For both Google and Apple, the operations on their virtual stores are hugely important, as they account for millions of dollars. However, there has historically been a disparity between the number of downloaded applications and the actual money generated by them, a trend that seems to have peaked in the first quarter of this year.
According to App Annie‘s Index Market for Q1 of 2016, in fact, Google’s Play Store saw a number of downloads that roughly doubles that of the iOS App Store, which in turns represents the platform with the highest profitability, with over 90% more revenue generated over its counterpart…
Among the key highlights of the report, it looks like China has had a powerful impact over the App Store revenue’s growth, with an astonishing 2.2x year-on-year increase over 2015’s Q1. Part of that is attributed to China’s “legions of mobile gamers,” which helped overtake Japan in the rankings, placing China at the number one spot.
It is also mentioned how entertainment and music apps are “exploding” in both China (Tencent Video and QQ Music) and the United States (particularly Netflix and Spotify), with a boom of the subscription revenue model.
As far as the Play Store goes, emerging markets’ countries like Vietnam, Argentina and Egypt are said to be contributing hugely to the YoY growth, again thanks to Games, albeit with a mention of distinctively different tastes for each region.
The report ultimately predicts how eSports are likely going to be a huge growth factor in China across all of 2016, with cross-app integrations increasing “awareness and monetization opportunities, while also bridging the physical-mobile gap for many companies.”
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“iOS App Store brings in 2x more revenue than Play Store despite seeing half the downloads”
Edoardo. This is not 2x more, as you say. This is 1x (100%) more, or two times as much.
100% more is the same as 2x. 2x simply means “twice as much”.
True. But he said “2x more.”
It is important to stop trying to make excuses in order to try to justify illiteracy.
True, if you say “it earns 200% more” you’re saying it is earning 3x as much. So the word ‘more” already accounts for 100%.
To everyone who thinks that I am incorrect:
How much is 2 times more than 1000?
How much is 1.5 times more than 1000?
How much is 0.5 times more than 1000?
How much is 1.0 times more than 1000?
It appears that no one has the knowledge, intelligence, and/or guts to complete my pop quiz that any reasonable competent fifth grader should be able to accomplish.
The only reason why the App Store makes more money but with less downloads, is because on iOS people are buying apps that work. While on the Play Store people are downloading multiple apps of the same type for free to find something that works then settles for paying for an app for better quality.
I have been on Android since the beginning and recently switch to iOS at the launch of the iPhone 6. I now will never go back to Android for this very issue. I tended to waste time going through the Play Store downloading 5 different apps that do the same time and none of them worked properly with whatever device I had at the time. On iOS I research which app I should buy instead of randomly downloading everything, since you tend to have to pay for most apps, then when I actually decide, the app actually work and does what it is supposed to.
In short, fandroids don’t buy apps or only buy cheap apps.
I use to take sides but I gave that up. I now own a iPhone 6S and Samsung S7. I spend less time writing paragraph long “why I dislike iOS/Android” posts but instead post my experiences good or bad. I believe there is a difference.
For instance; Samsung pay is tons better than Apple pay. But Apple keeps their devices updated. So instead of picking sides I upgrade two times a year to keep myself at inner peace.
Well you asked for it. How is Samsung Pay TONS better than Apple Pay. I have used both so it will be interesting to see your explanation.
All this says for me is that either google play offer more free apps – or they offer cheaper apps and apple is ripping us off.
I certainly feel slightly ripped off when certain apps cost more for the ipad than the iphone, and even more for tvOS, even though they are essentially all the same app – often they have a few extra features, or one is a HD version … it’s a bit of a con… it should be one app that has an ipad and an iphone build, with an optional TVOS build — but one price.
I hate free App’s! because they’re not free in general and end up costing you more money in in-app purchases. Makes for a crappy experience. I think this is in part Apple’s fault!!!! This is because there’s no FREE trail version and they buy later. The way it is not just sucks. Same goes with software upgrades. It doesn’t exist!!! So if I want to buy the upgraded version, I have to pay FULL PRICE just like any new person. The person selling the software can’t sell it to a new user at a higher price, and then upgrades at a lower price. So instead has to settle for kind of a middle ground. It’s really just lame. I’d rather just pay for the software, have no ad’s and a full real game without In-App purchases. it just makes the games especially suck. It’s just getting so bad, I’m not just outright refusing to download things.
i kinda understand what you mean… some apps handle the ads well – they use videos to offer free stuff in games etc…they are optional…
The issue is when they keep popping up and distract you from the experience.
I do wish apple would have more pay once games — but developers end up putting games on for a very cheap price and need to make a profit by using add-on, in app purchases, ads, etc…not a lot of people are willing to pay $9.99 or more for apps and games…
It’s one reason why i dont bother with the 3DS that my friend bugs me about — i see the games as mobile quality, yet they cost the same as ps4/xbox one games (sometimes more)… so i certainly wouldn’t do the same with an iphone game.
good apps are having to compete with ok apps, which are competing with crappy apps…
Apple need to have some kind of quality control — if they are getting bad rating they should be removed from the app store and be made to resubmit with improvements.
There should also be an ad control — of even an ad free category…lol
Not surprising iOS has tons of Apps worth buying. Android on the other hand has tons of free alternative that may cause most users to never buy a paid app. Android downloads are higher because of users trying out all the free alternative before they settle in on there app of choice. Also Apple continues to let popular Apps like Tweetbot (Tweetbot4) charge full price for something that’s clearly an upgrade or In-App purchase. This move helps keep iOS above Android for paid Apps. While cheating us the consumers out of something we already paid for. Just my opinion nothing more.