Top 5 Mobile App Stores: Which Have The Least Expensive Apps?

With Google Android and Nokia Ovi entering a smartphone platform market that was until recently dominated by the iPhone, consumers are having more choice over where they go to buy apps for their mobile phone, and one report shows that it may pay to shop around.

Apple vs. Android

While the Apple store currently has by far the most applications (over 100,000), Android is catching up with over 10,000 apps available. These are both trailed by Blackberry, which has under 5,000. But the sheer number of apps available isn’t always the most important factor. The quality of the app has to be taken into consideration, as well as how many are available for free download.

The Top 5

To answer this latter question, Mobclix, a mobile analytics company, determined the rankings amongst the top 5 mobile platforms according to average app price. They provided two sets of data, one that included the free app in the average, and one that averaged only paid apps, which allowed you to factor in how many free apps each platform has as well.

Source: Mobclix

As you can see, Nokia takes the cake for cheap apps. However, with only a little over 2000 apps, there isn’s as much choice as with the runners up, Android and Apple. These two actual come out pretty equal, as Apple’s paid apps are cheaper on average, but with free apps factored in, Android has the lower price, meaning that it offers a higher percentage of free apps that the Apple Store.