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Spotify complains Apple’s new App Store subscription changes don’t address core issues

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Following news of incoming changes to Apple’s App Store that will benefit developers with a new subscription revenue split and paid search result ads, Spotify today outlined to The Verge why the improvements don’t address their issues with Apple’s policies.

Specifically, a Spotify representative noted the company’s inability to offer special deals to customers and lack of access to data into “why customers churn — or who even qualifies as a long-term subscriber.”


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Report: Apple could shutdown iTunes music downloads in favor of Apple Music within two years

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[UPDATE: Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr has denied this report in a statement to Recode, simply saying it’s “not true.”]

A report from Digital Music News today citing sources close to Apple claims the company is currently considering a plan that would see it shutdown its iTunes Store music download business within two years. The move would mean the company would stop selling downloads of music from iTunes and instead focus entirely on monthly subscriptions to its Apple Music streaming service.

However, on top of the rather fast two year timeline quoted for exiting from the downloads business, the report does add that a 3 to 4 year timeline is also something being considered by Apple executives:


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Apple continues to dominate tech companies financially, took 40% of all profits in Silicon Valley last year

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Although slowing iPhone growth began to impact Apple’s bottom line numbers in the last quarter of the year, the company dominated Silicon Valley in 2015 as far as finances are concerned. In a survey of public tech companies in the Valley, total profit was $133 billion. Apple, alone, recorded profit of $53.7 billion dollars, responsible for 40% of the entire profit pool. The data was collected by SiliconValley.com.

Apple also ranked no. 1 by far in revenue, taking $234 billion in sales. Trailing far behind, the next closest was Alphabet (Google), at $74 billion …


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Apple made more revenue from iPhone in a single quarter than Google has ever made from Android

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The lawsuit between Oracle and Google is inadvertently revealing some confidential information about the companies. It has already been disclosed that Google paid Apple a $1 billion fee in 2014 to keep Google as the default search provider for iOS Safari, as well as a revenue sharing agreement where Google gives a substantial portion of the iPhone search ad revenue to Apple.

Another lawyer from Oracle has also stated that Google has generated $22 billion in profit and $31 billion in revenue from Android in its lifetime, via Bloomberg. Although any number in the billions is impressive, it pales in comparison to Apple’s mobile platform profiteering. As highlighted by Quartz, Apple made more revenue from the iPhone in one single quarter, raking in $32 billion dollars worth of iPhone sales from July – September.


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Apple again lands behind Samsung at #15 on Fortune Global 500 list, #2 by profit

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Fortune is out with its latest Global 500 today ranking the world’s largest 500 companies by revenue and Apple has once again landed at #15 on the list. Apple comes in behind #1 Wal-mart, a long list of petroleum companies, Volkswagen, Toyota, and #13 Samsung.

After a bumpy start to 2014, Apple’s stock finished the year up 40%, adding nearly $200 billion to the company’s market value. A product pipeline that’s gotten Apple fanboys lining up all over again has certainly helped reenergize revenue growth: In addition to unveiling new categories like Apple Pay and Apple Watch, the company launched the iPhone 6, selling a record-breaking 10 million units in the first three days. As CEO Tim Cook recently told investors: “It’s tough to find something in the numbers not to like.” The normally low-profile Cook is breaking new ground in other ways too–in October, 2014 he came out as the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

In Fortune’s calculations, which account for total revenues for the fiscal year that ended before March 31, 2015, Apple came in with almost $183 billion in revenue, compared to around $195 billion for Samsung and $485 billion for #1 on the list, Walmart. Apple, however, comes in at #2 on the list when filtering by profit with $39.5 billion compared to $44.7 billion for the #1 company by profit, Industrial & Commer. Bank of China. Other tech companies coming in behind Apple for profit include Microsoft at #8 with $22 billion and Samsung at #9 with $21.9 billion in profit.

The new Fortune 500 Global list follows Apple’s Q3 2015 earnings report yesterday where the company reported record revenue for several products, hinted at over $1 billion in Apple Watch sales, and crossed the $200 billion in cash mark for the first time.

Apple announces Q3 2015 revenue of $49b: 47m iPhones, 10.9m iPads, 4.7m Macs

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Right on schedule, Apple has shared its Q3 2015 earnings results reporting revenue of $49 billion and $10.7 billion in profit during the April to June period. Notably, the company’s Q3 period is the first that includes initial Apple Watch sales as the device first launched on April 24th.

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 third quarter ended June 27, 2015. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.4 billion and net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

While Apple isn’t specifically breaking out Apple Watch sales (or iPod sales for that matter), the company does disclose iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales by unit:

  • iPhone: 47 million units
  • iPad: 10.9 million units
  • Mac: 4.7 million units

While Apple isn’t breaking out Apple Watch or Beats numbers, the ‘other services’ which includes those categories as well as iPods and Apple TV reports $2.6 billion in revenue.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said this about the company’s Q3 results:

“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The excitement for Apple Music has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to releasing iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2 to customers in the fall.”

Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, added this:

“In the third quarter our year-over-year growth rate accelerated from the first half of fiscal 2015, with revenue up 33 percent and earnings per share up 45 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated very strong operating cash flow of $15 billion, and we returned over $13 billion to shareholders through our capital return program.”

Today’s Q3 results follow last quarter’s $58 billion in revenue and 61.1 million iPhones sold, 12.6 million iPads sold, and 4.5 million Macs sold globally. During the same quarter a year ago with the iPhone 5s at the top of the lineup, Apple reported $37.4 billion in revenue and 35.2 million iPhones sold, 13.2 million iPads sold, and 4.4 million Mac sales. Apple reported $13.6 billion in profit last quarter and $7.7 billion during the same quarter a year ago.

The company’s quarterly conference call is scheduled for 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern to discuss today’s results. Stay tuned for our live coverage of the call. Both Cook and Maestri usually review the quarterly results before fielding questions from analysts. With the first Apple Watch sales included in today’s report, the new device is sure to be a major topic of the call.

Apple’s complete Q3 earnings report is below:
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Apple ranks in at number 5 on latest Fortune 500 list

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Apple ranks in at number 5 on the latest Fortune 500, the annual list that ranks US companies by revenue, this time for fiscal year 2014. The company maintains its same position as last year behind Berkshire Hathaway (no. 4), Chevron (no. 3), Exxon Mobil (no. 2), and Wal-Mart Stores (no. 1).

While Apple comes in at fifth place for revenue, Fortune notes that it “boasts both the biggest profits of any company on the list ($39.5 billion) and the highest market value (more than $700 billion).”
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Apple announces Q2 2015 revenue of $58b: 61.1m iPhones, 12.6m iPads, 4.5m Macs

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Christy Turlington Burns & Tim Cook

Apple is out with its Q2 2015 earnings results today reporting $58 billion in revenue including $13.6 billion in profit earned during the first three months of this year.

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 second quarter ended March 28, 2015. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $58 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.6 billion, or $2.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $45.6 billion and net profit of $10.2 billion, or $1.66 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.8 percent compared to 39.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 69 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Aside from revenue and profit, Apple disclosed sales numbers or revenue for the these categories:

  • iPhone: 61.1 million units
  • iPad: 12.6 million units
  • Mac: 4.5 million units

Totals:

  • Revenue: $58 billion
  • EPS: $2.33 per share

Apple CEO Tim Cook had this to say:

“We are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we’ve experienced in previous cycles, and we’re off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch.”

Apple CFO Luca Maestri added:

“The tremendous customer demand for our products and services in the March quarter drove revenue growth of 27 percent and EPS growth of 40 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “Cash flow from operations was also outstanding at $19.1 billion.”

Following last quarter’s record revenue and blockbuster iPhone numbers, the attention today ahead of the call largely focused on if Apple could maintain strong iPhone numbers after the initial launch and holiday season. Apple has previously shared that it does not plan to disclose Apple Watch sales numbers, which began earlier this month and will be included in the “Other” category with iPods during the company’s next quarterly report.

Apple’s Q2 2015 numbers compare to last quarter’s results of $74.6 billion in revenue and sales of 74 million iPhones, 21.4 million iPads, and 5.5 million Macs. For the same quarter a year ago, Apple reported $45.6 billion in revenue and sales of 43.7 million iPhones, 16.3 million iPads, and 4.1 million Macs. Compare also to profit last quarter of $18 million and a year ago of $9.5 billion.

Apple will hold its conference call soon at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern to discuss the company’s quarterly report. Stay tuned for our coverage of the call. Cook and Maestri typically share prepared remarks then address product and financial questions from analysts on the call.

The full Q2 earnings report is below:
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Apple’s easy finance initiatives in India pay off as local revenue breaks a billion dollars – report

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Times of India is reporting that Apple is expected to have hit $1B in revenue in India in the financial year ended on 31st March – up 42% year-on-year, and a tripling of revenue over the past three years. India is one of the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) where Apple is expecting to see a large chunk of its future growth.

It had previously been reported that Apple sold half a million iPhones in the final calendar quarter of 2014, and Cybermedia Research estimates that it sold 1.3M phones in the full financial year. If true, “over $1B revenue is inevitable,” says the report … 
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10 reasons why Apple is to blame for the decline of iPad sales

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It has been a tough slough for Apple’s iPad since the height of its popularity in 2013. Facing its second straight year of negative growth, there isn’t a consensus on why iPad sales have declined. I believe the slump is attributable to a combination of factors.

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the declining iPad sales a “speed bump” last year before the launch of the 2014 models, but we haven’t seen what Apple plans to do to rejuvenate the product. From my point of view, Apple itself has done more to hurt iPad sales than any external factor, such as Microsoft or Google.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here’s a full explanation of my theory…


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AAPL shares reach new record high of $120 following Apple’s record Q1 earnings report

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Apple’s stock soared the day after the company reported its record breaking quarter with over $74 billion in revenue and more than 74 million iPhones sold, and now Apple’s stock has reached a new all-time high during trading. The company briefly touched on $120/share during trading this morning and is on track to break its previous record closing high soon.
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Huge iPhone growth is more than a one-off blip, argues Tim Cook, with most still to upgrade

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Updated quote with WSJ correction:

While few would expect the record-breaking surge in iPhone sales generated by the larger-screened models to continue into subsequent quarters, Tim Cook argued in a WSJ interview that the potential is there.

In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, not surprisingly, argued that the demand is more than temporary. He said fewer than 15% of older iPhone owners upgraded to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and that the majority of switchers to iPhone came from smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

“We certainly believe there are legs to it,” said Mr. Cook of the iPhone sales surge.

Cook noted during the Q1 earnings call that the current iPhone lineup had experienced “the highest Android switcher rate in any of the last three launches.” With CIRP data suggesting that the US rate of switching from Android to iOS has remained broadly constant, that suggests the bulk of switchers have been outside the US–China in particular … 
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Apple’s Q1 stats: iPhone now makes up 69% of total revenue, 1B iOS devices shipped, Apple Pay & China growth

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Tim Cook

Apple announced a lot of numbers during its fiscal Q1 2015 earnings call today in addition to confirming the Apple Watch will ship in April. Some of Apple’s highlights include numbers on Apple Pay since its launch in October, the 1 billionth iOS device shipping in November, and big growth in China as Apple sells a record 74.4 million iPhones during the quarter.

Head below for a roundup of stats and milestones that Apple announced during the call:
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AAPL out-performs most bullish analyst predictions with its record numbers

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Apple not only announced record profits for Q4 results and smashed through its own revenue guidance, but out-performed even the most bullish of analyst estimates with earnings of $42.123B. The highest analyst estimate in yesterday’s Fortune roundup was for $41.8B.

The consensus analyst expectation for earnings per share was $1.32, against the actual 20% climb to $1.42, aided by Apple’s stock buyback program, which now totals $68B of the $90B target announced by Apple … 
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Apple says it had record month in July for App Store revenue, customer transactions

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Apple has announced that July was a record setting month for App Store revenue following its earnings report last month where the company reported strong iTunes results for the three-month period that ended June (via CNBC).

The company also told CNBC today that it saw “a record number of customers making transactions” for the App Store during the month:


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Apple announces Q3 2014 revenue of $37.4b: 35.2m iPhones, 13.2m iPads, 4.4m Macs

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Apple today announced its Q3 2014 earnings results, revealing that the company pulled in $37.4 billion in revenue and $7.7 billion in profit during the quarter.

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 third quarter ended June 28, 2014. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $37.4 billion and quarterly net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $35.3 billion and net profit of $6.9 billion, or $1.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.4 percent compared to 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple, as always, has also disclosed sales numbers for its main revenue generators. The company sold:

  • 35.2 million iPhones
  • 13.2 million iPads
  • 4.4 million Macs
  • 2.9 million iPods

Apple’s guidance for the quarter indicated revenue results between $36 and $38 billion, which Apple met.

Here’s Apple CEO Tim Cook on the results:

“Our record June quarter revenue was fueled by strong sales of iPhone and Mac and the continued growth of revenue from the Apple ecosystem, driving our highest EPS growth rate in seven quarters,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are incredibly excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as other new products and services that we can’t wait to introduce.”

Here’s newly instated CFO Luca Maestri with his thoughts:

“We generated $10.3 billion in cash flow from operations and returned over $8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the June quarter,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We have now taken action on over $74 billion of our $130 billion capital return program with six quarters remaining to its completion.”

Apple’s Q3 has been relatively quiet in terms of new product announcements, but the Cupertino-company did announce major moves such as the impending acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music along with an expansive future partnership with IBM for enterprise-related initiatives.

These numbers compare to last quarter’s results of $45.6 billion in revenue and sales of 43.7 million iPhones, 16.3 million iPads, and 4.1 million Macs. You can also compare today’s numbers to analyst expectations from before the announcement. Apple is also holding a conference call today at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern time, which we will be covering live. Cook and Maestri will likely share prepared remarks and then take a series of questions at the end from financial analysts.

For Q4 2014, Apple is providing guidance between $37 billion and $40 billion. The full Q3 earnings results release is below:


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Google’s numbers show iOS generates 4x more average revenue per user than Android

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It’s long been known that iOS users are more profitable for developers than Android users, but figures released by Google at the Google I/O conference and crunched by Benedict Evans provide some hard data on just how big that gap is.

Google Android users in total are spending around half as much on apps on more than twice the user base, and hence app ARPU on Android is roughly a quarter of iOS.

The key reason, of course, is that Apple makes only high-end devices that attract people with a decent amount of disposable income, while Android spans everything from cheap-and-cheerful devices offered exclusively in developing countries all the way through to high-end phones like the Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8).

Evans makes the point that we don’t actually have any data on the app and media spend of owners of premium Android handsets, and that may actually be similar to iOS users – but given that they represent a tiny minority of Android users, it’s a stat that would be interesting but not terribly relevant.

iTunes as a standalone business would be ranked 130 in the Fortune 500

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Asymco has calculated that if iTunes were a standalone business, it would be ranked 130 in the Fortune 500 list of top U.S. companies after its gross annual revenue grew 34 percent year-on-year to $23.5B. This would put it between Alcoa and Eli Lilly in the rankings, and is almost half of Google’s core search business – not bad for what was originally intended to be a break-even operation

Growth was driven by increases in revenue from App sales reflecting continued growth in the installed base of iOS devices and the expansion in the number of third-party iOS Apps available. Net sales of digital content, including music, movies, TV shows and books, from the iTunes Store was relatively flat in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter of 2013.

Asymco also calculated the cost to Apple of making both the Mavericks update and iWork software free … 
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Apple reports $57.6B revenue for Q1 2014: 51M iPhones, 26m iPads, 4.8m Macs, 6m iPods

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As expected, Apple just announced its fiscal year 2014 first quarter results for the all-important holiday quarter. It’s Q3 report only included less than a month of sales for the new iPhone 5s, 5c and revamped MacBooks, making today’s report the first to include a full three-month period of sales for the new devices on top of the expected boost in revenue leading into the holidays. It’s also the first report since Apple shipped the new Retina iPad mini, iPad Air, and Mac Pro.

Apple reported record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion, which lands between its guidance for the quarter of $55-$58B and estimates by analysts averaging approximately $58.1B. It also reported net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share. Those numbers compare to the revenue of $54.5 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion reported in the same quarter last year.

Break down of device sales for Q1 2014 include 51 million iPhones, 26 million iPads (both all-time quarterly highs), 6 million iPods and 4.8 million Macs. Prior to today’s report the consensus from an average of analyst estimates predicted Apple would sell approximately 55M iPhones, 25M iPads, and 4.6M Macs.
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Apple reports $37.5b revenue for Q4 2013: 33.8m iPhones, 14.1m iPads, 4.6m Macs

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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/apple-iphone-5s-5c-line-around-the-world-132626546.html">Photo of iPhone line</a>

As planned, Apple today announced its financial results for Q4 2013. This is a quarter highlighted by iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sales and is the quarter preceding the launches of several new Macs and the new iPads:


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Over half analysts surveyed expect AAPL to beat its own high-end guidance today

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Update: The analysts were right to be optimistic, but not optimistic enough

As we wait for Apple to announce its Q4 results in this afternoon’s earnings call, more than half of the analysts included in Fortune’s survey expect the company to beat its high-end guidance of $37B. The average is driven up by the amateurs, who come in at $37.38B, while the professionals expect just a touch under the top end at $36.95B.

Predictions on both revenues and earnings do vary markedly, however. While the consensus view is that year-on-year revenues will be up 3 percent and earnings down 6 percent, even among the professionals the earnings estimates span a 15 percent range.

Top: FBN’s Shelby Seyrafi: $39.18 billion (up 9% year over year)
Bottom: Cantor Fitzgerald’s Brian White: $34.57 billion (down 4%)

Apple beating its own guidance wouldn’t have been remarkable in the days when Apple gave absurdly pessimistic guidance and then blew it away, but would be impressive since Cook started offering realistic ranges … 
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Google Play passes App Store in downloads for the first time, but not revenue

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According to data from App Annie’s latest download and revenue report, Google Play for the first time surpassed the App Store in app downloads during the second quarter of 2013. While Google was able to move past Apple with about 10 percent more downloads during the three month period, the report notes the App Store brought in nearly 2.3x the amount of revenue.

App Annie says that Google Play’s growth was driven by emerging markets including Brazil, India, and Russia, and while the App Store still leads by revenue, Google Play closed the gap slightly compared to last quarter and years past.

Google Play saw Brazil climb two spots to join India and Russia as another emerging market in the top 5 countries by downloads for Q2 2013…The United States, Japan and United Kingdom remained the leaders in the iOS App Store when looking at revenue generation, and Australia climbed to #4 after a strong Q2. iOS App Store revenue was driven primarily by the United States and Japan, which combined to account for about half of the total iOS App Store revenue in Q2.

App Annie’s report also includes its Games Index tracking mobile games on iOS and Android, which now account for around 40 percent of all downloads on both platforms. During Q2, Gameloft’s Despicable Me: Minion Rush grabbed the top spot for most downloaded iOS game, while publisher Tiny Piece took the honour on Google Play.

As for non-gaming apps, Vine increased by three positions to become the most downloaded app during the quarter on iOS, followed closely by YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram.
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