Google Play enjoys far more app downloads but iOS leads in revenue

[Shawn Knight]

Android and iOS are without a doubt the two most popular mobile platforms in the world. Both have shown steady growth over the years and as a result, their respective app stores have flourished. As App Annie highlights, however, the two app stores have carved out vastly different paths along the way.

In its latest market research report, App Annie found that worldwide downloads on Google Play were about 90 percent higher than on the iOS App Store in the third quarter, up from an 85 percent lead in the previous quarter.

When looking at revenue, it’s Apple that comes out on top. In the third quarter, worldwide revenue on the App Store was roughly 80 percent higher than on Google Play. That’s up from 70 percent in the second quarter.

App Annie said Google Play was able to extend its download lead thanks to first-time smartphone users in emerging markets including India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Key to Apple’s success has been its continued strength in China since the launch of last year’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The market research firm noted strong download growth in India of security apps, cross-platform file sharing utility SHAREit and of course, Facebook and WhatsApp. China’s iOS growth, meanwhile, can largely be credited to social video apps like iCast Show and MiaoPai.

Lead image courtesy ThinkApps

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https://www.techspot.com/news/62458-google-play-enjoys-far-more-app-downloads-but.html

 

[Techman3]

Maybe it's because Google releases almost daily "updates" for their apps without changing the $#%#$% release notes or actually providing real feature improvements. Just slightly different colors or tiny visual updates that don't actually make it any more #%#@@$ useful but requiring daily updates and 30mb downloads is totally #@#%%# ridiculous.


Ok my rant is over.

 

[psycros]

No great surprise - 90% of what's on Google Play is utter garbage. Google doesn't sweat this because they earn most of their money from selling out their users to the highest bidder. Apple gets most of its profits from hardware and, to a lesser extent, app sales. Both companies make a fair bit off their cuts of in-app purchases. Both are also smarter than poor Microsoft who still thinks it can build a slavish following like Apple AND sell out its users for big bucks. The truth is that Microsoft can do neither the way their currently operating. You don't earn anyone's admiration or trust by building pointless, hard-to-use products that send all your private data to Madison Avenue and the NSA. You don't build a fashion empire without a strong, creative personality in charge of creating products that are both stylish and very approachable.

 

[Panda218]

Did anyone ranting finish the article or did you just read the title?

 

[Techman3]

Did anyone ranting finish the article or did you just read the title?

The title reminded me of what I thought was very annoying but true, and I have to rant somewhere...

 

[DaveBG]

Is this a bad thing? It means that Android has more quality free apps and also developers are not greedy bastards on Android. where with iOS they know fools will buy anything

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Did anyone ranting finish the article or did you just read the title?

Do some people read the articles properly without skimming? That's news to me.

 

[Nobina]

It's not a surprise that Apple makes more money doing anything really. We all know their userbase. But should I really pay attention to that? Apple making more money gives me no benefits as a user and I shouldn't be happy about it like some people are.