

Android Overtakes Apple with 44% Worldwide Share of Mobile App Downloads - nickolai
http://www.abiresearch.com/press/3799-Android+Overtakes+Apple+with+44%25+Worldwide+Share+of+Mobile+App+Downloads

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bstar77
The one thing that's not possible to test is when a download is uninstalled,
which affects this metric significantly.

I find that I install a lot of android apps, but uninstall the vast majority
of them. My iOS device, on the other hand, gets fewer downloads, but virtually
all are paid and virtually all have stayed for good.

After owning 3 android devices, iPod touch and an iPad 2, I've come to the
conclusion that the iOS apps are substantially better. To balance the field I
have to download many android apps to find the best ones, which has been a
challenge because most of the android and amazon markets are complete crap.

One example... I use audiogalaxy for streaming music. The iOS version is
perfection, it streams well, UI has no glitches that I've found and it uses
the iOS dev patterns well. The android version has many UI issues, it's
sluggish and buffering works, but not as well as iOS. In addition, the menu
system is convoluted on android making it very difficult to navigate. This is
just one example, there are many android apps that have these issues (same
thing with beyondpod).

I am impressed with android numbers (those of us who bought G1's never thought
this day would come), but I don't think it's translating into more sales.
Android still has a long way to go before it catches up with iOS, imo.

~~~
idspispopd
Apple's marketshare for computers priced over $1000 is >90%, meanwhile the
largest personal computer manufacturer in the world is looking to exit the
business. I think this is a harbinger for what iOS and Android will become.

There is definitely some maturing required to occur on the Android side and I
think this is represented by the continuing hesitation of pay app developers
on the platform. The article didn't shed light on the revenue figures but
rather concentrated on downloads only, which as per your experience can be
misleading. Additionally the split between paid/unpaid and the average revenue
on paid apps would be the meat necessary to attract developers. I feel this
may be a long-running issue for Android as one of its primary attractions for
users is the low acquisition cost, thus it's marketed to a consumer who is
less likely to spend. (Seconded by the high piracy rates on Android.) This
creates a cyclical issue, the android app store quality becomes diluted by
lack of signature apps, so consumers become less likely to purchase apps from
a store where they are accustomed to receiving poorer quality applications. So
developers don't consider Android the first-platform of choice, thus
perpetuating the cycle. For consumers buying become a risk exercise, thus
pushing more favour to the ease of piracy, and developers to ultimately
consider the platform secondary.

Actual Android penetration is also difficult to gauge, while iOS has
predictable hardware, retail and pricing. Android-based phones have received
significant sales promotion offers (e.g. 2 for 1 is quite common), the models
available fit across a price and technical spectrum from top notch to crappy-
phone-that-can't-do-much. I believe this leads to why app downloads are lower
per device. (When the randomness of consumers should yield a similar app-
download figure, perhaps even slightly skewed towards Android due to the
larger amount of test and free software available.) Instead we see Android
lagging despite having significantly more devices in the wild. (This doesn't
build confidence for quality developers to make Android a priority
destination.)

On the other hand Google's priority is to ensure ubiquity (whether good or bad
phones), such that their ad revenue based services don't miss the smartphone
revolution. Their strategy for this is effective, it's reminiscent of windows
vs mac os. In the end iOS isn't Android's problem - Apple's iOS strategy will
always be selling less units than Android, but as we've seen in computer
manufacturers it may not be about how many you sell, but rather how profitable
it is to sell at all.

Side note: Unfortunately for everyone, this means there will always be
Android/iOS flame wars in the same way we've come to expect Windows/Mac
OS/Linux flame threads. The plus side is that innovation will be continuous
for both platforms.

------
cryptoz
As an Android developer, I love this trend. It's amazing to be able to reach
such a large and growing audience in the mobile world without having to live
inside Apple's ecosystem. It's also exciting that the high-end Android phones
out now are increasingly awesome. I hope this translates into an increase in
paid apps' success, given that more users with more money seem to be using
Android.

~~~
ryanhuff
Are you selling Android apps in the Market? If you are, have you experienced
any changes in peoples propensity to purchase Android apps in the Market?

~~~
cryptoz
I'm not selling yet, no. I've released one app in the market (pressureNET, a
crowdsourced barometer network for tablets) that I'm looking to monetize over
the next few months and I'm hoping selling weather prediction apps will be
possible :)

I'm still in the very early stages of the free app, though, so there's lots of
room and little data from my end on selling paid apps.

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nextparadigms
It seems the number of Android ad impressions has doubled over iOS ad
impressions, too:

[http://phandroid.com/2011/10/25/millennial-android-
doubles-i...](http://phandroid.com/2011/10/25/millennial-android-doubles-ios-
impressions/)

~~~
hullo
No, that's not actually the case. Or at least, not from that report. The
Millennial numbers are about one thing alone: the Millennial network. If we
knew that the install base for Millennial-provided ads exactly mirrored the
install base for smartphones, then yes, but: that's not actually the case, as
different ad nets are used to different extents on different devices. For
example, you could put out a press release trumpeting iOS 100% domination of
mobile ads if you just used numbers from iAds...

~~~
nextparadigms
It's not just a one time state that shows this. Millennial has been posting
these reports every quarter or so, and I do remember at least a few of them
when iOS was ahead. It's probably not completely accurate, but it does show a
trend, from iOS dominating their stats a year or so ago, and now Android
dominating them.

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YooLi
ABI is trying to sell the report, so they use a bait headline and press
release.

A little digging on the report, and you find out it does not include iPod
Touch or iPad in the numbers, pretty much making it worthless.

~~~
megablast
Not worthless, still a very interesting statistic.

There is not just one good statistic, and all the rest are useless. Different
statistics tell different things.

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bgentry
I'm willing to bet that the Android Market's percentage of paid app downloads
is still negligible.

~~~
Kylekramer
Considering many of the top grossing apps on Android (and iOS as well) are
free with in app purchasing, I am starting to believe paid app downloads are
going to increasingly become a niche market for apps.

~~~
nextparadigms
You're right. Last I checked free apps were like 2/3 of the total number of
apps in the Apple Appstore. Now it could be higher.

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archgrove
If true, this has been a while coming, but I'm taking the source with a grain
of salt. It makes no mention of methodology for data gathering. Apple don't,
in general, share their data. Nor do Google. It doesn't mention of what a
"Mobile App download" is. Are iPod Touch and iPad included in the stats (which
make more > 50% of iOS installations)? In app purchase data? What about Amazon
App Store?

Of course, the only way to get the even skimpy details is to cough up a price
(that isn't even available until you log in). The rest of their site seems to
indicate that "Mobile" means phone handsets, which are _not_ the only source
of installs for iOS and Android.

Edit: I had a small rant about "analysts", the plague of our industry, but
decided it didn't add anything (I hope I'm preaching to the converted).

~~~
samstokes
It sounds like they are including third party app stores, presumably including
Amazon's:

 _Being a free platform has expanded the Android device install base, which in
turn has driven growth in the number of third party multi-platform and mobile
operator app stores_

------
haydenevans
I would like to see data on developer profits from paid/ad based apps though.
I wonder if this may be due to more free apps on the Android Marketplace.

------
napierzaza
There are an infinite number of metrics to compare devices. But this is a
pretty general one.

You could also do profits, users, developers, developer income, apps
available. Give it up, it's arbitrary and you're not doing much more than
justifying the conclusions you've already made about the platform.

~~~
samstokes
The audience for this metric isn't consumers choosing whether to get an iPhone
or an Android phone. It's developers choosing whether to support iOS, Android
or both. For that audience, this is a very relevant metric. It's also a fairly
objective one.

(Of course there's a second-order effect: users will choose a platform partly
according to how well it's supported by developers. But anyone choosing which
phone to buy now on the basis of this metric is betting on a longer term than
they'll probably keep that phone for.)

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
The 2010 revenue for the App Store was something like 17 times that of the
Android Market even with a smaller market share.

I think the platform you pick has more to do with how your application/service
works rather than market share.

~~~
samstokes
Sure, number of potential installs isn't the _only_ relevant metric. I was
just questioning the assertion that it wasn't a relevant metric at all.

