Google Play, the Android app store, experienced surprisingly fast growth despite launching after the iPhone's app store. While reports have variously claimed that both app stores are outpacing the other, a recent report suggests that the Apple App Store could boast of 1 million apps by the end of 2012 -- just ahead of the pace of Android's Google Play store.

An average of 665 apps per day were submitted to Google Play during the first three quarters of 2012, second to iOS's 746 apps per day. Google's store saw just 80,000 new apps during the past 4 months, and 27 percent of those were considered "low-quality" apps.

iOS boasts a greater number of developers: 200,000 versus 179,200 for Google Play.

iOS currently stands at 903,286 apps, while Google Play has 508,566 apps. This means the leading smartphone and tablet app store could break 1 million apps by the end of 2012. 

Apple was originally against the idea of launching an app store, despite launching the App Store in 2008, a year after the iPhone's debut. The App Store broke 10 billion downloads in 2012.

Microsoft's Windows Store is in third place in the new findings, with 181 apps submitted per day. Microsoft launched the Windows Phone app store in 2010, and it currently sits at approximately 88,399 apps, significantly behind Apple and Google. Microsoft is in a fairly comfortable third place, though, with Amazon in fourth place with 78 apps submitted per day.

The findings also revealed that the average iOS app sells for $1.94, so the developers get $1.36 per purchase after Apple's 30 percent cut. Microsoft is setting the highest price for paid apps in its Windows 8 Store at over a dollar.