Google poised to overtake Apple as top app platform
Google is poised to overtake arch-rival Apple as the world’s most popular app platform in the coming months thanks to a surge in downloads which saw it edge to within a whisker of the iPhone giant.
The leapfrogging promises to be an important moment in a tussle for supremacy between the two tech giants and reflects the growing dominance of Samsung and the Android platform within the smartphone market.
To date Apple has seen 850,000 apps downloaded a total of 50bn times for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with Google reporting a comparable figure of 48bn downloads.
However Google’s rate of increase is significantly higher, with 2.5bn downloads per month versus 2bn for Apple – a difference which could see Google overtake within four months.
Nevertheless Apple’s system remains a more lucrative source of revenue for developers with Google’s Play store accounting for just 27 per cent of sector revenues.