Android is gaining market share all over the world, as even the staunchest Apple fanboy will now admit – though they’d add that the smartphone market itself is growing so fast that both Android and iOS are making gains. One area that has so far vexed Android has been development, or at least, that part of development that’s focused on making money. According to IT research firm Ovum, that’s changing in the Asian market, where developers are shifting their focus onto Android at an alarming rate.

While most developers are still working on the iOS platform, the rapid decline of Windows Mobile, Blackberry and PalmOS/WebOS has opened up time and commitment space, which is being filled almost exclusively with Android development. That isn’t all that surprising, since Android has grabbed 52% of the smartphone market across all of Asia. Though smartphone adoption is trailing outside of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (less than 30% of mobile phones sold in Asia are smartphones) the sheer size of the market makes it a worldwide stage for nearly every hardware and software vendor.

iOS remains much more profitable on an app-by-app basis, but the gap in both apps and income is shrinking. The Android Market is expected to meet and exceed the iOS app store in the total number of available apps later this year, and total downloads have already exceeded the 11 billion mark. Between November and January, more than 50 million Android devices were sold worldwide, bringing the total up to 250 million. Android’s growth doesn’t show signs of stopping any time soon, and the development community is taking notice.

[via Business Standard]