I have 3 sources of revenue: advertising (just a few procent), users buying an app (about 40%) , and associations buying a license for their members (around 55%). For all 3 sources the split between iOS and Android is similar. Associations that pay me directly for their members will only increase. It avoids the 30% Apple or Google tax.
This is why Android as a platform makes
far less money for developers when compared to iOS. It's also why
developers don't bother bringing high-end Apps to Android devices or why
Android on tablets is dead. There's just no money in it for developers.
That is B.S. My business would not be profitable if I would concentrate on just one platform (either iOs or Android). It is much more difficult to find and develop a new profitable idea than to port an existing profitable idea to the another platform . I talk a lot with other app developers and they share the same opinion.
Yes, the Android folk who notoriously spend big money on anything
I am an app developer making all my apps available and iOS and Android. My current revenue split is 60% Android, 40% iOS. It can be related to the fact that I am not developing any games or that my apps are mainly targeted at the European market where Android has a high market share, but still, your statement is just wrong.
The statement is not wrong at all, your experience notwithstanding. Android is a wasteland for paid content
A wasteland I tell 'ya!
Heck Google Play developers only managed to get about $16B from Google last yet as their cut of the roughly $25Billion in Play Store revenues. How could any of them survive on that? Getting a few billion more from the other Android app stores isn't enough to make a difference even if the combination of all of them, particularly adding China, might roughly approach the total App Store revenues. They're still literally starving to death. Shocked all of it hasn't died yet.
Nobody said Google Play isn't making money or that Android developers are starving. But they make a fraction of what The App Store and iOS developers make. That's the real point.
BTW, where did you get that $25 billion figure from? Google is famous for not reporting Play Store revenues (and why would they as they pale in comparison to The App Store). So I'm really curious as to your source.
I always find it funny how Google loves to promote numbers until such time as it no longer looks good and they stop. Like they used to report device activations. Or total users on each Android version (which they changed to total visits to Google Play to make it appear more users were on newer versions). Or to stop reporting altogether last October when Pie wasn't being adopted as fast as Oreo despite Project Treble supposedly going to improve update times for newer versions of Android. Samsung also has similar tactics.
I got the numbers from the same places that reported App Store revenues for last year, and the same sources that Appleinsider uses for reporting AppStore vs Google Play. Sensor Tower is one of those, and AFAIK you've always accepted their numbers.
Where the truth lies is near impossible to discern AFAICT but going so far as to claim for a fact that Android as a platform makes far less for developers is not supported unless you have some sources proving so. Perhaps it exists, maybe you have that proof and I'm happy to follow whatever links you have that establishes it.
I wouldn't normally post a four year old link in support of my POV. Maybe you could choose a "fresh" link, even if the result is the same?
You're welcome to link one more recent, which is likely to show better Android results than that one considering the market share changes in China since. I was looking for one older TBH. The one I used was enough to prove my point.
I don't have a complaint about the result, but even you would agree that the recent data is more relevant, even as it portray's Android's App revenues as increasing against the iOS App Store.
Certainly, that is a result that mutes "monopoly" meme against Apple, as its App Store is certainly a minority in comparison to WW Android App downloads, revenue and even profit.
Yes, the Android folk who notoriously spend big money on anything
I am an app developer making all my apps available and iOS and Android. My current revenue split is 60% Android, 40% iOS. It can be related to the fact that I am not developing any games or that my apps are mainly targeted at the European market where Android has a high market share, but still, your statement is just wrong.
The statement is not wrong at all, your experience notwithstanding. Android is a wasteland for paid content
A wasteland I tell 'ya!
Heck Google Play developers only managed to get about $16B from Google last yet as their cut of the roughly $25Billion in Play Store revenues. How could any of them survive on that? Getting a few billion more from the other Android app stores isn't enough to make a difference even if the combination of all of them, particularly adding China, might roughly approach the total App Store revenues. They're still literally starving to death. Shocked all of it hasn't died yet.
Nobody said Google Play isn't making money or that Android developers are starving. But they make a fraction of what The App Store and iOS developers make. That's the real point.
BTW, where did you get that $25 billion figure from? Google is famous for not reporting Play Store revenues (and why would they as they pale in comparison to The App Store). So I'm really curious as to your source.
I always find it funny how Google loves to promote numbers until such time as it no longer looks good and they stop. Like they used to report device activations. Or total users on each Android version (which they changed to total visits to Google Play to make it appear more users were on newer versions). Or to stop reporting altogether last October when Pie wasn't being adopted as fast as Oreo despite Project Treble supposedly going to improve update times for newer versions of Android. Samsung also has similar tactics.
I got the numbers from the same places that reported App Store revenues for last year, and the same sources that Appleinsider uses for reporting AppStore vs Google Play. Sensor Tower is one of those, and AFAIK you've always accepted their numbers.
Where the truth lies is near impossible to discern AFAICT but going so far as to claim for a fact that Android as a platform makes far less for developers is not supported unless you have some sources proving so. Perhaps it exists, maybe you have that proof and I'm happy to follow whatever links you have that establishes it.
I wouldn't normally post a four year old link in support of my POV. Maybe you could choose a "fresh" link, even if the result is the same?
You're welcome to link one more recent, which is likely to show better Android results than that one considering the market share changes in China since. I was looking for one older TBH. The one I used was enough to prove my point.
Certainly, that is a result that mutes "monopoly" meme against Apple, as its App Store is certainly a minority in comparison to WW Android App downloads, revenue and even profit.
Which region are you referring to? I assume you're referencing some recent complaint about the app store and the EU or the US or Russia. Those areas all fall under different competition rules
In the EU for instance Google was found to be dominant rather than a monopoly in app stores for Android, which led to some anti competition claims and fines. Do you think it's possible Apple would be found to be dominant in app stores for iOS, and if so some of their activities might be found to be anti-competitive? apparently the EU is willing to look at a segment of a market instead of market as a whole
Yes, the Android folk who notoriously spend big money on anything
I am an app developer making all my apps available and iOS and Android. My current revenue split is 60% Android, 40% iOS. It can be related to the fact that I am not developing any games or that my apps are mainly targeted at the European market where Android has a high market share, but still, your statement is just wrong.
You do not represent the entire mobile world.
iOS users spend 4X as much (per user) compared to Android users. This is a basic truth due largely to the fact that most Android devices sold around the world are low-end junk phones. All the tech blogs love to talk about your Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, LG G Series, OnePlus or other popular flagships, but these only represent a tiny fraction of total devices sold.
This is why Android as a platform makes far less money for developers when compared to iOS. It's also why developers don't bother bringing high-end Apps to Android devices or why Android on tablets is dead. There's just no money in it for developers.
All the things we thought we just knew, common knowledge.
The question I have is who is behind promoting the consistently reported stories that Android doesn't make money for developers, or that iOS has double the revenues. It's not true according to the actual evidence, and the only way "they"' can make it appear true is by comparing only Google Play to the entire iOS app platform. That ignores at minimum the largest app economy in the largest population in the world, China, where Apple plays and Google does not.
DED has never mentioned that, AI has never mentioned that, most blogs have never mentioned it... Why not? Obviously comparing a portion of an app platform (Android and Google Play) to the entirety of another (Apple and the App Store) and then using that as proof one is 2x/3x/4x more profitable was not accurate in the first place. Worse some here just accept it as gospel and never question it.
No wonder you and others never discovered that what you always assumed was true may not be.
Comments
Certainly, that is a result that mutes "monopoly" meme against Apple, as its App Store is certainly a minority in comparison to WW Android App downloads, revenue and even profit.
In the EU for instance Google was found to be dominant rather than a monopoly in app stores for Android, which led to some anti competition claims and fines. Do you think it's possible Apple would be found to be dominant in app stores for iOS, and if so some of their activities might be found to be anti-competitive? apparently the EU is willing to look at a segment of a market instead of market as a whole
The question I have is who is behind promoting the consistently reported stories that Android doesn't make money for developers, or that iOS has double the revenues. It's not true according to the actual evidence, and the only way "they"' can make it appear true is by comparing only Google Play to the entire iOS app platform. That ignores at minimum the largest app economy in the largest population in the world, China, where Apple plays and Google does not.
DED has never mentioned that, AI has never mentioned that, most blogs have never mentioned it... Why not? Obviously comparing a portion of an app platform (Android and Google Play) to the entirety of another (Apple and the App Store) and then using that as proof one is 2x/3x/4x more profitable was not accurate in the first place. Worse some here just accept it as gospel and never question it.
No wonder you and others never discovered that what you always assumed was true may not be.
Back then, even the Chinese app stores were breaking records.
EDIT: I see Gatorguy has already made the same observation as me.