In the competition between App store and Android, the Android system seemed to be catching up to Apple. However, the chase has become noticeably slower than before. New and innovative applications seem to appear only in a month or two, and have become extremely rare. In contrast, the App store seems to retain their development pace close to its earlier speed.

Apple has had fierce competition with Korea in smartphone marketing. Now the target has shifted to application

development. Korean smartphones are becoming more and more in demand outside the peninsula and it is crucial that Android based applications are favored outside of Korea. However, the development of Korean Android is shadowed by that of Apple.

A difference in Android and Apple application market can be seen in their application ranking. The Apple application market strives for many changes in its monthly applications ranking thanks to rapid development in new and innovative applications. In the May 2013 application ranking, Apple saw many variations in the top ten monthly application ranking while Korean Android remained stagnant. Only two applications from the previous top ten rank stayed in Apple’s application store, while only two Android applications changed in their top ten ranking. The situation was not so much different in the following months leading to October.

Changes in the ranking are important in showing how application development is occurring inside the market. Android has been pointed out to repeatedly launch numerous but lowquality applications. To gain consumer approval, invention of a few applications high in quality is much more effective than swarming the market with dozens of cheap-quality applications.

Reasons behind Android’s lagging behind is mainly divided into two—compatibility and profitability. Compatibility is a big issue for the Android application market. Compatibility in this sense means that the application has to be able to be used without any errors on the phone. An app that has high compatibility can be downloaded to any type of smartphone, regardless of its brand. The Android market is known for not following a standard. That is why many users of Android have difficulty downloading certain applications.

For instance, an application named Application Decoration Heaven – providing backgrounds for users – has been criticized for not having a standard application type. For users in the Android market, to download a decoration theme, one would have to download another application that uses that particular background model. This is a very inconvenient process for the user.

In the application market, people will not choose to download an application if it is not free or if it is loaded with advertisements. Thus, applications are not a very profitable area unless it becomes a great hit. Even with this limited profit, Android application developers do not receive adequate pay. According to a research site for mobile application market called AppAnnie, Apple application developers earn two to three times more profit than an Android application developer does for a same task.

Many Android technicians and Android developers are thus leaving the Korean Android market and are opting for the Apple store or other sectors of technological development. The Android market needs to stop this leaking of intelligence from happening and face the two main problems before the Android market collapses. A fresh change in new software in the Android market seems to be out of reach.

Instead of producing countless applications which imitate highselling ones, the Android market needs to release unique and adventurous applications for the future of Korea’s application market.