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The share of phones sold in the quarter is of most interest to investors. The share of installed base is more interesting to developers. One major difference

The share of phones sold in the quarter is of most interest to investors. The share of installed base is more interesting to developers. One major difference between the two that is often overlooked is that if someone upgrades their old phone and stops using the old one, it counts toward the former, but not toward the latter. Developers only really care about new users, and users who are switching platforms.

cremnob 14y ago
I'd like to know from some developers if their apps are monetizing better on Android with the larger install base than it is on iOS.
- rednukleus 14y ago
  From what I've heard it's about even now, because iOS users tend to buy a larger number of apps at a higher average cost.
  - mtgx 14y ago
    But probably not for long, since Android is growing at 5x the pace of the iPhone globally, and about 3x the pace of iOS in total.
    - pyre 14y ago
      Global growth probably doesn't matter as much if your app isn't hasn't been localized to all of those places. For example, growth of Android in a country where most people don't speak English isn't going to do much for an app written for an English audience.
    - fbuilesv 14y ago
      If Android's growth is X times the iPhone's growth, and Android had a bigger "market share" a year ago (according to the article's chart), shouldn't iPhone's share be lower than Android's?
- clarky07 14y ago
  I have some apps doing better on Android, and some that do better on iPhone. Overall, iPhone does much better, but Android is gaining. Sometimes there is a bit of luck involved, and sometimes, the competition in a certain niche is significantly different between the 2 stores.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
"The share of phones sold in the quarter is of most interest to investors." Actually, not exactly. Let's say Apple sold 30% of all smartphones in a quarter. Now, from an investor standpoint that may seem pretty bad. However, Apple has a much higher profit margin, so what's actually relevant to investors and shareholders from a strict, short-term ROI basis is the share of the total revenue and the share of the total profit. As it turns out, Apple's share of the smartphone market's revenue is around 80%, so even if they dipped down to 30% of all smartphone handsets sold they would still have about half of the revenue.

cremnob 14y ago

I'd like to know from some developers if their apps are monetizing better on Android with the larger install base than it is on iOS.

rednukleus 14y ago
From what I've heard it's about even now, because iOS users tend to buy a larger number of apps at a higher average cost.
- mtgx 14y ago
  But probably not for long, since Android is growing at 5x the pace of the iPhone globally, and about 3x the pace of iOS in total.
  - pyre 14y ago
    Global growth probably doesn't matter as much if your app isn't hasn't been localized to all of those places. For example, growth of Android in a country where most people don't speak English isn't going to do much for an app written for an English audience.
  - fbuilesv 14y ago
    If Android's growth is X times the iPhone's growth, and Android had a bigger "market share" a year ago (according to the article's chart), shouldn't iPhone's share be lower than Android's?
clarky07 14y ago
I have some apps doing better on Android, and some that do better on iPhone. Overall, iPhone does much better, but Android is gaining. Sometimes there is a bit of luck involved, and sometimes, the competition in a certain niche is significantly different between the 2 stores.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

"The share of phones sold in the quarter is of most interest to investors." Actually, not exactly. Let's say Apple sold 30% of all smartphones in a quarter. Now, from an investor standpoint that may seem pretty bad. However, Apple has a much higher profit margin, so what's actually relevant to investors and shareholders from a strict, short-term ROI basis is the share of the total revenue and the share of the total profit. As it turns out, Apple's share of the smartphone market's revenue is around 80%, so even if they dipped down to 30% of all smartphone handsets sold they would still have about half of the revenue.