Android apps make only 24% as much as iOS apps

[cheezy321]

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/13/android-24-percent-ios/

Here is another developer coming out with hard numbers that confirm what we all already know. Android apps make much less than iOS apps.

I used to think that google app store will one day surpass the Apple app Store in revenue soon. I am starting to think that won't happen until android has windows like dominance (85%+ market share). When will android users begin to open their wallets? Will they ever do so?

Edit: Another interesting tidbit from the report

"Over the year, developer support for Android has declined from more than one-third of all new projects, at the beginning of the year, down to roughly one-quarter by the end."

Developer support is declining on android? I know this is just one mobile tracker, but that is *NOT* good any way you shake it.

 

[Deeko]

This is not news. Its been known for a long time. Flamebait.

 

[cliftonite]

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/13/android-24-percent-ios/

Here is another developer coming out with hard numbers that confirm what we all already know. Android apps make much less than iOS apps.

I used to think that google app store will one day surpass the Apple app Store in revenue soon. I am starting to think that won't happen until android has windows like dominance (85%+ market share). When will android users begin to open their wallets? Will they ever do so?

Edit: Another interesting tidbit from the report

"Over the year, developer support for Android has declined from more than one-third of all new projects, at the beginning of the year, down to roughly one-quarter by the end."

Developer support is declining on android? I know this is just one mobile tracker, but that is *NOT* good any way you shake it.

At the end of the day why should Android users care about this?

 

[Oyeve]

Thats because most useful android apps are FREE and most useless apple apps are NOT.

Developers flock more to apple because they know they can charge for any POS software and there will always be a buyer there. Android users, myself included, can either get what we want for free or just have no use for a paid app.

 

[Red Storm]

The numbers are for in-app purchases only (from an undetermined sample size), not actual paid downloads, just FYI.

I don't think this surprises anybody. Most if not all the apps I actually need are free on Android. This is a good thing for us - the consumers - contrary to what some may say here.

I'm sure Google isn't worried either. Their main business is advertising, so Android's ever increasing marketshare is probably more important to them IMHO.

 

[mosco]

Thats because most useful android apps are FREE and most useless apple apps are NOT. Cheezy, arent you sick of showing your utter disdain to android? We sure are sick of you and your obvious obsession.

Developers flock more to apple because they know they can charge for any POS software and there will always be a buyer there. Android users, myself included, can either get what we want for free or just have no use for a paid app.

I don't think thats really true. I went from an iphone 4, to a captivate, now back to an iphone 4, and I think the generally the quality of the free apps is much higher on the iphone and there are just as many free apps. I also think that generally iphone apps seem to actually be cheaper, and at a higher quality.

 

[Bateluer]

Thats because most useful android apps are FREE and most useless apple apps are NOT.

Developers flock more to apple because they know they can charge for any POS software and there will always be a buyer there. Android users, myself included, can either get what we want for free or just have no use for a paid app.

Flurry's 'report' is highly suspect and by their own admission flawed, but your statement is generally true. Any useful app on iOS costs money, same with the Mac App Store. Very few apps on the Mac App Store are free, and those that are are buried and difficult to find.

Android's free apps fulfill what most people want. Android users do and will continue to buy apps, but the paid app has to entice away from the free app. Many don't. And even the most dim witted person isn't going to pay for an app that does the same thing as the free version.

 

[QueBert]

I don't think thats really true. I went from an iphone 4, to a captivate, now back to an iphone 4, and I think the generally the quality of the free apps is much higher on the iphone and there are just as many free apps. I also think that generally iphone apps seem to actually be cheaper, and at a higher quality.

qtf x2, Android might have more free apps. But iOS has far better free ones, and the paid apps are all but a few worlds better. Android people who haven't used iOS don't seem to understand just how many free apps are on iOS. And none seem to realize iOS people pay for apps because of the quality of them. I wouldn't pay for Open Office either (Android app) but MS Office (iOS app) is a proggy worth paying for imho,

 

[cheezy321]

At the end of the day why should Android users care about this?

Because developer support is declining on android, the OS that currently has around 45% market share and is growing like gangbusters.

For every 1 app being developed on android, 3 are being made on iOS.

You should care about this.

 

[Bateluer]

qtf x2, Android might have more free apps. But iOS has far better free ones, and the paid apps are all but a few worlds better. Android people who haven't used iOS don't seem to understand just how many free apps are on iOS. And none seem to realize iOS people pay for apps because of the quality of them. I wouldn't pay for Open Office either (Android app) but MS Office (iOS app) is a proggy worth paying for imho,

Oops! There is no Open Office for Android.

Edit - There doesn't seem to be any MS Office for iOS either, at least, thats what a Google search is telling me.

Edit 2 - QuickOffice and Documents To Go are available on both platforms and MS compatible. Far as I can tell, there's no Google Docs app for iOS, though I believe you can access the web version?

 

[theeedude]

Good, more money in my pocket. I got all the apps I need and then some 🙂 Most I've spent on an app is 10 cents 😀

 

[Red Storm]

Because developer support is declining on android, the OS that currently has around 45% market share and is growing like gangbusters.

For every 1 app being developed on android, 3 are being made on iOS that use Flurry Analytics.

You should care about this.

Fixed that for you. You really shouldn't make sweeping generalizations like that.

Flurry Analytics is one of many analytic companies. From their article it says they have ~135,000 apps under their belt. However, we don't know how many of them are Android and how many are iOS. We also don't know how popular/good Flurry Analytics is compared to alternatives like Google's own Google Analytics.

Without knowing these things, it is impossible to say just how accurate Flurry's info is. The figures from the article are not in any way, shape, or form representative of the entire mobile app development scene, so please don't act like they are.

 

[cheezy321]

Fixed that for you. You really shouldn't make sweeping generalizations like that.

Flurry Analytics is one of many analytic companies. From their article it says they have ~135,000 apps under their belt. However, we don't know how many of them are Android and how many are iOS. We also don't know how popular/good Flurry Analytics is compared to alternatives like Google's own Google Analytics.

Without knowing these things, it is impossible to say just how accurate Flurry's info is. The figures from the article are not in any way, shape, or form representative of the entire mobile app development scene, so please don't act like they are.

Seems like they have a big enough sample size to make a reasonable conclusion.

You can attack the source all you want, but this is just corroborating reports that we have already heard from many app developers. Where there is smoke, there is fire...

 

[cliftonite]

Because developer support is declining on android, the OS that currently has around 45% market share and is growing like gangbusters.

For every 1 app being developed on android, 3 are being made on iOS.

You should care about this.

I actually have a 3gs, so I don't care. But what apps does IOS have exclusively that Android doesn't?

 

[poofyhairguy]

I actually have a 3gs, so I don't care. But what apps does IOS have exclusively that Android doesn't?

The one I miss the most is Air Video. Also there is a pile of higher-end games.

 

[Red Storm]

Seems like they have a big enough sample size to make a reasonable conclusion.

You can attack the source all you want, but this is just corroborating reports that we have already heard from many app developers. Where there is smoke, there is fire...

I'm not attacking the source. I'm just pointing out your generalization is incorrect. And again, it's in-app purchases only, not paid downloads. The only apps I can think of off the top of my head that use in-app purchases are games. What are the other types (I really can't think of any)?

And as others have already said, free apps are good for consumers (you know, the overwhelming majority of people that make up this forum). I could just as easily spin those figures and say "Android users are more likely to find the apps they want for free" or "Android users are smarter with their money than iOS users" which would be equally suspect generalizations.

As an Android user, I am not at all worried that the iOS app store makes more money. If anything, marketshare is a much more useful figure to me, because I know I'm using the most popular (and still growing) mobile app platform, which guarantees a large developer presence.

 

[Bateluer]

Seems like they have a big enough sample size to make a reasonable conclusion.

You can attack the source all you want, but this is just corroborating reports that we have already heard from many app developers. Where there is smoke, there is fire...

What Red Storm fails to understand is that any negative news about Android is automatically a fact when viewed by iFans. It doesn't matter how flimsy the news is, where its source comes from, or how obviously fake or flawed it is. It supports Apple, therefore, it is Gospel.


On a site note. Both platforms have a very solid offering of apps for nearly any use or desire. Email, games, web surfing, media streaming, office, cloud storage, fitness, social, etc, etc. With many of these apps now mature and refined, I can easily see how it becomes more difficult for a new player to get into the arena. People generally have more than they need with apps for the time being.

Side note 2. With this thread focusing on apps and developers, I'm going to bring up the WebOS TouchPad and WP7. WebOS may live as an open source, community project but unless it gets picked up by HTC/Samsung/Motorola/etc, its dead. The TouchPad is dead. Its cheap, but its entire future revolves around Android running on it. A feat that Joe Smith isn't going to do. The apps you see today are all the apps you're ever going to see. Is any developer going to waste their time developing anything for a platform that less than .001% of customers use? Not likely.

WP7 isn't anywhere near as bleak, since it has the marketing muscle of Microsoft behind it, and the promise of support from them. When WP7 first launched, there was a flurry of developers signing up and paying the fee. But with WP7 growth at a standstill and in single digit percentages, large numbers of them have chosen not to renew their developer accounts and refocused on Android and iOS.

We see people in MD&G attack Android for app selection and quantity all the time, then turn around and recommend WP7 and TouchPads to people, which have only a tiny fraction of the apps available in Android or iOS while having no or minimal future for them either. Part of the hypocrisy I comment on, and usually get attacked for.

 

[Oyeve]

I wish Android had Lego Harry Potter. 🙁 But I have a 3DS for that. 🙂

 

[Red Storm]

I wish Android had Lego Harry Potter. 🙁 But I have a 3DS for that. 🙂

Technically it does, via OnLive. 😉

 

[poofyhairguy]

At the end of the day why should Android users care about this?

Because at some level it is about more than just the number of apps, it is also about app support.

For an iOS developer, they have to target basically three devices- the 3GS, the iPhone 4 and the iPad. The 3GS and the 4 are similar with the 4 having exactly twice the resolution. The iPad has yet another resolution that is different. Of course if you are a game maker you might target the 4S and iPad 2 specifically to leverage the more power GPUs, but most apps don't need to.

For Android you need to target WVGA devices, qHD devices, 720p devices, Honeycomb tablets, and now ICS devices. Also you have to deal with the different SoCs- Tegra, Qualcomm, Exynos, and OMAP. Finally it seems each phone has some quibble (partially due to the different SoCs) so each high-end phone might need its own tweaks, some of them substantial (like how all SGS2s can't support texture compression).

If I am developer, and I have to chose between developing for a market with three devices (and a better dev kit) vs the Android mess, I might chose to skip Android. Or I might just develop for Android, but only the most common devices (so WVGA), and everyone else can rot.

And that basically is what happens- look how few Android tablet apps their are. Look how many comments there are in the Market about how apps don't fill the screen on qHD phones or on the Gnex. Look how many comments there are that _______ app doesn't work on ________ phone.

If you are a user of Android, you should care, especially if you plan to own a non-standard Android phone (like the Gnex).

 

[ITHURTSWHENIP]

Every single app i used on my Iphone 4, i found on Android, the quality was the same with the exception of Facebook (god its horrible on Android). The only ones i cant find on Android are gaming titles.

My country only got access to the Market last year. And the only way to purchase apps is by using your credit card. A lot of people are not comfortable leaving their credit card info attached to their e-mail account


Google needs to start allowing alternative forms of payment.

 

[MrX8503]

The Apple community tends to spend more than other communities. Not exactly sure why that is, it just is. There's probably a lot of reasons behind this.

Anyway, the benefit is that iOS has a lot of high quality apps. This includes both paid and free apps. From what I've seen for a very long time now, if apps matter to the end user, iOS is the platform to get.

Android has a lot of free apps, but they're not as high quality compared to iOS and the apps I've seen on Android that are paid, are really expensive. I think this higher expense is to offset the volume sales that Android developers don't get. On iOS, developers are able to price their apps lower because the volume of sales is much larger. I could be wrong, but that's my speculation.

Every single app i used on my Iphone 4, i found on Android, the quality was the same with the exception of Facebook (god its horrible on Android).

Even though the iOS FB app is better, FB recently completely changed the app. Its exactly like the mobile version now, which IMO is a step backwards. I miss the original iOS FB app and it looks like its gone for good.

 

[MagickMan]

Any useful app on iOS costs money, same with the Mac App Store. Very few apps on the Mac App Store are free, and those that are are buried and difficult to find.

Horse hockey. Do you even pay attention to what you write? 😵

 

[ITHURTSWHENIP]

Even though the iOS FB app is better, FB recently completely changed the app. Its exactly like the mobile version now, which IMO is a step backwards. I miss the original iOS FB app and it looks like its gone for good.

I gave my Iphone to my dad so i havent used the app. Sad to hear that since the old version was awesome. Android version really feels like a downgrade made by interns

 

[QueBert]

Horse hockey. Do you even pay attention to what you write? 😵

Of course he does, it might not be anything even resembling an accurate statement. But he definitely pays attention, he has to make sure everything he write takes a jab @ Apple.