App Store Earned Record Revenue in December 2012, Did Much Better Than Google Play

[Anthony Bouchard]

Android and iOS are both very popular in today’s mobile operating system market, however in terms of application store revenue, iOS’ App Store appears to have the most potential for revenue. According to App Annie, a statistics and insights service, the App Store saw over 3.5x the revenue of the Google Play Store in December of 2012. Both the App Store and Google Play Store see record sales in December, however.

Apple’s App Store has more than 800,000 applications, 300,000 of which are made for the iPad alone. In October of 2012, the Google Play Store reached the same number of applications as are available in the App Store. Seeing as the two application stores are neck and neck in content, the number of applications isn’t one of the main reasons for the App Store coming out ahead.

One variable that does make a difference, as many Android device owners will tell you, many applications in the Google Play Store are free, with ads, while many of their iOS App Store counterparts are paid, without ads. Because of this, iOS users have to actually shell out money to get some of the same applications Android users can get for free – this would add to the overall revenue that the App Store sees.

App Annie also shows us that the App Store saw a 35% revenue gain between November 2012 and December 2012, showing that the holidays boosted App Store revenue by a lot. Also shown, the Google Play Store is getting more of its revenue from Japan now than it is from the U.S. App Annie also illustrates to us that the content of revenue from the Google Play Store is mostly games, while non-game applications hold a very little amount of water in revenue:





Sources: App Annie via 9to5Mac

[kyphur]

How about a comparison of apps downloads?

[Mrteacup]

Without androids own "itunes" its not going to get as high media downloads as apple..

[Hillefied]

I suppose things have changed in the Android OS that have made it a true contender, but developers prefer iOS for App development over Android and Windows combined. The statistics are pointless unless there is some kind of real race for first ... not a full lap behind, figuratively speaking.

[ThuD Muffin]

I don't mind paying for apps that are without ads and are ,in general, of higher quality.

[Anthony Bouchard]

I don't mind paying for apps that are without ads and are ,in general, of higher quality.

+1

[Faresismail]

Could this be because some apps on the play store are free when they are paid on the AppStore?
And could this be because lot of apps on the play store are free? Or is it just because iDevice users tend to buy more apps?

[Carvensno]

I don't mind paying for apps that are without ads and are ,in general, of higher quality.

+1 also to some of the paid app thru App Store have added features that the same app for android don't have.

[GrumpySod]

+1

I agree paying for ad free apps is good but with more and more apps charging and still having ads is starting become a problem!

[robert_ayala]

Agree with Kyphur. How is this not a huge red flag to iOS users??? A huge part of this difference is that 80% of Play market apps are free compared to iOS only offering 30% free apps in comparison. As an end user, I would much rather get free apps! As mentioned already, a better view to compare market use would be downloads.

[GTRagnarok]

Looks like Google is catching up really fast though. That's a huge increase in one year.

[jOnGarrett]

Could this be because some apps on the play store are free when they are paid on the AppStore?
And could this be because lot of apps on the play store are free? Or is it just because iDevice users tend to buy more apps?

You're 50% correct., there are way more free apps on Google Play than in the app store.

[Simon]

You're 50% correct., there are way more free apps on Google Play than in the app store.

There is way more free garbage in the google play store you mean.

[kyphur]

I agree paying for ad free apps is good but with more and more apps charging and still having ads is starting become a problem!

I wonder if the ad revenue stream is better for Android Developers than iOS Developers?

I ask this because I love MobilityWare's Solitaire on my iPad (and all of the iPhones I have owned) so I grabbed it from the Google Play Store where there is only a free version with ads between every hand played. i contacted MobilityWare to inquire about a paid version. Te response I received was that they make more money on the free app than they believe they could with a paid version so that's all they plan to offer...

This would explain why so much of the Google Play Store is free (ad supported) apps.

I keep hearing that Android apps are inferior but to be honest I just don't see it. I have several apps/games on both platforms and while there are some minor differences I wouldn't go so far as to say one was inferior to the other.

There is way more free garbage in the google play store you mean.

And every app is the app store is an awesome release that improves the user's life? Seriously, why just assume that more free apps means they're garbage?

[Simon]

And every app is the app store is an awesome release that improves the user's life? Seriously, why just assume that more free apps means they're garbage?

Not assuming anything. I have a iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPad mini, Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 (as well as a Surface but that isn't relevant here). I speak from experience browsing both app stores. Apple's does indeed have some garbageware. But the google play store has WAY more of it.

[Anthony Bouchard]

Not assuming anything. I have a iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPad mini, Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 (as well as a Surface but that isn't relevant here). I speak from experience browsing both app stores. Apple's does indeed have some garbageware. But the google play store has WAY more of it.

Not to mention the ADS all over the place! Yuck!

[Simon]

Not to mention the ADS all over the place! Yuck!

I get ads in androids notification center from apps that I have installed! Very intrusive.

[Anthony Bouchard]

I get ads in androids notification center from apps that I have installed! Very intrusive.

What in Android isn't intrusive?

[kyphur]

Not to mention the ADS all over the place! Yuck!

App store has just as much advertising as the Play store and so do the iOS Apps...

I'll say it again, I think comparing download counts is probably a better metric. I would also think content growth per month is a better indicator of success. It would be interesting to know how many downloaded apps total versus number of iOS/Android devices (or maybe versus registered users of the store) as a better measure of which user group on average downloads more apps.

I just wish these discussions could happen without it breaking down into a fanbois (from both sides) wars (not saying it has yet, just don't want to see it gong there)...

[Anthony Bouchard]

App store has just as much advertising as the Play store and so do the iOS Apps...

Nowhere near as much.

There IS advertising, but the mere volume of advertising is much lower.

Much of the reason that many apps that are paid in the App Store are free in the Google Play store are because of the ads.