Android App Downloads Lead iOS by 60 Per Cent

Apps stock imageDownloads of Android apps from Google Play exceeded iOS App Store downloads by around 60 per cent in Q2 2014, according to an App Annie report, widening the 10 per cent lead Android held in Q2 2013.

Androids growth is driven by emerging markets, including Brazil, Thailand and India, as large numbers of consumers in those countries make the move to smartphones.

iOS is still dominant when it comes to money, however, with the App Store bringing in 80 per cent more revenue than Google Play.

The top iOS markets are US, Japan, and China, which together make up more than half of all App Store revenues. iOS revenue in China shot up 20 per cent between Q1 and Q2, following Apples deal with China Mobile earlier this year. Japan, meanwhile, is the leading market for app revenue across the App Store and Google Play revenue, with 90 per cent of that revenue coming from gaming apps.

“The notion that ‘west is best’ is holding less sway as Google Play and iOS App Store are being increasingly supported by emerging smartphone markets such as India and China,” said Oliver Lo, EVP Marketing at App Annie. “The fact that only 10 per cent of the Indian population is smartphone-enabled is an exciting prospect for app publishers looking for new markets to explore. We expect strong Google Play downloads combined with future smartphone adoption could help set the stage for rapid growth in India’s mobile app-related revenue by 2017.”

The World Cup pushed up downloads in the Sports category on Google Play by 20 per cent worldwide, quarter on quarter, with spikes in Germany, Argentina and the US. But it was host country Brazil which saw the biggest increase, doubling its share of downloads in the category from Q1.

The approaching summer holiday period impacted on downloads in the Navigation category, with iOS revenues up nearly 20 percent quarter on quarter, driven largely by European countries including Belgium, Germany and Lithuania.