60 essential apps for mobile: Android has finally closed the app gap with iOS

Throughout the last couple of years, we've kept on hearing that Apple has the strongest ecosystem, the most and the best apps, and that basically it’s in a whole different category when it comes to applications and games. There was no reason to challenge this - it was true. But it’s time to finally put this into the past now and admit that Android caught up and it’s now got virtually all the essential applications and games. You wouldn’t miss anything if you transition from iOS to Android, and vice versa.

Let’s first take a quick look at the numbers. Lastly, Apple disclosed it has 650,000 apps in its App Store, and most recently Google’s Android had 600,000 apps on Google Play, only 50,000 short of iOS.

Sure, the numbers have almost evened out and we expect Android to overtake Apple in terms of number of applications in the near future. But heck, out of those apps there are a couple hundred apps that most people will download and a huge pile of specialized apps suited only for some, along with tons of junk. Let’s cut all of this and bring the game back to the very essentials - apps most of you would not only want but need and games that would make you drool and consider switching to another platform.

We’ve got 60 of them - games and applications, and we’ve included Windows Phones for its ambitions to become the third ecosystem. Microsoft's platform is still a long way from being there as you can see in the list below, but it’s also moving in the right direction.

We’ll leave the conclusions to you in the comments below, but right now, here’s our 60 essential apps list - it’s not perfect, but it should cover most basics. We’ve used top app ratings from all around to come up with it, but feel free to suggest adding or removing applications - it’s really up to you. So what do you think - is there still a valid reason to say that iOS has the edge in apps? The tricky part might be the iPad and tablet apps where Apple is still very, very strong unlike Android, but that’s a whole different topic. We’ll look at it soon, as Windows 8 approaches so stay tuned.