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I wrote a blog post on a related topic last week. Here is some more relevant data The folks at http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-total-2

by credo 16y ago

I wrote a blog post on a related topic last week. Here is some more relevant data The folks at http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-total-2-of-app-stores-1b/ http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-tot... say that only 13 Android apps have got more than 50,000 downloads. A greater number of iPhone apps have got more than a million downloads. This should give you a good indication of two things (a) which platform successful developers focus on and (b) how many Android users vote with their wallet to indicate that the Android market has good apps. Edit: It is interesting to see the downvotes canceling out some of the upvotes :) I understand that some people may not like these numbers, but the commenter/reply suggesting that the numbers are "misleading" (because money-making iPhone apps are older) is mistaken. Consider the fact that the iPhone Angry Birds app has got more than 4 million downloads in less than 4 months. A paid iPhone app in the #1 slot for a month can get more than a million downloads in that month. Now think about how many downloads a #1 or #10 paid Android app can get in one month.

sandGorgon 16y ago
has the Android market opened up paid apps outside the U.S. ?
- starnix17 16y ago
  The Market itself is open to lots of countries, but many of these countries don't have support for paid apps yet (only free) which is very frustrating.
  - buster 16y ago
    What's many? At least in germany it's open for paid apps for a year or more. Didn't think there are still countries.. that's frustrating indeed. At least there are other markets (slideme)
    - tomjen3 16y ago
      Australia, Denmark, Russia, etc. Actually I seem to remember that the only countries in Europe who are allowed to play are Germany, France and the UK. It is being frustrating because it could be fixed tomorrow - the issue is that Google is using its own payment system (google checkout) instead of a real payment system such as paypal. If you ask me, it borders on what Microsoft did with IE and netscape in the nineteens.
      - buster 16y ago
        Mhh, according to Wikipedia buying apps is allowed in a lot more countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Market
        tomjen3 16y ago
        Maybe, but as a sell that isn't going to do me any damn good.
what 16y ago
Isn't this kind of misleading? Haven't the iPhone apps been on the market longer and had more time to gain more downloads?
- catch23 16y ago
  50x less is kind of crazy though. There are nearly enough android devices out there, but you'll make 50x less money if you're an android developer. So an iPhone developer making $100,000 from Apple would only end up making around $2000 from Google... seems a bit scary to invest effort into a platform that won't return value!
dminor 16y ago
For those not likely destined for the top 10 and that don't have large investments to recoup, these top 10 statistics are fairly irrelevant. A survey among developers who ported their app to both platforms would be far more enlightening. For a company that spends a lot on development and marketing, and will likely have a top 10 app, those top 10 numbers may certainly mean that their Android investment won't pay off.
- sadiq 16y ago
  An interesting datapoint is this guy: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/caq8f/iama_developer_who_sells_the_same_app_both_in_the/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/caq8f/iama_developer_w... Who made the same app for the iPhone and for Android. His ratio was 3:1, which is roughly the ratio of handsets in the US iirc.
- credo 16y ago
  I'm not sure why you think the top 10 disparity between iPhone and Android is irrelevant and why that wouldn't have any bearing on the average app's revenue prospects. In any case, the TechFlash article says "Michael Schneider of HiveBrain Inc., a Seattle-based iPhone app developer who has dabbled in Android apps, said the volume of sales for Android apps has been about one-tenth the size of their iPhone counterparts." This ratio matches what I've heard from several other people (disclaimer: I know Michael and among other things, we have discussed these topics in the past)
metachris 16y ago
> The folks at http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-tot.. http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-tot.... say that only 13 Android apps have got more than 50,000 downloads It's important to note that this number counts only paid games. Is it really that few?
usaar333 16y ago
I'd love to see a comparison of ad-supported free applications. iPhone will surely win, but nowhere by that margin. Also, one of the points of the article is that Android allows for more varied apps to be developed. GOTO (as described in the article) cannot exist on the iPhone. Nor can Swype. Nor any of the the home screen replacements. Indeed about half of the app ideas I have are not possible to implement on non-jailbroken iPhones.
nrbafna 16y ago
Is direct comparisons of download numbers the correct measure? The iPhone has nearly three times as much users as of Android and a greater lure of larger returns.

by credo 16y ago

sandGorgon 16y ago

has the Android market opened up paid apps outside the U.S. ?

starnix17 16y ago
The Market itself is open to lots of countries, but many of these countries don't have support for paid apps yet (only free) which is very frustrating.
- buster 16y ago
  What's many? At least in germany it's open for paid apps for a year or more. Didn't think there are still countries.. that's frustrating indeed. At least there are other markets (slideme)
  - tomjen3 16y ago
    Australia, Denmark, Russia, etc. Actually I seem to remember that the only countries in Europe who are allowed to play are Germany, France and the UK. It is being frustrating because it could be fixed tomorrow - the issue is that Google is using its own payment system (google checkout) instead of a real payment system such as paypal. If you ask me, it borders on what Microsoft did with IE and netscape in the nineteens.
    - buster 16y ago
      Mhh, according to Wikipedia buying apps is allowed in a lot more countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Market
      - tomjen3 16y ago
        Maybe, but as a sell that isn't going to do me any damn good.

what 16y ago

Isn't this kind of misleading? Haven't the iPhone apps been on the market longer and had more time to gain more downloads?

catch23 16y ago
50x less is kind of crazy though. There are nearly enough android devices out there, but you'll make 50x less money if you're an android developer. So an iPhone developer making $100,000 from Apple would only end up making around $2000 from Google... seems a bit scary to invest effort into a platform that won't return value!

dminor 16y ago

For those not likely destined for the top 10 and that don't have large investments to recoup, these top 10 statistics are fairly irrelevant. A survey among developers who ported their app to both platforms would be far more enlightening. For a company that spends a lot on development and marketing, and will likely have a top 10 app, those top 10 numbers may certainly mean that their Android investment won't pay off.

sadiq 16y ago
An interesting datapoint is this guy: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/caq8f/iama_developer_who_sells_the_same_app_both_in_the/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/caq8f/iama_developer_w... Who made the same app for the iPhone and for Android. His ratio was 3:1, which is roughly the ratio of handsets in the US iirc.
credo 16y ago
I'm not sure why you think the top 10 disparity between iPhone and Android is irrelevant and why that wouldn't have any bearing on the average app's revenue prospects. In any case, the TechFlash article says "Michael Schneider of HiveBrain Inc., a Seattle-based iPhone app developer who has dabbled in Android apps, said the volume of sales for Android apps has been about one-tenth the size of their iPhone counterparts." This ratio matches what I've heard from several other people (disclaimer: I know Michael and among other things, we have discussed these topics in the past)

metachris 16y ago

> The folks at http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-tot.. http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-tot.... say that only 13 Android apps have got more than 50,000 downloads It's important to note that this number counts only paid games. Is it really that few?

usaar333 16y ago

I'd love to see a comparison of ad-supported free applications. iPhone will surely win, but nowhere by that margin. Also, one of the points of the article is that Android allows for more varied apps to be developed. GOTO (as described in the article) cannot exist on the iPhone. Nor can Swype. Nor any of the the home screen replacements. Indeed about half of the app ideas I have are not possible to implement on non-jailbroken iPhones.

nrbafna 16y ago

Is direct comparisons of download numbers the correct measure? The iPhone has nearly three times as much users as of Android and a greater lure of larger returns.