Google Play Store clocks the most downloads but still lags behind App Store in revenue

According to new statistics released by App Annie Index, Google’s Play Store exceeded the iOS app store by 45% in total downloads but still lagged behind when it comes to actual revenues. Worldwide, it is clear that Android is dominating the market, with over 80% marketshare, which has led to a surge in downloads from emerging markets like Russia and Brazil, but the downside is that a large number of apps on Android are free or based on the freemium model, which drastically lowers the barrier of entry, keeping the target markets in mind, whereas Apple’s iOS enjoys higher marketshare and install base in developed countries. This news might not surprise you, but head past the break for some more interesting analysis based on the data.

Lets start with Android. As you can see from the table above, the one on the left is about the top 5 countries based on the number of downloads, while the one on the right is about the top 5 countries in terms of revenue. India features high on the list in number of downloads but is nowhere to be seen on the right, and the same goes for Russia. Smaller countries like Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and South Korea contribute higher than the large markets where Android is popular. All said, there is a striking absence here, which is of the biggest smartphone market, China. Google Play is literally non existent in China whereas the country is dominated by Android devices, which should be very disturbing for Google, we’d guess.

One the other hand, the reality of the iOS app store in downloads as well as revenue bodes well for Apple, as most of the markets in which Apple gets downloads, pay for them as well. The app store economy has been strong every since its inception, and there seems to be no slowing down, or a change in the fact that iOS remains the best target for any application developer. Apart from Worldwide revenue, Apple is now gaining a lot of marketshare in China, with over 70% growth, which might be due to the recent partnership with China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier.

But of course, there are overlapping highlights from both the app store, like games being the top contributor of revenue on both iOS as well as Android. All the above data is limited to the first quarter of 2014, but we think it is fairly representative of the entire app store economy, because of the mostly non-seasonal nature to app purchases. While games churn a lot of money and occupy the top slot in downloads, messaging apps are the next big thing, which is quite obvious these days. Can we finally proclaim that SMS is dead? Anyway, the analysis has a lot more information regarding the app stores of the two largest smartphone ecosystems out there, so do check out the source link for more.

Source App Annie via Techcrunch