that its second Android phone would be shipping in August, it also released a few interesting statistics between the its Android phone market and the iPhone. For instance, 1 million G1 phones were sold in the first six months after introducing it. By the time Android reaches the two-year mark, it could be nearly as popular as the iPhone.

That's not to say it doesn't have a long way to go. By comparison, 1 million iPhone 3G phones sold in the first weekend it appeared in stores. Nevertheless, here's a few stats, per T-Mobile, that compare the two and show Android coming on strong.


Android	iPhone
1 million G1 sold in first six months	iPhone 3G phones sold in the first weekend
5,000 applications available in the Android store	25,000 apps in its AppStore
Average G1 user has downloaded more than 40 applications (so a max of 40 million apps could have been downloaded)	iPhone users have downloaded about 800 million apps

The G1 was released in October, 2008, so it has been on the market a mere 8 months. Compare this to the iPhone, released more than a year prior, on June, 2007, and has had two years to build its user base. When it comes to features between the two phones, Android is behind, but catching up. A chart compiled by lifehacker in March compares the Android's feature set to the list that Apple chose for its next generation, 3G phone.

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