The Android Market is fast catching up to the popular Apple iTunes store when it comes to applications. Recent statistics from AndroLib shows that the Android marketplace had 9,331 new mobile applications added during the month of march, this is almost double than the previous month.

Since the launch of the Android Marketplace in October 2008 the market has seen rapid growth. When the Android Market initially launched after its first month there was a mere 167 applications available for download. Today the Android Market features over 30 000 applications and the numbers is on the rise each month.

Apple currently still has one of the largest markets available for applications but Android is currently the fastest growing mobile application store out there. If your brand still haven’t got an Android application I think you should consider looking into one ASAP.

The Android Market at its current rate is almost multiplying application additions each month compared to previous months, this is good for the user but can be alarming for the developer wanting to get his idea out there first.

Tell us what applications you use from the Android Market.

Last week I got the news that I was eligible for an upgrade, at first I wanted to port to Vodacom to get the iPhone as I have played around with a few of them and love it, but after some consideration and a hefty price tag my attention turned toward the HTC Hero or iPhone killer as some say.

It was a mission to get hold of one, as everybody is either out of stock and only expects new stock in the next year or does not get the phone until next year. Lucky for me the guys at Durbanville MTN shop got hold of an HTC Hero in only one day, great service from them, and I picked up my Hero yesterday.

The phone is absolutely superb, I’m loving every aspect of it and can see why people are saying that it’s the iPhone killer. The HTC hero is lightning fast with applications and menus opening instant without any sign of hesitation. A nice feature is the Accelerometer, one example I tested was with Google Maps in street view. Enabling the digital compass feature and physically moving around with the phone in your hand made the street-view move around as if you where standing in the street and looking up, down, left or right.

Out of the box the Android operating system asks you for login details to social networking sites like Facebook, twitter and Flicker and integrates it into your home screens if you would like to. Importing contacts was a breeze specially since I had all my contacts in Gmail, Android just asked me to sync with my GMail account and voila there all my contacts was imported.

The Android market place is also a breeze to operate with all the apps you can think of, 99% of the kind of apps I searched for where free.

The 5 mega-pixel camera of the HTC Hero is also very nice, it takes very high quality images that is sharp and crisp. One downside of the camera is I would have liked a flash, but its not the end of the world.

I’m definitely a Android fan now, and won’t turn back anytime soon. The Hero is sure to give Apple iPhone a run for its money.

If you are due for an upgrade have a look at the Hero, I’m sure you’d like it. I’ll be writing more about Android and Tips and Tricks for the HTC Hero and Android marketplace from now on here.