"Over the past few months, the Android Market has been maintaining an exponential growth, but is still lagging behind the app store market leader, Apple," Research2guidance analyst Egle Makalajunaite wrote in a post on the firm's Web site.

Research2guidance noted that the total published September apps were later winnowed down by 37% for Android, for a total of 319,161 at the end of September.

At Apple, the total published number was reduced by 24%, putting the active number of mobile apps in the App Store at 459,589 at the end of September.

Apps are pulled for many reasons, including when a developer stops supporting it or it is found to be defective or not compatible with the latest OS version.

Apple is known to have a more demanding set of application submission requirements than Android, Mikalajunaite wrote.