“Google’s Android mobile operating system has 1 billion users — more than twice the 470 million people on Apple’s iOS equivalent — yet Apple pays out twice the amount of revenue to app developers on its system, according to Andreessen Horowitz analyst Benedict Evans,” Jim Edwards reports for Business Insider. “So although it sounds crass to say ‘Android is for poor people,’ on a global scale that’s exactly how it is being used… We’ve seen this platform/income split a couple of times before, both globally and within the U.S. And app store revenue reflects that split.”
“Apple’s share of all users is now down to about 18% worldwide, according to Business Insider Intelligence, from 23% in 2012. Android versions are up to 76%, from 70%, in the same period,” Edwards reports. “Evans estimates that Apple paid developers $10 billion in the last 12 months after taking its 30% cut from app download revenue in the App Store. Google paid out $5 billion in the same period, Evans believes.”
Edwards reports, “Evans makes two points: Android’s market share is strongest in relatively lower income countries; [and] many people in those countries lack credit cards and Google has been very slow to offer carrier billing.”
a) confused about why they should be choosing an iPhone over an inferior knockoff and therefore might be less prone to understand/explore their devices’ capabilities or trust their devices with credit card info for shopping; and/or
b) enticed with “Buy One Get One Free,” “Buy One, Get Two or More Free,” or similar offers.
Neither type of customer is the cream of the crop when it comes to successful engagement or coveted demographics; closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top, in fact. Android can be widespread and still demographically inferior precisely because of the way in which and to whom Android devices are marketed. Unending BOGO promos attract a seemingly unending stream of cheapskate freetards just as inane, pointless TV commercials about robots or blasting holes in concrete walls attract meatheads and dullards, not exactly the best demographics unless you’re peddling muscle building powders or grease monkey overalls.
Google made a crucial mistake: They gave away Android to “partners” who pushed and continue to push the product into the hands of the exact opposite type of user that Google needs for Android to truly thrive. Hence, Android is a backwater of second-rate, or worse, app versions that are only downloaded when free or ad-supported – but the Android user is notoriously cheap, so the ads don’t sell for much because they don’t work very well. You’d have guessed that Google would have understood this, but you’d have guessed wrong.
Google built a platform that depends heavily on advertising support, but sold it to the very type of customer who’s the least likely to patronize ads.
iOS users are the ones who buy apps, so developers focus on iOS users. iOS users buy products, so accessory makers focus on iOS users. iOS users have money and the proven will to spend it, so vehicle makers focus on iOS users. Etcetera. Android can have the “Hee Haw” demographic. Apple doesn’t want it or need it; it’s far more trouble than it’s worth.
Device Atlas, iOS vs. Android, data usage by country, March 2014:
