The apps world is growing and growing as mobile devices are playing an even more central role in ways people consume news. Globally the apps market - which means all kind of apps, from news to games - is undoubtedly dominated by Apple, which approved this week its 500,000th app, but competitors, or rather Google's Android, are also gaining ground.

At this end the BBC News announced today, May 25th, the release of its apps for Android Market in the UK. An international version will be launched soon. The app is free of charge.

The Apple app, for iPhone and iPad, was launched in the UK last July and reached 3 million UK downloads and further 3 million internationally to date, the site claims.

"Its arrival within Android Market brings immediate access to breaking news and broadcast content to a wider 'on-the-move' audience".

Despite the popularity apps are reaching in consuming news, they don't stand out from the other categories. According to what ReadWriteWeb (via Poynter) reported, a third-party research, whose infographic is displayed here, showed that apps in the "news" category account for only 3 percent of all apps available in the iTunes Store. Amongst all apps categories, the largest are games, which account for the 15 percent, books (14 percent) and entertainment (11percent). News was 12th out of 20 categories.

Sources: BBC News, Poynter, ReadWriteWeb