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Apple's App Store Still Number One in Revenue Despite Google Play Growth
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I just stay away from such apps. If it says 'offers in app purchases' that's an instant NO for me. Don't give a rats ass how good that game or app is. Not going to be raped.
Keep in mind piracy on android. A lot of people use expensive android apps but don't pay for them. Piracy is nearly impossible on a non jailbroken iOS device.
Then your brand new App Store's growth rate would be astronomically exponential.... these dumbo analysts would be forced to predict that, at the rate of your exponential growth, your app store sales and revenue would eventually surpass both Apple's and Google's combined!!! Oh hell yes, you are a genius! get started now, future billionaire!!
It's a given that Google will pass all those. It's NOT a story that matters.
Apple is the underdog - they have a smaller market share, because they choose to operate their business that way. It's very near impossible for ONE company to out-produce, out-ship and out-innovate dozens of other companies.
That Apple did the near improbable for so many years is a testament to Apple.
163 million Android smartphones were shipped 2 quarters ago compared to Apple's 37 million.
187 million Android smartphones were shipped last quarter compared to Apple's 31 million.
That's 350 million new Android smartphones in just the last 6 months... an incredible number compared to Apple's modest 68 million. And that's not even including all the existing Android phones... in which Android has handily outsold Apple smartphones for quite some time.
So are people simply not using all those Android phones for apps?
Android phones have 6 times the market share of the iPhone... yet the iPhone is beating them in app store revenue.
Something must be going on.
187 million Android smartphones were shipped last quarter compared to Apple's 31 million.
That's 350 million new Android smartphones in just the last 6 months... an incredible number compared to Apple's modest 68 million. And that's not even including all the existing Android phones... in which Android has handily outsold Apple smartphones for quite some time.
So are people simply not using all those Android phones for apps?
Android phones have 6 times the market share of the iPhone... yet the iPhone is beating them in app store revenue.
Something must be going on.
Haha, you're right! I should have said stretched phone Apps!Android has tablet apps?
Did you forget that "Android" is sold by dozens of manufacturers?
It's kinda silly to compare "Android" to a single company like Apple.
Uhh prolly because the Korean government is ultra-protectionist and coddles and subsidizes its Native Son.... who goes by the name of Samsung?
And people are surprised when occasional political news leaks from Asia reveal a corrupt South Korean parliament member exposed on bribe/corruption charges taking money from the Samsung cartel-chaebol?
Dumbnuts go frothing ballistic when they see the US government "protect" Apple on legal patent issues (e.g. Obama's patent veto), but the hypocrites forget that protectionist Asian governments do it all the time for their own beloved mega-corporations.
No, it just means that more people are willing to part with money for a high quality App. At no point did I say a high quality App cost more. Some of the free Apps on iOS are significantly better than the equivalent version on Android.
As long as the iOS App store is clearly producing more (especially 2X more) revenue total, and more sales per paid app on average, developers who are releasing new apps will want to develop first for iOS, where the money is better, even if the total audience is smaller. Who turns down an offer of double the income? So iOS still has and will continue to have a huge advantage in new cool paid apps.
But now that Android revenue is approaching 50% of iOS revenue, porting a completed and proven successful app, if it requires less hours than 50% of creating the brand new app, becomes a likely profitable venture.
So other than new and cool or niche paid apps (and other apps that depend on the smoothness and security of iOS), I see a flip to more of the successful apps being available on both platforms as all the Android stores together pass making only half as much as possible from the iOS App store.
Almost, but not quite there yet.
And for apps making over 10X as much as it takes to pay a developer's salary, maybe a port to Windows Mobile would be a profitable investment, so MS/Nokia have a long way to go.
But now that Android revenue is approaching 50% of iOS revenue, porting a completed and proven successful app, if it requires less hours than 50% of creating the brand new app, becomes a likely profitable venture.
So other than new and cool or niche paid apps (and other apps that depend on the smoothness and security of iOS), I see a flip to more of the successful apps being available on both platforms as all the Android stores together pass making only half as much as possible from the iOS App store.
Almost, but not quite there yet.
And for apps making over 10X as much as it takes to pay a developer's salary, maybe a port to Windows Mobile would be a profitable investment, so MS/Nokia have a long way to go.
Well of course! Most of the Apps on Google Play are garbage. iOS is where the quality Apps are, and that's why people part with money for them.
Android's ahead in terms of quantity, but it's the quality that really matters. And that's why Apple will ALWAYS win.
And yet...
Browse the App Store. Ever since the new layout in iOS6, Apple continues to push freemium crapware over quality paid apps.
Not surprised with the overall numbers. Users of Android phones tend to download more free apps, and developing countries like China is nowhere to be seen on the top apps revenue list.
The only country that's a little bit surprise is Japan, which has about the same levels of apps purchased on iOS and Android.
The only country that's a little bit surprise is Japan, which has about the same levels of apps purchased on iOS and Android.
I agree, the rate of growth tells the tale, the difference there is striking and a little depressing quite frankly.
But as long as the iOS slice of the pie is big enough to continue being self sustaining that's fine.
Except you wrongfully assume that high-quality apps on one platform are priced equally to the other platform. This is far from the case.
I haven't used any android tablets so I cannot speak to that. I can speak to your unnecessarily childish manner in which you compare the apps, however.
Apple has strict requirements, yes. These requirements also prevent apps that Apple deems "unethical". Case in the point: the absurd app which has you throw your phone as high as you can and gives you a score based on that. Available on Android, not available on iOS. Dumb? Yep. Poor-quality app? Nope. Apple simpled decided it shouldn't be allowed, because they say so.
Android is an open market, Apple is a closed market with a closed set of restrictions, which will reject you for no other reason than they don't like you very much.
I abandoned Android devices because I couldn't find one that would work for more than 10 months. I enjoy the high quality hardware of my iPhone 5, but I miss the apps from Android.
I would suspect that a lot of those Android phones are being purchased in emerging markets where Google Play has little or no content available to buy other than cheap apps.
Or have ads.
And that portion of quality apps depends on the fraction of good developers and designers who need or want to pay their bills from app sales revenue. Apps from rich kids, students on full-ride scholarships, company's with padded marketing budgets and such who don't need the income maybe won't have to cost.
Thanks for typing out all those numbers, but it is irrelevant. The fact remains:
A smart guy liked to use this Wayne Gretzky quote,
"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been"
Apple had the puck but Forstall sat on it for 5 years. The puck is now going toward Android at a high velocity.