Yes, we’ve all heard the buzz about Android.  But time after time, consumers have reiterated: it’s the apps that have lead to Apple’s grip on the market. We know it’s not the service, because Apple has been outed again and again for their lackluster coverage, locked-in AT&T contracts, and app store handling. Sure, there’s a bit of marketing magic going on. Admittedly, I’ve been a Mac fan of sorts for years, and nothing they have produced is as slick and sultry as the iPhone.

With Android, though, there’s a certain sense of freshness, a feeling among many consumers that, even if this isn’t the be-all end-all for the iPhone, it’s certainly a monumental step in the right direction.

According to Mashable, Android has reportedly hit the 20,000 mark in the their app store. While still some paces behind Apple (by comparison, Apple just reached their 100,000 mark last month), and bolstered by the recent release of Droid, it’s still cause for celebration for Google. Not surprisingly, 14% of the apps for Android are games. But the pace is quickly growing throughout all apps. From the article:

30 percent of apps have been downloaded fewer than 50 times. Only a very small percentage of apps have been downloaded more than 250,000 times, which might indicate that creating a “hit” application for the Android Market requires more nuance than for the iPhone.

While this is well and good of course, not all of us have access to the Droid or, by extension, the applications. Including me. While there some decent reviews of apps online, I’d like to appeal to you, dear readers. I tend to trust geeks more, y’know?

Knowing virtually nothing about the apps myself (save fiddling with my sister’s G1 some months ago), let us know how the Android apps stack up against Apple. What must-have’s do you use every day? How much have you shelled out for an app and was it worth it? Have you built an app yourself? How was your experience with the app stores? Not to mention, are the apps generally iPhone mimics, or do you find they offer something else?

My hope is that we can start compiling some geeky, sexy apps to recommend to readers (with proper attribution, of course) over the coming months. While the Droid might not completely knock the iPhone out of the top spot, it certainly looks promising in the way of development and function.

Thanks in advance.

[Picture source: Androlib.com]

Tags: android, app, Apple, applications, apps, droid, iphone