Android Reaches 20,000 Apps

Alright folks, this one could be looked back upon as a small milestone in a big phenomenon or it could be just a blip in the ever changing mobile OS scenario. But it is more likely to be the first option. Google’s Android has just crossed the 20,000 apps mark. That means it has achieved about 1/5th of the App Store’s last milestone. That does not mean however that the platform is lagging behind that much.

In fact, it is shaping up to be the mobile platform of the future. It was only 5 months ago when Android was at 10,000 apps. Doubling in in less than half a year to 20,000 shows exactly the kind of third-party developer love that Android is getting. And there is good reason for it to get this much attention too. Through these past 5 months, we have seen a positive deluge of Android phones. From the mass market, to the quirky to the high-end — we have seen it all and now it all comes back to us in this 5-figure number and an exponential growth graph. Just look at that upward curve!

Android being so very open has worked both for and against the platform. Different carriers and manufacturers have been able to customize a great platform that has been given to them for free. It is also maintained and upgraded on by Google, available completely free of cost to everyone else. In fact. Google’s “less than free” strategy involves offering manufacturers money to use the Google standard Android. Where is Google is getting all this money? From mobile searches of course! Google knows how to offer something really great for free and make money off the ads displayed.

This growth spurt is going to last well into the nest year with a slew of sleek new Android phones slated to be released around that time. Google’s own Nexus One phone is also rumored to be coming soon. More on that later. There is also the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, which looks like it is shaping up to be quite the multimedia giant. Then there is HTC’s Bravo — which was leaked along with four other Android phones on HTC’s internal roadmap. So if Android isn’t growing like crazy through 2010, it will be very surprising.

Of course, Apple’s impending tablet and iPhone upgrades will affect Android significantly, especially is rumors about AT&T’s US exclusivity deal ending in 2010 are true. This is going to be interesting.