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Android won the download race last year, but iOS made the money, app analytics show

The difference between Android and iOS hardware–Android having the market share, Apple making most of the profits–was mirrored in last year’s app downloads, reports mobile analytics firm App Annie. Its 2014 retrospective revealed that the Google Play Store saw 60% more downloads than the iOS App Store, but iOS apps made around 70% more money.

Re/code notes that this reflects data recently shared by Ustwogames for its best-selling Monument Valley game, which showed that of the $5.8M revenue generated by the game, 81.7% of it came from the iOS app.

App Annie’s data, which is generated by analytics from more than 700,000 apps, showed that just three countries generated more app revenue than the rest of the world combined–the USA, Japan and Korea–while the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, China and India) were not surprisingly the fastest-growing regions.

Apple recently announced that developers last year earned over $10B from the App Store, with a further $500M spent in the first week of this year. The company recently increased European app prices to reflect recent currency movements.

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Comments

  1. incredibilistic - 10 years ago

    More evidence that marketshare dominance doesn’t really matter if it’s not generating revenue.

  2. Zac Hall - 10 years ago

    It really is easy to spend money on iOS

  3. chrisl84 - 10 years ago

    When all the tweens are pirating the Paid apps on their Androids this is what happens.

    • rahhbriley - 10 years ago

      I really doubt that “is why this happened.” Maybe it is a tiny, minuscule part of the reason. But iOS’s App Store isn’t eating Android’s lunch because of pirating. Get real, that discounts the hard work of a lot of people to ensure iOS and the App Store are an awesome experience.

    • rahhbriley - 10 years ago

      To top it off, blaming the tweens…come on, really?

      ‘Kids really messed this country up. Back in my day you just burned the CD.’ :\

      • chrisl84 - 10 years ago

        Stats don’t lie, offer up another explanation of why Android has more devices in the wild, more downloads and iOS has damn near DOUBLE the revenue. I get flack every time I make that statement but I have never seen anyone suggest a plausible explanation as to why a platform with less downloads crushes the competition in revenue. Same App on iOS and Android Monument Valley iOS created 82% of their total revenue. The reality is because on Android that same device is being pirated by its mass audience, the teen age crowd.

      • rahhbriley - 10 years ago

        I don’t need to procure the answer to acknowledge that I think you have the wrong answer.

        I’d love to see those stats that you’re talking about that explain why piracy is the reason Android’s store has nearly half the revenue as the iOS AppStore. I know the stats that are stated in this article.

        But no stats that you discuss EXPLAIN that is WHY it happens. Your claim is unsubstantiated from the start. Don’t start asking me for bull$hit, you are the one that claimed piracy is “why this happens.” Back it up.

      • thejuanald - 10 years ago

        “offer up another explanation of why Android has more devices in the wild, more downloads and iOS has damn near DOUBLE the revenue”

        Maybe it’s all the tweens with iPhones with their parents credit cards on the App Store buying apps incessantly?

  4. Glenn Gore - 10 years ago

    How much do these cases attenuate the antenna performance of the iPhone? Since these cases are covering up the antenna stripes on the phone with thick and dense metallic battery materials, I would think they would be cutting down the amount of signal the phone has to work with.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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