Google is fast catching up with Apple as the tech giant marked this week the 10 billionth download form its Android Market, signalling the dwindling gap between the current dominant App Store and its closest rival.

And Apple, according to tech watchers, has reason to worry as the constantly exploding app collections offered by Google is projected to steam ahead of the Apps Store by next year.

"It's clear that Android's momentum in device activations is translating to application downloads and usage ... and we'd expect Android to overtake Apple in application downloads in the first half of 2012," CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber told BBC News.

While Apple, Blaber noted, took much shorter time in recording milestones for its Apps Store, at the rate that Android apps were being purchased and downloaded by users, currently at one billion each month as per Google's figures, the likelihood of Android becoming number one next year has become a reality just waiting to happen.

Well aware of that high possibility, Google announced this week a 10 percent cut on its bestselling apps, a ploy that obviously hopes to further ramp up its download figures and accelerate the rise of Android Market.

Analysts, however, said that Google may not be appreciating the whole picture as they suggest that the internet giant would do much better improving its application offerings instead of focusing too much on volume.

Blaber agreed that the bloated number of apps may overwhelm Android users and "it's an issue for developers and consumers alike but a significant opportunity for whoever solves the problem first."

Gartner's Carolina Milanesi cautioned that Google may actually be deluded by the notion that skyrocketing download numbers would lead to success.

"The number game matters to industry watchers and helps advertising but it is not changing the bottom line," Milanesi warned.

"Quality of the apps and the store in general and curation in particular should be the focus for Google ... and this is where I still see a difference between the Apple App Store and Android Market," BBC quoted the Gartner analyst as saying.

The bigger picture of maintaining and attracting quality apps will in the end serve as the deal breaker for both Apple and Google, and for developers aiming to hit it big designing for the two platforms, Milanesi said.