Android Store Beats Apple App Store in USA

Android market had the highest rate of overall growth, reaching 130,000 applications in the US by Dec 31, or more than six times the number at the end of 2009.

Nokia's free applications surged 10-fold, helping its total US applications more than triple to 25,000, the third-biggest app lineup after Apple and Android.

Google Android market, Research In Motion BlackBerry app World and Nokia Oyj Ovi Store added mobile phone software faster than Apple app store in the US last year, research company Distimo said.

Apple's fastest-growing category was business, while competitors added media and entertainment applications to counter the Cupertino, California- based company's lead in music and books.

The market share of free applications rose while the price of paid applications fell, the analysts said. Among the top 100 applications, prices declined by an average 9 per cent at Android and by 61 per cent at Ovi Store.

input by TOI