App Store's 2014 profit 70% greater than Google Play's despite seeing 60% less downloads, says App Annie report
Apple’s App Store generated 70 per cent more app revenue than Google Play despite the Android platform seeing a total of 60 per cent more downloads in 2014, according to App Annie's annual retrospective report.
Despite achieving a greater volume of downloads, Google Play was outshone by iOS - hinting at vastly superior monetisation of its service.
The study also found that Japan, South Korea and the US, collectively generated more app revenue than the rest of the world combined.
In 2015, App Annie projects strong app growth in Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and Vietnam.
Travel and transport apps, such as AirBnB and Uber, saw downloads increase by 30 per cent. Furthermore, downloads of the top ten video streaming apps such as Netflix also increased by 44 per cent in 2014.
The report concludes: “Over the past year, there were numerous new trends including the rise of ‘super casual’ gaming, explosive growth in the sharing economy, and the emergence of messaging platforms as the dominant option for publishers looking to expand into new regions.”
App Annie also marked 2014 as the year of casual gamers, catalysed by the launch of single-tap mobile game Flappy Bird.