“In 2015, Google Play saw 100 percent more downloads than Apple’s App Store,” Emil Protalinski reports for TechCrunch. “In 2014, the figure was 60 percent, meaning Google Play was not only bigger in 2015, it grew even faster than Apple’s App Store.”
“These latest estimates come from App Annie’s retrospective report for 2015,” Protalinski reports. “When it comes to app store downloads, Google Play is king. Furthermore, the gap is widening between first and second place.”
“Last year when it came to monetization, Apple’s App Store made over 70 percent more in revenue than Google Play,” Protalinski reports. “[In 2015], the number grew to 75 percent. In terms of revenue, the iOS – Android gap is also widening… Let’s put it another way. iOS may have less market share than Android, but its users tend to spend more money.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bu, bu, but market share! (smirk)
Three years ago, we explained why this would happen:
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. – MacDailyNews, November 26, 2012
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s iOS again leads in mobile advertising revenue – November 3, 2015
Two big reasons why Google (Alphabet Inc.) might not survive the decade – November 3, 2015
Apple iPhone owns over 90% of smartphone profits, so why do others even bother fighting over Apple’s scraps? – October 8, 2015
Apple’s iPhone owns 92% of smartphone industry’s profits – July 13, 2015
Study: iPhone users are smarter and richer than those who settle for Android phones – January 22, 2015
Why Android users can’t have the nicest things – January 5, 2015
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Android users poorer, shorter, unhealthier, less educated, far less charitable than Apple iPhone users – November 13, 2013
IDC data shows two thirds of Android’s 81% smartphone share are cheap junk phones – November 13, 2013
CIRP: Apple iPhone users are younger, richer, and better educated than those who settle for Samsung knockoff phones – August 19, 2013
What number of the Google Play downloads were malware versus Apple’s App Store?
I’d really enjoy seeing those hard numbers. 😀
Everybody who is not an analyst is able to instantly work out whether a business benefits most by having market share or profit share.
Hee haw, hee haw, hee haw…….
Ha, ha, ha. Google and Samsung. 13-toed, toothless brother and sister hillbillies.
There could be a ‘hidden’ revenue that is not evident by just looking at App Store revenue. Since we know that Android tends to have more downloads of ad supported Apps, it would be reasonable to think that there is a significant amount of income from those ads that isn’t being represented. if those apps are used long enough, that trickle could eventually overtake the price of the paid version.
With 80% market share Android should have over 5 times the number of downloads as iOS. Therefore either half of those phones are hardly used or they are basically being used as dumb phones, for phone calls and texting. I know someone that only uses their Android phone for that.