6 ms·

I don't understand why Android continues to do so badly in comparison to iOS revenue numbers. As an Android user it's very disappointing. Bigger user base, but

by mevile 10y ago

I don't understand why Android continues to do so badly in comparison to iOS revenue numbers. As an Android user it's very disappointing. Bigger user base, but almost inconsequential when it comes to revenue. I'm surprised game developers support Android at all, I want the games that are on iOS for my phone but even I'm not sure it's worth it.

megablast 10y ago
Android users don't but apps. The entire Android echo system is setup around ads, and ads don't have the return of paying for an app.
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  I buy apps so what you're saying is BS.
habosa 10y ago
This is just my guess, but Android phones are on average much cheaper than iPhones. An iPhone costs $400-800, the only Android phones in that range are the very top of the line (Samsung S7, LG G5). Most of the huge Android user base is on inexpensive phones sold for $0-100 on contract. While you can't say for sure that Android users have less money, you can say they're spending less money on their phones which likely means they'll spend less on apps on that phone.
fasteddie 10y ago
This is partially because it is much, much, easier to pirate premium games on Android than it is on iOS. There are tons of 3rd party APK sites that are well trafficked. On F2P the platforms are much more equally split. Also, as Android has a higher footprint in Asia, making games that resonate with the Japanese/Korean audience is pretty important, and I'm not sure if Monument Valley qualifies.
- themartorana 10y ago
  This is 100% true. Advertising-based revenue models are far superior on Android due to piracy. I have a Google alert set up for our games, and updates hit APK sites less than 24 hours after hitting the play store.
  - jjeaff 10y ago
    That would be super frustrating. Is there just no recourse for sites like this? I assume they are hosted overseas, but do hosts not respond at all to complaints?
    - fasteddie 10y ago
      You'd be playing wack-a-mole so hard that your legal team would cost more than any gains. I had similar google alerts as the previous poster, and the sites would have every single popular game -- I don't think anyone fought it effectively, although I never did a true survey.
- lj3 10y ago
  > This is partially because it is much, much, easier to pirate premium games on Android than it is on iOS. While that's true, that's no different from PC games and they still make considerably more than android games do. There's definitely an X factor here.
  - Falcon9 10y ago
    I think the stigma with pirating a premium PC game is higher than "just" pirating an Android game. I know a lot of people who see mobile apps as disposable and so have no problem downloading them for free. A PC game like Doom carries a different weight to it that makes these same people at least consider the premium purchase. Not saying it makes any sense, but that's been my observation.
    - lj3 10y ago
cageface 10y ago
This is generally true but there are some exceptions. I've read multiple reports of devs saying that their revenue on Android matches or exceeds their revenue on iOS. I'm not sure what the differentiator is here but it does happen.
- wingerlang 10y ago
  Advertisements within apps, perhaps?
zuminator 10y ago
What you're saying may be true in general, but the numbers here are saying something different. MV just wasn't that popular on the Android platform to begin with compared with its popularity on iOS, about a million Android users next to almost 12 million iOS users. But the revenue per Google Play download is over 2 1/2 times that of the revenue per iOS download. So, each Android customer is punching far above their own weight.
- Throwaway23412 10y ago
  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't iDreamSky one of China's largest third-party Android app stores? You could say that each Google Play customer is punching above their weight, but GooglePlay+Amazon+AmazonUnderground+iDreamSky technically means that Android makes up 58% of the customers and only about 1/4 of the revenue compared to iOS.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
tdkl 10y ago
It could do better if Google would pull their head out of the ass and bring Play gift cards to countries where there are less credit cards used on Play because people in majority don't have one by default (East and Central Europe for example). And it's not just you can't buy one, you can't redeem one bought in a neighbour country as well, you have to either do it in the country or use a VPN, which is batshit insane to me. At the other hand iTunes cards are basically everywhere. Because that's how you fight piracy - making possible that people can buy your shit easier in the first place.
- billyhoffman 10y ago
  Do you honestly believe that the reason that MV is making 4x more from iOS devices than Android, is a lack of gift cards? If the success or failure of your software marketplace comes down to a lack of gift cards, you have some serious problems.
  - tdkl 10y ago
    It's not a sole reason, but let's start bringing more options to people to buy the apps/content in the first place. Same thing with movie/music/TV piracy: - either services aren't available, - they are but the selection is gimped in dragonland thanks to licenses, - and or again the only way to purchase subscription is with a CC.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - erikpukinskis 10y ago
    You're hearing "gift" and imagining this is about birthday parties. Think "prepaid cards" if you like. Imagine a country with more fraud and less consumer credit availability than yours.
  - st3v3r 10y ago
    Well, how else are those people supposed to purchase apps?
lgieron 10y ago
From what I'm observing, cheap Android phones are prevalent among users who just want a phone, but don't care about the whole apps thing (often even don't have data plan enabled).
GFischer 10y ago
Android users are way, way poorer than iOS users on average, and I suspect that willingness to purchase an app or game correlates very strongly with willingness to pay for an iPhone. The difference is even more skewed outside the US. http://www.comscore.com/lat/Insights/Blog/Android-vs-iOS-User-Differences-Every-Developer-Should-Know http://www.comscore.com/lat/Insights/Blog/Android-vs-iOS-Use... To be honest, I usually expect my Android apps to be free, and there's huge friction for paying for anything because Google doesn't support standard payment methods in my country (heck, in my continent, South America), they keep expecting international credit cards which almost no-one has.
- erikpukinskis 10y ago
  What are standard payment methods in your country?
  - GFischer 10y ago
    The most widely used in Uruguay are two payment companies called Abitab and RedPagos, which receive payments in-person. There's also an electronic transfer system managed by the ATM company called Banred. In Brazil, the most common system is "Boleto Bancario". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleto I understand that my country is tiny and no sane company would implement payment systems for us, but the use of Boleto would probably increase the Android app market by a lot, currently people use hacks like buying gift cards through the eBay equivalent with Boleto, but it obviously implies a lot of friction: http://adrenaline.uol.com.br/forum/threads/ha-algum-metodo-de-pagamento-de-apps-via-boleto.510002/ http://adrenaline.uol.com.br/forum/threads/ha-algum-metodo-d... There's an interesting lesson in that a local company called wOOw beat Groupon head-to-head in the deals market simply by enabling the popular payment methods, while Groupon was unable to adapt to the local conditions and kept asking for credit cards. Groupon ended up closing in Uruguay. http://www.elobservador.com.uy/el-mercado-los-descuentos-online-perdio-otro-competidor-n679741 http://www.elobservador.com.uy/el-mercado-los-descuentos-onl...
    - erikpukinskis 10y ago
st3v3r 10y ago
If you were to go into /r/Android and read the comments on any Monument Valley story, you'll find a lot of people who seem to suffer from a persecution complex. They claim they'll never support a developer who "treats them like second class citizens". They'll justify their piracy of everything by saying this.
therealasdf 10y ago
I think it's because the majority of Android users are in developing countries. They probably own these phones just to have access to the internet.

by mevile 10y ago

megablast 10y ago

Android users don't but apps. The entire Android echo system is setup around ads, and ads don't have the return of paying for an app.

bitmapbrother 10y ago
I buy apps so what you're saying is BS.

habosa 10y ago

This is just my guess, but Android phones are on average much cheaper than iPhones. An iPhone costs $400-800, the only Android phones in that range are the very top of the line (Samsung S7, LG G5). Most of the huge Android user base is on inexpensive phones sold for $0-100 on contract. While you can't say for sure that Android users have less money, you can say they're spending less money on their phones which likely means they'll spend less on apps on that phone.

fasteddie 10y ago

This is partially because it is much, much, easier to pirate premium games on Android than it is on iOS. There are tons of 3rd party APK sites that are well trafficked. On F2P the platforms are much more equally split. Also, as Android has a higher footprint in Asia, making games that resonate with the Japanese/Korean audience is pretty important, and I'm not sure if Monument Valley qualifies.

themartorana 10y ago
This is 100% true. Advertising-based revenue models are far superior on Android due to piracy. I have a Google alert set up for our games, and updates hit APK sites less than 24 hours after hitting the play store.
- jjeaff 10y ago
  That would be super frustrating. Is there just no recourse for sites like this? I assume they are hosted overseas, but do hosts not respond at all to complaints?
  - fasteddie 10y ago
    You'd be playing wack-a-mole so hard that your legal team would cost more than any gains. I had similar google alerts as the previous poster, and the sites would have every single popular game -- I don't think anyone fought it effectively, although I never did a true survey.
lj3 10y ago
> This is partially because it is much, much, easier to pirate premium games on Android than it is on iOS. While that's true, that's no different from PC games and they still make considerably more than android games do. There's definitely an X factor here.
- Falcon9 10y ago
  I think the stigma with pirating a premium PC game is higher than "just" pirating an Android game. I know a lot of people who see mobile apps as disposable and so have no problem downloading them for free. A PC game like Doom carries a different weight to it that makes these same people at least consider the premium purchase. Not saying it makes any sense, but that's been my observation.
  - lj3 10y ago

cageface 10y ago

This is generally true but there are some exceptions. I've read multiple reports of devs saying that their revenue on Android matches or exceeds their revenue on iOS. I'm not sure what the differentiator is here but it does happen.

wingerlang 10y ago
Advertisements within apps, perhaps?

zuminator 10y ago

What you're saying may be true in general, but the numbers here are saying something different. MV just wasn't that popular on the Android platform to begin with compared with its popularity on iOS, about a million Android users next to almost 12 million iOS users. But the revenue per Google Play download is over 2 1/2 times that of the revenue per iOS download. So, each Android customer is punching far above their own weight.

Throwaway23412 10y ago
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't iDreamSky one of China's largest third-party Android app stores? You could say that each Google Play customer is punching above their weight, but GooglePlay+Amazon+AmazonUnderground+iDreamSky technically means that Android makes up 58% of the customers and only about 1/4 of the revenue compared to iOS.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

tdkl 10y ago

It could do better if Google would pull their head out of the ass and bring Play gift cards to countries where there are less credit cards used on Play because people in majority don't have one by default (East and Central Europe for example). And it's not just you can't buy one, you can't redeem one bought in a neighbour country as well, you have to either do it in the country or use a VPN, which is batshit insane to me. At the other hand iTunes cards are basically everywhere. Because that's how you fight piracy - making possible that people can buy your shit easier in the first place.

billyhoffman 10y ago
Do you honestly believe that the reason that MV is making 4x more from iOS devices than Android, is a lack of gift cards? If the success or failure of your software marketplace comes down to a lack of gift cards, you have some serious problems.
- tdkl 10y ago
  It's not a sole reason, but let's start bringing more options to people to buy the apps/content in the first place. Same thing with movie/music/TV piracy: - either services aren't available, - they are but the selection is gimped in dragonland thanks to licenses, - and or again the only way to purchase subscription is with a CC.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- erikpukinskis 10y ago
  You're hearing "gift" and imagining this is about birthday parties. Think "prepaid cards" if you like. Imagine a country with more fraud and less consumer credit availability than yours.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  Well, how else are those people supposed to purchase apps?

lgieron 10y ago

From what I'm observing, cheap Android phones are prevalent among users who just want a phone, but don't care about the whole apps thing (often even don't have data plan enabled).

GFischer 10y ago

Android users are way, way poorer than iOS users on average, and I suspect that willingness to purchase an app or game correlates very strongly with willingness to pay for an iPhone. The difference is even more skewed outside the US. http://www.comscore.com/lat/Insights/Blog/Android-vs-iOS-User-Differences-Every-Developer-Should-Know http://www.comscore.com/lat/Insights/Blog/Android-vs-iOS-Use... To be honest, I usually expect my Android apps to be free, and there's huge friction for paying for anything because Google doesn't support standard payment methods in my country (heck, in my continent, South America), they keep expecting international credit cards which almost no-one has.

erikpukinskis 10y ago
What are standard payment methods in your country?
- GFischer 10y ago
  The most widely used in Uruguay are two payment companies called Abitab and RedPagos, which receive payments in-person. There's also an electronic transfer system managed by the ATM company called Banred. In Brazil, the most common system is "Boleto Bancario". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boleto I understand that my country is tiny and no sane company would implement payment systems for us, but the use of Boleto would probably increase the Android app market by a lot, currently people use hacks like buying gift cards through the eBay equivalent with Boleto, but it obviously implies a lot of friction: http://adrenaline.uol.com.br/forum/threads/ha-algum-metodo-de-pagamento-de-apps-via-boleto.510002/ http://adrenaline.uol.com.br/forum/threads/ha-algum-metodo-d... There's an interesting lesson in that a local company called wOOw beat Groupon head-to-head in the deals market simply by enabling the popular payment methods, while Groupon was unable to adapt to the local conditions and kept asking for credit cards. Groupon ended up closing in Uruguay. http://www.elobservador.com.uy/el-mercado-los-descuentos-online-perdio-otro-competidor-n679741 http://www.elobservador.com.uy/el-mercado-los-descuentos-onl...
  - erikpukinskis 10y ago

st3v3r 10y ago

If you were to go into /r/Android and read the comments on any Monument Valley story, you'll find a lot of people who seem to suffer from a persecution complex. They claim they'll never support a developer who "treats them like second class citizens". They'll justify their piracy of everything by saying this.

therealasdf 10y ago

I think it's because the majority of Android users are in developing countries. They probably own these phones just to have access to the internet.