iOS vs Android Apps: Who makes more money?
Posted June 19, 2013 
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For some time now, Android has been on top in terms of daily device activations and market share, but how does that translate into sales of applications on the respective app stores?
We are used to most major developers bringing their apps to iOS first (although there has been a slight shift in recent months), and it was for good reason. Consumer spending on applications in iOS has always been higher. While that is still the case, Google Play seems to be making ground on iOS since last year.
A report published by Distimo, a mobile app analytics firm, in May revealed that the top 200 applications in Apple’s App Store earned a total of $5.1 million in revenue per day during the month of April. Compare that to the $1.1 million in the Google Play Store for the same period, and it’s easy to see why there would be a discrepancy between app releases on the two platforms.
As you can see in the depicted figures above, we are seeing a steady increase when it comes to Google Play. Back in November 2012, Android only accounted for 19% of total combined revenue for all mobile apps. In April 2013 the figure was more favourable for Android, at 27%. That is still a big difference to the top 200 figure, which is around 17% of combined revenue for Android in May.
One example stated by Distimo is EA’s The Simpsons: Tapped Out. This mobile game earned a combined $4.8 million in the month of April alone. That’s a big sum, and of that, 79% of the revenue came from the iOS App Store, which means the remaining 21% came from Android.
Another factor that skews the figure in Apple’s direction is the fact that a lot – if not most – of the Apps tend to cost more on iOS. As Android continues to dominate global sales, we should see developers spending more time and effort in developing bigger, better apps for Google’s ecosystem.
Source: Apple Insider
