According to Google's Q4 earnings conference call, the Android Market now has over 800 applications available to its users. This number pales in comparison to Apple's App Store which now has over 15,000 applications available and that number is still climbing rapidly.
Apple has had the advantage of starting over a year earlier. The iPhone's install base is somewhere around 15 million users but the Android should be getting a boost this year when more phones start using the platform.
Google's Android Market also doesn't allow paid applications at this time but they have been rumored to begin allowing them in the first quarter of this year. This will bring more attention from developers who are looking to repeat the success that other developers have had at the App Store. It's also possible that some developers have been holding back applications in anticipation of Google adding the ability to sell applications at their store.
The Android platform is still relatively new to the race so it's difficult to gauge what we should expect of it. Google seems confident in what it has done so far and what the future holds for the Android as a platform. It's going to be difficult for any company, let alone Google, to accomplish what Apple has done with the iPhone and the App Store.
