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>On the other hand, Sacconaghi said that Apple's iOS devices contribute about 50 percent to Google's mobile search revenue, which means Google might be too afra

>On the other hand, Sacconaghi said that Apple's iOS devices contribute about 50 percent to Google's mobile search revenue, which means Google might be too afraid to walk away from its licensing deal with Apple. 50%? Am I reading this right, that iOS makes up 50% of Google's mobile search revenue? IDC reports that Android made up 85% of the mobile OS market share in Q1-17, while iOS makes up 14.6%. How could iOS be contributing half of the mobile search revenue when Google's own OS is on most of the mobile devices in the world? [0]https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os

krisroadruck 9y ago
Perhaps apple users are significantly more likely to click on ads?
victor106 9y ago
Market Share does not represent Usage Share. It is a known fact that even though the market share of Android is more than iOS is used much more than Android and generate more quality earnings than Android. All app developers develop iOS first and make a disproportionate percentage of revenue on iOS than any other mobile platform
- intopieces 9y ago
  Can you describe what more quality earnings means? Do you have a source for the breakdown of particular earnings (i.e., is this simply ad-clickthrough, or is there some dimension I'm not aware of?) I find this very interesting, not that the earnings are so high on Apple, but that Google could be failing so miserably to earn mobile search revenue on their own platform. I feel like there's an accounting error somewhere.
  - df388dfsa8f9 9y ago
    Same effect is seen in browsers, it is not uncommon for Safari users to have 50-100% higher conversion than the rest. The device choice ends up capturing different demographics (i.e. people who buy iPhones have more money to spend). Some first-hand reports: http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-v... http://www.winterworks.de/bloo-kid-2-the-definitive-revenue-breakdown/ http://www.winterworks.de/bloo-kid-2-the-definitive-revenue-...
    - sah2ed 9y ago
      Exactly. iPhone owners in general have higher disposable income relative to Android owners. In fact, I was about to link to Monument Valley's numbers.
  - nrhk 9y ago
    Apple's a margin business, not market share. They might not capture the entire pie but their portion of it is a lot more willing to spend.
braythwayt 9y ago
That is an interesting question. I've also read about other counter-intuitive revenue statistics. Apple's share of hardware revenues is way higher than its share of unit sales. And I've read that for many app makers, their revenues on iOS is higher than their revenues on Android, despite there being a larger number of Android units in the market. If the latter claim is true, it could be that iOS users as a whole spend more money than Android users as a whole. That could filter through to Google in the form of iOS users being more inclined to click on higher-value ads. Note: The above is speculative, I recall reading these claims on Daring Fireball, but that is not evidence.
dvdhnt 9y ago
I don't have stats to give you a firm answer, but if I were going to research this subject, I'd consider the fact that Android devices dominate developing countries. Advertisers in those countries probably can't afford large marketing budgets so their value per view may be significantly lower. Additionally, I'd argue that they probably have less free time and less data/slower speeds making them less likely to spend time grinding out Google searches like Americans, Brits, etc. Again, not stating facts, just hypothesis.
bhnmmhmd 9y ago
> DC reports that Android made up 85% of the mobile OS market share in Q1-17, while iOS makes up 14.6%. Yes, but Android has targetted mostly under-developed countries (sorry if this term seems offensive) and ordinary people (as opposed to iOS which targets rich people). Consequently, many Android users don't have decent devices for internet surfing and even if they had, they don't have permanent access to cheap fast internet.
- mgiannopoulos 9y ago
  Or don't use their phone to search/buy stuff. Anecdote: both my parents in their 70s have Android phones (because they were cheaper). They make calls, use Facebook and take photos. They have no idea what Google is or how to buy stuff.
yardie 9y ago
I've traveled to many developing countries where mobile data is not free except if you use it through Facebook. So if you're in the cheap Android user demographic you could almost certainly not use Google outside of what comes preinstalled.
tyingq 9y ago
Comscore measures by traffic, and they have iOS as 44.6% of mobile share. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-reports-february-2017-us-smartphone-subscriber-market-share-300437639.html http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-reports-feb... That's not too far off 50 percent.
- johnsmith21006 9y ago
  Here is the latest traffic numbers. https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcounter-android-windows.png https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcou...
  - bdcravens 9y ago
    No, that's worldwide usage of operating systems, which includes desktops. Also, the article parent linked to was for US; your graphic includes third-world countries which are more likely to use Android, and very unlikely to spend money.
wcummings 9y ago
iOS users are more affluent/more valuable to advertisers.
ben174 9y ago
Possibly due to far fewer ad blockers on iOS devices compared to desktop and Android. Also, the demographic of iOS users might be more likely to buy things. Just speculating.
- celeritascelery 9y ago
  Google has banned ad blockers from its App Store, so I would say iOS actually has much higher ad block usage.
  - intopieces 9y ago
    No snark: I didnt realize that Google even banned apps from the Google Play Store. Is the ban on adblockers effective? I associate Android use with a free-for-all in terms of apps.
AndrewKemendo 9y ago
How could iOS be contributing half of the mobile search revenue when Google's own OS is on most of the mobile devices in the world? Because the users who buy things on mobile overwhelmingly use iPhones. All the money to be made is there. I spoke with Tencent a month ago and they said over half of their users (across wechat/QQ etc...) are on iOS. That was a surprise to me as I thought Android phones completely dominated the Chinese market.
- sah2ed 9y ago
  > That was a surprise to me as I thought Android phones completely dominated the Chinese market. Likely that Android does dominate the Chinese market like the rest of the world. I think a better way to view it is to segment the mobile device market into 3: high, middle and low end; Apple dominates the high-end market segment. iPhones are still largely considered a status symbol in China.
  - zwily 9y ago
    That doesn't explain why half of Tencent's users use iPhone. Some huge % of Chinese phones must have a Tencent app installed.
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      I'm sure for QQ that isn't true since those users are much more low end. WeChat maybe....but I still find it a bit of a stretch. Maybe they meant half of their revenue rather than market share?
- nl 9y ago
  Except Google is generally paid per click or per display (Doubleclick banners). It's possible iOS users use their phones more, or some variation on that.
  - whiddershins 9y ago
    It's more nuanced than that. The per click and per display prices are tied to user behavior.
arsa 9y ago
This report shows phones. There are many ipad's, and i'd bet that purchasing (or clicking ad links) on ipad is much easier than on iphone.
ashark 9y ago
Lots of Android devices are sold. The average time each user spends using their Android device(s), and those users' average affluence, is so incredibly low that they still only manage to make up 50% of Google's ad revenue on mobile. iOS users are way more likely to be (relatively) wealthy, and they tend to use their devices more (if you've suffered through using anything other than a top-end Android device from the last couple of OS versions, you can guess what one of several reasons for this may be).
- johnsmith21006 9y ago
  This is not true and easy to see with Internet usage. See how iOS is flat and Android keeps growing. https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcounter-android-windows.png https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcou...
  - bdcravens 9y ago
    You simply linked to a chart showing market share for mobile and desktop operating systems. None of that addresses the comment you were replying to, which speaks to behavior of those users.
genericpseudo 9y ago
This observation is the single most important thing you need to know if you work in consumer mobile. To first order, iPhone owners spend money. Android owners don't. This is because your average iPhone user cares more about what phone they're using and simply uses it more. This is a first-order approximation. The small percentage of people who actively choose Android do spend and do use their phones a lot, and by goodness are they vocal, but the more useful way of thinking about the market is not two-segment, it's three-segment: * Vast majority: don't care about their phone OS, won't pay for anything * Significant minority: want iPhones, will most probably spend money * Significant but even smaller minority: actively want Android, will buy premium Android phones (e.g. Nexus, high-end Samsung), will either spend money or, with roughly equal likelihood, jailbreak and pirate everything in sight. From this perspective iOS remains the most compelling mobile OS to target. Additionally, iOS users – on average - use apps more and for longer, though again that effect is small when you control for the kind of Android devices people go out of their way to choose.
- swiley 9y ago
  >To first order, iPhone owners spend money. Android owners don't. This is because your average iPhone user cares more about what phone they're using and simply uses it more. More like, is willing to spend $700 on a phone. The problem with android is that even the "high end" android phones (in the US anyway) are still just wrappers around the snapdragon 8xx SOCs. They're all exactly the same and feel almost as closed as the iphone.
  - genericpseudo 9y ago
    Turns out paying $700 is a pretty good proxy for "caring", though!
  - feld 9y ago
    Can you even get an iPhone for $700 anymore? When I got the 6S (not plus) with 128GB memory for myself and my wife they were $1100 each I think?
    - 9y ago

krisroadruck 9y ago

Perhaps apple users are significantly more likely to click on ads?

victor106 9y ago

Market Share does not represent Usage Share. It is a known fact that even though the market share of Android is more than iOS is used much more than Android and generate more quality earnings than Android. All app developers develop iOS first and make a disproportionate percentage of revenue on iOS than any other mobile platform

intopieces 9y ago
Can you describe what more quality earnings means? Do you have a source for the breakdown of particular earnings (i.e., is this simply ad-clickthrough, or is there some dimension I'm not aware of?) I find this very interesting, not that the earnings are so high on Apple, but that Google could be failing so miserably to earn mobile search revenue on their own platform. I feel like there's an accounting error somewhere.
- df388dfsa8f9 9y ago
  Same effect is seen in browsers, it is not uncommon for Safari users to have 50-100% higher conversion than the rest. The device choice ends up capturing different demographics (i.e. people who buy iPhones have more money to spend). Some first-hand reports: http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-valley-in-numbers http://blog.monumentvalleygame.com/blog/2015/1/15/monument-v... http://www.winterworks.de/bloo-kid-2-the-definitive-revenue-breakdown/ http://www.winterworks.de/bloo-kid-2-the-definitive-revenue-...
  - sah2ed 9y ago
    Exactly. iPhone owners in general have higher disposable income relative to Android owners. In fact, I was about to link to Monument Valley's numbers.
- nrhk 9y ago
  Apple's a margin business, not market share. They might not capture the entire pie but their portion of it is a lot more willing to spend.

braythwayt 9y ago

That is an interesting question. I've also read about other counter-intuitive revenue statistics. Apple's share of hardware revenues is way higher than its share of unit sales. And I've read that for many app makers, their revenues on iOS is higher than their revenues on Android, despite there being a larger number of Android units in the market. If the latter claim is true, it could be that iOS users as a whole spend more money than Android users as a whole. That could filter through to Google in the form of iOS users being more inclined to click on higher-value ads. Note: The above is speculative, I recall reading these claims on Daring Fireball, but that is not evidence.

dvdhnt 9y ago

I don't have stats to give you a firm answer, but if I were going to research this subject, I'd consider the fact that Android devices dominate developing countries. Advertisers in those countries probably can't afford large marketing budgets so their value per view may be significantly lower. Additionally, I'd argue that they probably have less free time and less data/slower speeds making them less likely to spend time grinding out Google searches like Americans, Brits, etc. Again, not stating facts, just hypothesis.

bhnmmhmd 9y ago

> DC reports that Android made up 85% of the mobile OS market share in Q1-17, while iOS makes up 14.6%. Yes, but Android has targetted mostly under-developed countries (sorry if this term seems offensive) and ordinary people (as opposed to iOS which targets rich people). Consequently, many Android users don't have decent devices for internet surfing and even if they had, they don't have permanent access to cheap fast internet.

mgiannopoulos 9y ago
Or don't use their phone to search/buy stuff. Anecdote: both my parents in their 70s have Android phones (because they were cheaper). They make calls, use Facebook and take photos. They have no idea what Google is or how to buy stuff.

yardie 9y ago

I've traveled to many developing countries where mobile data is not free except if you use it through Facebook. So if you're in the cheap Android user demographic you could almost certainly not use Google outside of what comes preinstalled.

tyingq 9y ago

Comscore measures by traffic, and they have iOS as 44.6% of mobile share. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-reports-february-2017-us-smartphone-subscriber-market-share-300437639.html http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-reports-feb... That's not too far off 50 percent.

johnsmith21006 9y ago
Here is the latest traffic numbers. https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcounter-android-windows.png https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcou...
- bdcravens 9y ago
  No, that's worldwide usage of operating systems, which includes desktops. Also, the article parent linked to was for US; your graphic includes third-world countries which are more likely to use Android, and very unlikely to spend money.

wcummings 9y ago

iOS users are more affluent/more valuable to advertisers.

ben174 9y ago

Possibly due to far fewer ad blockers on iOS devices compared to desktop and Android. Also, the demographic of iOS users might be more likely to buy things. Just speculating.

celeritascelery 9y ago
Google has banned ad blockers from its App Store, so I would say iOS actually has much higher ad block usage.
- intopieces 9y ago
  No snark: I didnt realize that Google even banned apps from the Google Play Store. Is the ban on adblockers effective? I associate Android use with a free-for-all in terms of apps.

AndrewKemendo 9y ago

How could iOS be contributing half of the mobile search revenue when Google's own OS is on most of the mobile devices in the world? Because the users who buy things on mobile overwhelmingly use iPhones. All the money to be made is there. I spoke with Tencent a month ago and they said over half of their users (across wechat/QQ etc...) are on iOS. That was a surprise to me as I thought Android phones completely dominated the Chinese market.

sah2ed 9y ago
> That was a surprise to me as I thought Android phones completely dominated the Chinese market. Likely that Android does dominate the Chinese market like the rest of the world. I think a better way to view it is to segment the mobile device market into 3: high, middle and low end; Apple dominates the high-end market segment. iPhones are still largely considered a status symbol in China.
- zwily 9y ago
  That doesn't explain why half of Tencent's users use iPhone. Some huge % of Chinese phones must have a Tencent app installed.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    I'm sure for QQ that isn't true since those users are much more low end. WeChat maybe....but I still find it a bit of a stretch. Maybe they meant half of their revenue rather than market share?
nl 9y ago
Except Google is generally paid per click or per display (Doubleclick banners). It's possible iOS users use their phones more, or some variation on that.
- whiddershins 9y ago
  It's more nuanced than that. The per click and per display prices are tied to user behavior.

arsa 9y ago

This report shows phones. There are many ipad's, and i'd bet that purchasing (or clicking ad links) on ipad is much easier than on iphone.

ashark 9y ago

Lots of Android devices are sold. The average time each user spends using their Android device(s), and those users' average affluence, is so incredibly low that they still only manage to make up 50% of Google's ad revenue on mobile. iOS users are way more likely to be (relatively) wealthy, and they tend to use their devices more (if you've suffered through using anything other than a top-end Android device from the last couple of OS versions, you can guess what one of several reasons for this may be).

johnsmith21006 9y ago
This is not true and easy to see with Internet usage. See how iOS is flat and Android keeps growing. https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcounter-android-windows.png https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/statcou...
- bdcravens 9y ago
  You simply linked to a chart showing market share for mobile and desktop operating systems. None of that addresses the comment you were replying to, which speaks to behavior of those users.

genericpseudo 9y ago

This observation is the single most important thing you need to know if you work in consumer mobile. To first order, iPhone owners spend money. Android owners don't. This is because your average iPhone user cares more about what phone they're using and simply uses it more. This is a first-order approximation. The small percentage of people who actively choose Android do spend and do use their phones a lot, and by goodness are they vocal, but the more useful way of thinking about the market is not two-segment, it's three-segment: * Vast majority: don't care about their phone OS, won't pay for anything * Significant minority: want iPhones, will most probably spend money * Significant but even smaller minority: actively want Android, will buy premium Android phones (e.g. Nexus, high-end Samsung), will either spend money or, with roughly equal likelihood, jailbreak and pirate everything in sight. From this perspective iOS remains the most compelling mobile OS to target. Additionally, iOS users – on average - use apps more and for longer, though again that effect is small when you control for the kind of Android devices people go out of their way to choose.

swiley 9y ago
>To first order, iPhone owners spend money. Android owners don't. This is because your average iPhone user cares more about what phone they're using and simply uses it more. More like, is willing to spend $700 on a phone. The problem with android is that even the "high end" android phones (in the US anyway) are still just wrappers around the snapdragon 8xx SOCs. They're all exactly the same and feel almost as closed as the iphone.
- genericpseudo 9y ago
  Turns out paying $700 is a pretty good proxy for "caring", though!
- feld 9y ago
  Can you even get an iPhone for $700 anymore? When I got the 6S (not plus) with 128GB memory for myself and my wife they were $1100 each I think?
  - 9y ago