• The New York Times, Monday, April 19, 2010 3:45 PM

Why is Android's app marketplace growing so much faster than Apple's iPhone app store? Two reasons, according to The Times' David Pogue, include willpower and deep pockets. Likening Google's efforts to Avis car-rental's old slogan, "We're Number 2. We try harder," Pogue posts a letter from one developer who was offered an olive branch (and a free Nexus One) by the search giant.

"It shows that Google is actively recruiting developers to their platform, using the enticements of free hardware and open communication," the developer pointed out. "Contrast with Apple's approach: it took us about three months of resubmitting our app to Apple before they stopped rejecting it for inappropriate content." Apple's iPhone app is presently stocked with some 185,000 programs. Google's Android software catalog, meanwhile, has grown from 6,000 to 25,000 apps since the beginning of the year. Adds Pogue: "Free phones, and aggressive courting of talented app makers, surely has something to do with it."

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