App Annie Q3 report: Google Play served more downloads, but App Store brought in more revenue

[Himanshu Arora]

Google Play served more downloads than Apple's App Store in the past three months, but the latter surpassed the former in terms of revenue, according to App Annie's latest quarterly market report.

Play Store downloads exceeded those from the iTunes App Store by around 60 percent in Q3 2014, up from 25 percent in the year ago quarter, something which can be partially attributed to rapid adoption and growth of Android in developing and emerging markets.

According to the report, countries like Brazil, India, and Indonesia have driven explosive growth in Play Store downloads. While Brazil's market share of Google Play downloads increased more than any other country, Indonesia has been witnessing a double-digit, quarter-on-quarter growth for more than two years.

But when it comes to revenue, Apple is ahead of Google, with App Store downloads in the last last quarter generating 60 percent more revenue than Play Store. One possible reason for this could be that users in developing markets, where Android has seen tremendous growth lately, are more likely to prefer free apps over paid apps.

Games have always accounted for the majority of Play Store's worldwide revenue, a trend that continued last quarter. The report noted that games were responsible for nearly all of Google Play’s Q3 revenue growth in the US and South Korea.

Another standout from the report was that social media and messaging apps, like Facebook Messenger, Line, and more, continued to experience strong growth across both platforms.

“Facebook Messenger’s downloads jumped on both stores in late July following Facebook’s strategic decision to move all worldwide messaging functionality from Facebook to Facebook Messenger. Its downloads vaulted in August and increased yet again in September", the report said.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/58456-google-play-vs-app-store-downloads.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

In the three years I've been using Android I've never downloaded a paid app and hope never to do so. I've always found a free alternative.
The only app I have which I'm prepared to pay for is WhatsApp but they keep extending my years free trial by another year without fail, not that I'm complaining.
That said I'm not an app junkie, all the apps I use are free anyway and if they're infested by ad's, no problem, I don't see them, I have AdBlock Plus installed (which is also free). As for playing games, I have a PC solely for that little distraction so there's absolutely no reason for me to consider them, besides gaming without a mouse and keyboard just isn't in my vocabulary.

 

[tonylukac]

In writing paid android apps, the logistics are just not there for most to handle large scale downloads. Fields are missing to identify who wants a refund, etc. I really think I'm pioneering the field and not many people are making money at it, to be humble.

 

[Guest]

In the three years I've been using Android I've never downloaded a paid app and hope never to do so. I've always found a free alternative.
The only app I have which I'm prepared to pay for is WhatsApp but they keep extending my years free trial by another year without fail, not that I'm complaining.
That said I'm not an app junkie, all the apps I use are free anyway and if they're infested by ad's, no problem, I don't see them, I have AdBlock Plus installed (which is also free). As for playing games, I have a PC solely for that little distraction so there's absolutely no reason for me to consider them, besides gaming without a mouse and keyboard just isn't in my vocabulary.

You're exactly like me, except I use Windows Phones. I prefer them because of there simpler, to the point, interface. Although it is nice that they now allow background images, and have a notification centre, which basically just compliments the already simple GUI. I have maybe 4 or 5 apps on my phone, half of which I hardly ever use. WhatsApp I have installed, also hardly ever used, but I still prefer SMS, and since I get bundled SMS's for free, its no big deal. At least with an SMS I am guaranteed of getting a message through, instead of hoping the other person has their data connection on. Anyways, one could argue that people like us shouldn't even be using a smartphone then, which may be true, but it is handy to have the option of being able to do something should the need arise. I still however find peoples fascination with having all these hard-core type games on their phones, I.e. GTA, on their phones quite perplexing. Its no wonder people are suffering more from near sightedness, and I would go mad using such a tiny display. For other things, having a simple, and I mean SIMPLE, editor for whatever you are doing whether that be photo editing, or text editing or just to run a demonstration quickly is all good, but some people take the idea of having apps to a whole new level by having 50 or more apps. A few basic apps should get you by until you get to a desktop, or laptop if you really cant wait, at least that's my opinion on the matter.