In a world of OS fragmentation and OS version fragmentation, there is also now app store proliferation - especially in China.

This blog counts at least eight separate Android app stores there, not including Baidu’s new Android-based OS.

The latest in that long line has been launched by the big portal and QQ IM operator Tencent.

Tencent Application Center is actually a reworked version of a similar service which had operated under the “QQ” name but now includes a new Android gateway app and numbers apps for Java, Symbian, Android, iOS, Windows Mobile and other platforms.

China Daily: “The App Center has 3 billion applications, of which 550 million were provided by third-party application developers.”

TechNode: “The idea is similar to FrienzApp, Chomp, AppGroovs etc but the obviously difference is that Tencent App Center has hundreds of millions of QQ users already standing by.”

Penn-Olson: “It seems that Tencent is implementing app, photo, and music sharing on Android better than Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is managing it ... The telcos have implemented carrier billing (for their own app stores), but their paltry offerings are not yet convincing enough for it to take off.”