App developers turned attention to Android

In 2010, Android apps were rarely in the same league as their Apple counterparts. Nevertheless last year, with devices using the Android operating system reaching a dominant position in the world's smartphone market, deeper-pocketed developers turned their attention to them. The result was a slate of new apps that can more in all seriousness challenge Apple's best.

Google Music: Google's music service lets a user upload 20,000 songs from a PC or Mac to the cloud; the Android app instantly syncs those tunes and playlists, so there's no longer any worry about plugging a mobile device into the desktop computer to pick up the latest purchases.

8tracks: This is my new favorite app for listening to other people's music. Spotify is great online, nevertheless it is greatly limited on a mobile phone unless you pay $10 a month.