Developer Offers Inside Look at Sales Gap Between App Store and Android Market

[MacRumors]

TechCrunch points to a blog post from mobile app developer Larva Labs highlighting the company's sales data for its high-ranking Android Market applications and comparing that performance with that of successful iPhone applications.

Larva Labs, which currently holds the #5 and #12 rankings on the Android Market list of top paid applications, brought in an average of $62.39 per day total during the month of August. According to TapTapTap developer John Casasanta whose Convert app currently holds the #2 spot, a comparably ranked #5 iPhone app would sell about 6500 units a day worldwide. This would translate into earnings of $22,704/day for a $4.99 application (like Larva Labs') or $4504/day for a $0.99 application.

The posting also cites Trism, the early smash hit on the iPhone that earned its developer $250,000 in its first two months on the App Store, as an example of the wide gap between the App Store and the Android Market. Trism's developers have since ported the popular iPhone application to Android, where it has sold a total of about 500 copies for approximately $1000 in revenue in the nearly three months since its introduction.

It appears this isn't just our problem. To see examples from other companies just look in the market, a sales range is listed right in the summary of the app. A good example is the well known game Trism, which sold over $250,000 in it's first two months on the iPhone. On Android it has sold, to date, less than 500 copies. That's $1,046 total earnings, max. How psyched are those guys that they ported a huge hit to Android and can't even cover a party sub for the release dinner?

Larva Labs also provides data suggesting that a recent AdMob study estimating the Android market size at about $5 million per month, compared to $200 million for the App Store, likely overstates the Android market.

Assuming we are the average though, there would need to be over 2,500 other Android developers to get to $5M total sales. The last estimates I heard put the number of applications at around 12,000, so there's probably around 4,000 developers total. That means over half of the developers need to be earning what we do to reach $5M a month. However, we know from experience that below position 25 on the top selling games the earnings drop off to almost zero so it's very unlikely that anyone below that position is earning much money at all.

So where does the Android Market fall short? Beyond an approximately 15x smaller installed user base than the App Store, Larva Labs points to a lack of screenshots in the Android Market, excessively small application description limits, awkward Google Checkout payment procedures, poor organization making paid applications difficult to find, and intermittent performance issues in the store as contributions to a poor user experience.

Despite the many areas in which the Android Market falls short and the poor sales data, however, Larva Labs remains hopeful that rumored upgrades from Google and the introduction of a number of new handsets will eventually turn the Android Market into a viable business for developers.

Article Link: Developer Offers Inside Look at Sales Gap Between App Store and Android Market

 

[gwangung]

Uh oh.

You only have one chance to make a first impression...

 

[mkrishnan]

Larva Labs, which currently holds the #5 and #12 rankings on the Android Market list of top paid applications, brought in an average of $62.39 per day total during the month of August. According to TapTapTap developer John Casasanta whose Convert app currently holds the #2 spot, a comparably ranked #5 iPhone app would sell about 6500 units a day worldwide. This would translate into earnings of $22,704/day for a $4.99 application (like Larva Labs') or $4504/day for a $0.99 application.

...

So where does the Android Market fall short? Beyond an approximately 15x smaller installed user base than the App Store....

It's interesting, if the market behavior were the same, but scaled down 15x, and they sold at the $0.99 App Store de rigeur price, they would by their relative positioning argument still make $300/day, or almost five times as much as they do actually make....

 

[DTphonehome]

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Wow talk about an epic failure. A rare misstep from google. I'm sure they're embarrassed by this report and will make changes soon. Still, it's an uphill battle on a really steep hill.

 

[Flobber88]

It's crazy how much revenue some of these iPhone apps are bringing in for developers.

 

[striatedglutes]

Larva Labs remains hopeful that rumored upgrades from Google and the introduction of a number of new handsets will eventually turn the Android Market into a viable business for developers.

Wow, can you sing "Livin' on a prayer?"

 

[grantsdale]

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Wow talk about an epic failure. A rare misstep from google. I'm sure they're embarrassed by this report and will make changes soon. Still, it's an uphill battle on a really steep hill.

Its not just google. I'm sure the WinMo store will suffer the same fate.

The iPhone's killer app is the App Store itself. As long as Apple keeps it thriving, the competition won't even have a chance to compete.

Wow, can you sing "Livin' on a prayer?"

"Oh ohhh we're halfway there ..."

 

[DTphonehome]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

Larva Labs, which currently holds the #5 and #12 rankings on the Android Market list of top paid applications, brought in an average of $62.39 per day total during the month of August. According to TapTapTap developer John Casasanta whose Convert app currently holds the #2 spot, a comparably ranked #5 iPhone app would sell about 6500 units a day worldwide. This would translate into earnings of $22,704/day for a $4.99 application (like Larva Labs') or $4504/day for a $0.99 application.

...

So where does the Android Market fall short? Beyond an approximately 15x smaller installed user base than the App Store....

It's interesting, if the market behavior were the same, but scaled down 15x, and they sold at the $0.99 App Store de rigeur price, they would by their relative positioning argument still make $300/day, or almost five times as much as they do actually make....

Which tells you that buyer behavior on these platforms is NOT the same. It's just not as easy and integrated as it is on the iPhone to buy and manage apps. And I think consumers "trust" apple more in the sense they see this as a robust and viable platform. That if they buy, there will be continued support of the platform. I dont think android users feel that level of security yet.

 

[krye]

There's a market for Android?

 

[grantsdale]

There's a market for Android?

By these numbers, its more like a corner store.

 

[edmundo]

Which tells you that buyer behavior on these platforms is NOT the same.

Not much need for deductive power for that one: at the end of his post, Matt points to an admob study analysis indicating that barely 1 in 5 android owner buys apps versus 1 in 2 iPhone owners (and 2 in 5 Touch users).

It also points out that the average monthly spending is almost a dollar higher on the iPhone OS ($8.63 on Android, $9.49 on the iPhone, $9.79 on the Touch, average of iPhone OS is $9.61/month)

 

[slu]

How is this page 1 worthy? Oh wait, this will get tons of "Apple Rulz, Google Droolz" posts, so that makes it page 1 worthy.

This is marginally interesting and totally expected. I know just one person with an Andriod phone and with T-Mobile the only carrier, the market is limited. It is not like Google is going to give up. And developers may take their time writing apps, but when there is a market, they will go there.

Do people really think that the people that buy apps buy iPhones? Or do they buy apps on iPhones because it is easy? Andriod will get better. And they won't have an app overlord that decides what you can install on your phone.

 

[miketcool]

Which tells you that buyer behavior on these platforms is NOT the same. It's just not as easy and integrated as it is on the iPhone to buy and manage apps. And I think consumers "trust" apple more in the sense they see this as a robust and viable platform. That if they buy, there will be continued support of the platform. I dont think android users feel that level of security yet.

I certainly don't think that Android isn't a viable, "secure" platform. I have no doubts that Android will take longer to make an impression because of it's spread out nature, current lack of marketing, and slow evolution into multiple hardware offerings. They are taking their time to get it right, and I won't fault them for that.

That being said, I like many Android users, HATE the Android Market. It is very rudimentary at best. We all know the real Android Market is coming soon, one that will better make use of the interface and software. It is just an incredible pain to navigate, to learn about new apps, see screenshots and get excited. Right now it is like a massive list, and I don't have the time to go through it all. I actually do most of my app shopping right now based off of blogs, before I search for them.

Besides, I could easy speculate, if you are willing to shell out far more money on the iPhone, then you are probably into all sorts of luxury apps. Base your "hunches" on facts, quit speculating.

 

[Greg McBride]

Advertising Works

Apple has aggressively advertised all of the apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch. These other companies aren't doing that. Just because you open an app store, that doesn't mean the apps will sell like crazy. All of these companies need to put some money into effective campaigns and they'll see their numbers improve.

 

[gwangung]

That being said, I like many Android users, HATE the Android Market. It is very rudimentary at best. We all know the real Android Market is coming soon, one that will better make use of the interface and software. It is just an incredible pain to navigate, to learn about new apps, see screenshots and get excited. Right now it is like a massive list, and I don't have the time to go through it all. I actually do most of my app shopping right now based off of blogs, before I search for them.

Which, I think, is the point. It makes a debatable point on whether things should have been held back until the App store was in a more usable form.

 

[niuniu]

Good old Google, I'm sure their OS will be equally successful as their Android adventure.

Used to really love Google, but their image recently in my mind has died a death.

 

[miketcool]

Which, I think, is the point. It makes a debatable point on whether things should have been held back until the App store was in a more usable form.

Why not make it live and let the opensource developers work on it? There have been many improvements because of Android running with users commenting, reporting bugs, offering advice and the devs cracking away. There are a number of apps in Android Market that run this way. Some of the ones I use have been improved upon by others and myself. I like the community aspect of Android, and would wish more people would get involved!

 

[GQB]

NO! That just CAN'T be true!!!
Developers HATE the iPhone platform! Hate it Hate it Hate it!!! (stomping footsies for emphasis.)
Doesn't everyone read all of items about how the App Store is just the most evil thing ever invented and that Steve is a fascist and ALL developers are just fuming at the its injustice?

Get with the program guys! Apple = Microsoft... don't forget that talking point.

 

[Doju]

By these numbers, its more like a corner store.

Even that's generous. Try lemonade stand.

 

[miketcool]

You only have one chance to make a first impression...

Apple, after the wild success with the iPod, had to make a huge positive first impression with the iPhone. It had to be perfect in every area possible. This was after all Apple's first hardware adventure into mobile phones. Everyone remembers the iTunes Moto ROKR nightmare, and that didn't seem to derail the iPhone...

Android is being released on phones made by other, already reputable handset makers. Android didn't necessarily have to make a huge first impression, just an inspirational one. It'll catch on, I promise.

 

[edmundo]

NO! That just CAN'T be true!!!
Developers HATE the iPhone platform! Hate it Hate it Hate it!!! (stomping footsies for emphasis.)
Doesn't everyone read all of items about how the App Store is just the most evil thing ever invented and that Steve is a fascist and ALL developers are just fuming at the its injustice?

That the Android Marketplace is downright terrible doesn't make what happens with the AppStore good. Because it isn't, the AppStore has huge issues right now.

 

[eh270]

Can we clarify "15x smaller"? Seems odd to represent how much smaller something in terms of multiples. Does that mean it's 1/15 the size?

 

[JeffDM]

So you wouldn't be able to pay back for a day's worth of one paid developer's time, even on a popular app. Popular iPhone apps do seem to pay pretty well, but an average paid iPhone app doesn't sell much that I recall either.

 

[Melodic]

Apple has aggressively advertised all of the apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch. These other companies aren't doing that. Just because you open an app store, that doesn't mean the apps will sell like crazy. All of these companies need to put some money into effective campaigns and they'll see their numbers improve.

I agree. I have no idea what Android market has to offer. In the mean time I see all the new cool must have iphone/ipod touch apps on TV all the time.

I feel after this report they will be stepping it up though

 

[DTphonehome]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

. It'll catch on, I promise.

Well as long as you promise.