This site never points this out. 1. Google Play does not operate in China. 2. China is the #1 market for mobile apps.
Lots of independent analyses have shown that were Google Play in China, the total revenue would easily surpass the App Store. Of course, iOS would still have a huge per device/per customer average though. And where the main revenue driver for Google Play would still be IAP/free-to-play games while enterprise/professional/productivity and other premium apps as well as subscription services would still have much more revenue.
One thing that I have noticed is that Sundar Pichai's huge effort to invest in India - his initiative to train 1 million Android programmers in India as well as targeting that market with Android Go hardware - hasn't resulted in much revenue for Google Play yet.
There's a lot of app stores for Android besides Google Play, including even major Western ones like Amazon's. I've no issue comparing the App Store with Google Play as that's how much revenue flows back to the OS provider, but don't make assumptions on developer revenue's between iOS and Android, based on one app store vs. 100% of an entire platform. I would not be at all surprised if Android apps as a whole make as much or more for developers as those on iOS.
Only if you consider apps for the "Android" forks used by Amazon devices and devices in China as "Android'. In 2019, Google revealed that there were 2.5B devices on Android. That number do not include any "Android" devices that do not support the Google Play Store and all the Google apps available. Google only consider devices that support the Google Play Store and Google apps as devices using "Android". At the same time frame, there were about 2B iOS devices. So clearly, as far as Google is concern, their Google Play Store is not on nearly 4X as many devices as the Apple App Store, as marketshare for Android would seem to indicate. People that calculate marketshare numbers usually includes all forks of Android, even if they don't run or support any Google apps. To them, the 1/3 of the marketshare that is in China running a fork of Android, are the same as those devices running what Google would consider an "Android" device.
A developer developing Google apps doesn't mean that their Google app will automatically work on Amazon devices using Fire OS or on "Android" devices in China. (That's if they can gain access to the "Android" devices in China.) It might take as much effort to recode their Google apps, as it does to recode for iOS. If they want to develop for Amazon devices, they must develop for Fire OS and use the Amazon App Store. Otherwise there is no support from Amazon. And I have no idea as to what it would take to develop apps for China "Android" devices as they have nearly zero support for any Google apps that runs on what Google consider "Android".
And then you got the issue that in order to reach over 80% of Android users, a developer might have to make their apps work for 2 or 3 versions of Google Android. Whereas with iOS, just developing for the newest iOS is often all that is needed to reach over 80% of iOS devices. This is added cost for Google Android developers.
I'm sure that you might be correct in saying that as a whole, "Android" developers makes as much developing for "Android" as they would for iOS. But only if you count developing for Fire OS and for China devices with their Android fork, as developing for "Android". For sure, Google don't. As far as Google is concern, Amazon devices, China "Android" devices and any device using a fork of Android that don't support the Google Play Store, are not "Android" devices.
Not sure what you mean by "Google apps"? The Android apps our company develops run (unmodified) on all major markets an forks - including some of the new cars with native ART support and automotive branded closed appstores. Android is like _everywhere_ these days. Still iOS earns us about the same amount of money, on far fewer devices.
Basically, Google Apps are the apps that Google develop to harness it's users data for their targeted advertising. Targeted advertising is how Google makes over 80% of their revenue. Google Apps are mostly "free" services for devices that are running Google Android. They do not all necessary work or work properly, on devices running an Android fork. Google do not consider devices running an Android fork as "Android" devices. Though marketing people do. "Android" is a trademark of Google and the Android name can only be use on devices running the Android that supports Google Apps.
Thus Amazon devices are said to be running on Fire OS as the Fire OS is an Android fork and do not include any Google Apps and might not support all of the Google Apps. Nor do Amazon offer any support for them if you were to load them into an Amazon device, by side loading in the Google Play Store. And I don't think Google would offer any support if you were to install a Google App into a device not running Google Android.
In you develop an app for Android, it might very well run on all devices with any forks of Android. But if you incorporate any of the Google Apps into your app, it might not run or not run properly on devices running on an Android fork. And there will probably be no support from either the device maker or Google. But with Android being open source, there are many developers in the community that are more than wiling to help.
I think you mean incorporate google services into your app.
Yes, that is probably the case. And a lot of apps doesn't need those, so I don't see the problem. Android is still Android, with or without the Google Play services.
But not to Google. To Google, "Android" devices are the Android devices that supports their Google Apps (services) and only devices that support those Google Apps can claim to be "Android" devices. "Android" is a trademark of Google and Google only allows devices that support Google Apps (services), to claim to be "Android" devices.
Therefore, Amazon devices on the Fire OS, are not "Android" devices in Google book. And neither are the devices running an Android fork in China. Its only the marketing people that lumps all devices running "Android" and any fork of Android, into one Android OS category, for determining marketshare purposes. But that's not to say that Google do not derive any benefit from the users of those devices that manages to install or side load any of the Google services and have them working. Just that Google still don't count them as "Android" devices.
Developers can not lump all devices running Android as one because not all Android devices running an Android fork might support the app they developed for Google "Android" devices, just because marketing people say that Android is Android. The "Android" that supports Google services is not the same as the Android that don't support those Google services. Google "Android" must meet standards set by Google. Any Android forks might not and do not have to, adhere to any or all of those standards. It's up to the developers to figure that out. Not Google or the device maker running a fork of Android. Amazon would have no problem helping developers whose app is in the Amazon App Store and uses the Amazon Cloud but might balk at helping developers with an app that uses Google Drive, installed from the Google Play Store that was side loaded into devices running on their Fire OS. If a new version of Fire OS breaks the Google Play Store, it's up to Android developers to figure out how to get it back, without any support from Amazon.
Even though technically, developers that develop for Amazon Fire OS and for the Android fork on China devices are developing for Android. Google don't see it that way. To Google, "Android" devices are the devices running the Google "Android" that fully support the Google Play Store. And since this article is comparing Apple App Store with the Google Play Store, it is a fair comparison. Even it can be said that the Apple App Store is on 100% of iOS devices, the Google Play Store is (or can be) on 100% of what Google would consider to be, "Android" devices.
What would not be a fair comparison is if one were to use the marketshare of iOS devices with that of Android devices and say that the Google Play Store is on 75% of the mobile devices while the Apple app Store is only on 22% of the mobile devices. The Google Play Store is not on all devices running Android by marketshare standard, but only for sure on about the 50% of them that supports Google "Android". And for sure the Google Play Store is not in China, which accounts for maybe 25% of the Android marketshare. Even though one might be able to side load or use a hack to get the Google Play Store in devices that are running on an Android fork, Google still do not count those as "Android" devices.
In 2019, Google claimed that the Google Play Store was installed on 2.5B Android devices. That's not close to being 75% of the nearly 5B mobile devices at the time.
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Therefore, Amazon devices on the Fire OS, are not "Android" devices in Google book. And neither are the devices running an Android fork in China. Its only the marketing people that lumps all devices running "Android" and any fork of Android, into one Android OS category, for determining marketshare purposes. But that's not to say that Google do not derive any benefit from the users of those devices that manages to install or side load any of the Google services and have them working. Just that Google still don't count them as "Android" devices.
Developers can not lump all devices running Android as one because not all Android devices running an Android fork might support the app they developed for Google "Android" devices, just because marketing people say that Android is Android. The "Android" that supports Google services is not the same as the Android that don't support those Google services. Google "Android" must meet standards set by Google. Any Android forks might not and do not have to, adhere to any or all of those standards. It's up to the developers to figure that out. Not Google or the device maker running a fork of Android. Amazon would have no problem helping developers whose app is in the Amazon App Store and uses the Amazon Cloud but might balk at helping developers with an app that uses Google Drive, installed from the Google Play Store that was side loaded into devices running on their Fire OS. If a new version of Fire OS breaks the Google Play Store, it's up to Android developers to figure out how to get it back, without any support from Amazon.
Even though technically, developers that develop for Amazon Fire OS and for the Android fork on China devices are developing for Android. Google don't see it that way. To Google, "Android" devices are the devices running the Google "Android" that fully support the Google Play Store. And since this article is comparing Apple App Store with the Google Play Store, it is a fair comparison. Even it can be said that the Apple App Store is on 100% of iOS devices, the Google Play Store is (or can be) on 100% of what Google would consider to be, "Android" devices.
What would not be a fair comparison is if one were to use the marketshare of iOS devices with that of Android devices and say that the Google Play Store is on 75% of the mobile devices while the Apple app Store is only on 22% of the mobile devices. The Google Play Store is not on all devices running Android by marketshare standard, but only for sure on about the 50% of them that supports Google "Android". And for sure the Google Play Store is not in China, which accounts for maybe 25% of the Android marketshare. Even though one might be able to side load or use a hack to get the Google Play Store in devices that are running on an Android fork, Google still do not count those as "Android" devices.
In 2019, Google claimed that the Google Play Store was installed on 2.5B Android devices. That's not close to being 75% of the nearly 5B mobile devices at the time.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/7/18528297/google-io-2019-android-devices-play-store-total-number-statistic-keynote