Although the Google Play Android app store continues to lead in the sheer number of apps downloaded, it has a long way to go before it can take the app revenue crown away from Apple’s iOS App Store.
New figures from mobile analytics firm App Annie published on Wednesday show that in 2014, Google Play had 60 percent more worldwide application downloads than Apple’s iOS.
In terms of monetization, however, it’s a very different story: The iOS App Store generated over 70 percent more yearly app revenue than the Google Play Store.
The data in App Annie’s report comes from analytics found in software from over 90% of the top 100 publishers, totaling more than 700,000 applications.
While both stores posted strong revenue growth for 2014, the iOS App Store’s growth kept pace with Google Play’s, allowing it to maintain its lead in terms of dollars spent.
2014 was a record year for iOS developers, as they generated over $10 billion in revenue. As that’s nearly half the $25 billion that’s been generated in the iOS App Store since it opened, it’s obvious that revenue in the store is only accelerating.
App Annie says the lion’s share of revenue for both stores comes from Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Together, those three nations generated more revenue for developers in 2014 than the rest of the world combined. (Although the “BRIC” nations (Brazil, Russia, China and India) were the fastest-growing regions.)
What are users downloading from the store? Well, if you’re a male, you’re likely to download a game of some sort, while App Annie’s data shows female users tend to download social networking and photo and video apps.
2015 looks to be more of the same, as Apple recently announced that customers spent nearly a half-billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases in the App Store in the first week of January, setting a new record for billings in the store.
