Has The App Store Really Crossed 300,000 Apps? (Updated)

There are reports suggesting that Apple’s App Store is now home to over 300,000 applications, the milestone was supposedly reached yesterday and includes both free and paid apps.

Apple doesn’t typically report the number of apps on its App Store, saving numbers and statistics to selected Steve Jobs keynotes at Apple events held throughout the year, meaning that during the rest of the time the job is left to third-party App Store analytics companies such as Mobclix and 148Apps.biz to monitor new additions to the App Store to give analysts and casual downloaders an idea of the size of Apple’s app marketplace.

Apple also does not provide a dedicated way of monitoring the App Store so reports can be significantly different between those that report its analytics. For example, Mobclix is suggesting that there are 300,975 apps on the store, with 148Apps.biz suggesting that the App Store contained 277,807 apps as of yesterday morning.

This isn’t to say that either company is lying. Venturebeat was one of the first sites to report the 300,000 apps barrier had been broken, citing Mobclix’s reports to publish its claim. Later in the article, the eclipsing of 250,000 apps was credited to 148Apps.biz, a milestone that Mobclix did not report at the time.

We reported that the App Store surpassed 250,000 apps on the 28th August, citing statistics from 148Apps.biz. Apple then confirmed this number just three days later at its iPod-centric September keynote, you could say this lends credibility to the statistics reported by this particular company.

As 148Apps.biz is still reporting the 300,000 apps mark is some 20,000+ apps from being broken, so its easy to reserve opinion when reading reports on this particular milestone. Apple will without doubt confirm it all when it hosts its Mac event on October 20.

Whether the App Store contains 270,000 or 300,000 apps, the sheer number of apps available is astounding. Apple has breathed new life into mobile ecosystems, even if it is considered overly aggressive with restrictions within its operating system. The Android Market is growing at a rapid pace and hosts 115,000 apps, but that’s still just over a third of what Apple offers via its own marketplace.

Impressive, whichever way you look it.

UPDATE: AppsFire‘s Ouriel Ohayon has been in touch to offer his take on the disparity in the reported number of apps:

The truth is that this milestone has not been reached yet. We track that number very closely at AppsFire and we can tell you that this is not the case.

Why did Mobclicx get there? They are counting apps that were published as still existing although they were either unlisted and changed ID because they were repacked under a new build or a new name. We can take hundreds of examples but we’ll save you the listing.

The reality is that the active apps are still around 290,000.