Google announced during its fourth quarter earnings conference call that there were now some 800 apps available at the Android Marketplace, Google's analogy to Apple's App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. This is substantially higher than the 500 apps that were available in December, but rather far behind the 15,000 apps available at the App Store (VentureBeat described it as "laughably" far behind).

When Google first announced the Android Marketplace, many thought that developers would flock to the platform due to the much more open way in which Google was approaching the business. The company said from the beginning that it would have a hands-off approach when choosing what gets published at the Marketplace, blocking only those apps deemed "malicious" by Google.

Obviously, that hasn't exactly been the case, and InformationWeek speculated that this might be due to the lack of any sort of payment options. Developers can make whatever kind of apps they won't, but they can't readily collect any money for their efforts.

Contrast that to the US$80,000 that developer Joel Comm made from iFart Mobile in just a couple of weeks before Christmas, and InformationWeek may have a point.

Still, it merits pointing out that when Apple first announced it had some 500 apps available at launch that the App Store was heralded as success. Google's progress with the Android Marketplace should help the company remain a viable competitor with the Android platform to Apple's iPhone.