14 DAY TRIAL // Android phone users in Korean have now a new feature to enjoy when it comes to the Android Market, namely the availability of paid applications. Earlier this week, Internet giant Google announced the availability of paid content via the app store in the country, showing that the Android platform is growing strong in the market in Korea, greatly helped by the availability of a series of highly appealing mobile phones.
“As of today, Android Market is open for business to application buyers in the Republic of Korea. We hope that this will make the outstanding Android devices now available in that nation even more useful and fun. We welcome the people of Korea, acknowledged everywhere as one of the world's most-wired societies, to the world of Android,” a recent post on the Android Developers blog notes.
The announcement comes at a time when the Android Market is said to include a number of more than 70,000 applications. This is the official figure, though AndroLib suggested that the portal would include over 100,000 software solutions, and that it already reached the over 1 billion download mark. This is not the first time when Google and AndroLib report different numbers, but more should be unveiled soon.
All in all, the number of applications included in the Android Market is rising fast, and that can only mean a good thing for end users. A few weeks ago, Andy Rubin announced that the Android Market includes 68,000 applications, and now it passed the 70,000 mark.
Unfortunately, Google did not comment on the number of downloaded apps from the Android Market. AndroLib's report suggests that more than 1 billion software solutions were downloaded, but it does not state whether app updates are included here or not. As for the rate at which the Android Market grows, the report shows 14,000 apps added in June, along with over 10,000 already added in July.