Is too much being made of the apps for smart phones? Considering Google’s offering of cash prize of a quarter million dollars for Android and the much publicized 50,000 apps that Apple boasts of, How many of these apps that are developed actually find their way into the smart phones?

Figures have now been released for the number of users that actually use these apps. Well, the figures are not encouraging and not worth all the trouble that developers take. Considering there were a million down loads of the lectures taken at Stanford for podcasting, it seems the developer interest is more than the user interesr in these apps.

It was estimated that out of the million downloads of the podcasting eventually only 5000 may become developers. Already some 50,000 apps exist for iPhone. Figures released after tracking mare than 2000 apps reveal that only 5% or just more than 100 apps are actually used by more than 1,00,000 iPhone users. This actually means that most of the apps developed are not very popular nor are economically viable.

This could be one of the reasons why Apple is now permitting developers to directly approach the users. Out of the 5000 developers that may eventually emerge out of the course given at Stanford only 5% may taste commercial success that is a mere 250.

Then is it worth the trouble people take in learning and developing apps ?

Wouldn’t it be better for Apple or Google to develop the apps themselves?

But we guess its more about entrepreneurship and trying. Its always very few who succeed.