iPad and iPhone app developers reign supreme in the smartphone application market. Not only in number of apps they develop and market but also in the revenue generated across. Accoding to a report by AppleInsider, Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray says that Google’s Android Market has generated around 7% of the gross revenue that Apple’s App Store has earned since its inception.
In a note to investors, Munster writes “In other words, it appears that Apple has roughly 85-90% market share in dollars spent on mobile applications. While Google has closed the gap in terms of app dollars spent over the last year and we continue to believe Android will grow smartphone share faster than Apple, we believe Apple is likely to maintain 70%+ share of mobile app dollars spent over the next 3-4 years.”
The estimates were drawn according to number publicly released by Cupertino based Apple and from Android app discovery tool, Androlib. According to Munster, $330 million has been raked in the Android Market with only 1.3% of the smartphone apps available being paid.
The estimates reached by Piper Jaffray come from numbers publicly revealed by Apple, as well as data from Androlib, an Android application discovery tool. The total app downloads in Android Market is said to be 6.75 billion app downloads to date, with 90 million of these being paid apps. In comparison, it is estimated that Apple App Store has generated $4.9 billion in gross sales since inception with 14% of total app downloads being paid applications.
In terms of average selling price, Munster suggests that Android phone users pay more for a single app, but download fewer paid apps overall. The top 50 paid apps in Android Market have an average selling price of $3.79, compared to $2.01 on Apple’s App Store.
The latest study one again validates the supremacy of iPad and iPhone app developers in mobile app development. One of the key reasons for the popularity of iOS platform is the monetization opportunities it offers to iPad and iPhone developers. While it is expected that Android will surpass Apple app store in future, however it is to be seen whether it would be able to match the revenue generation potential of the latter.
Source- AppleInsider
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