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While I entirely agree with your lead in, your last bit is very "where the puck was" thinking. Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the A

While I entirely agree with your lead in, your last bit is very "where the puck was" thinking. Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the App Store, by common metrics. One year ago it was 1/4. The most recent stat is 1/2 -- still months old. Do you see where this is going? The #1 source of revenue for many games and other media on the App Store is via gifted iTunes cards. This is a mechanism that is only now finding its way to Android.

jcampbell1 13y ago
I'd also add that Apple had a head start on doing payments in many countries. Google is catching up in this respect as well. If Google were to promote paid apps a bit more, we could see developer revenue parity a year or so. It is also a bit comical that iTunes Connect is down today.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
speeder 13y ago
Care to elaborate on the iTunes cards thing?? It is not just a 50 USD card (or other similar values) that people buy and gift around? What this has to do with games?
- ryderm 13y ago
  I rarely spend money on the app store, but if I get a card I'll buy many more apps and games than I otherwise would have.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- CodeCube 13y ago
  Kids don't have credit cards connected to their iTunes account, and thus receive iTunes gift cards for music, which they turn around and use for apps, IAPs for games, etc. I don't have any source for that, or even necessarily believe it (I don't disbelieve it either) ... I'm just pointing out what OP meant by that comment.
- corresation 13y ago
  iTunes cards are a hugely popular gift for children / teenagers / college kids, quickly exchanged for fart apps and in app smurfberries. The nascent Google simile of this is still minuscule in comparison, making gifting in the Android market a much less pleasant affair. I would gather that the KitKat promotion is partly to help spread awareness of Play cards. As a second effect, people don't think of things like iTunes cards as real money. Give someone $50 on an iTunes cards and, I suspect, it will see much less discretion than a $50 bill.
  - speeder 13y ago
    I see... I was wondering about it... Gift cards do not exist on my country, neither on my target markets, thus why I was kinda confused about it!
chasing 13y ago
"Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the App Store, by common metrics. One year ago it was 1/4. The most recent stat is 1/2 -- still months old. Do you see where this is going?" Sure: I see that, if I'm releasing an app this year, I should target iOS first because Android is a distant second. (And can I say that I continue to hate the "puck" quote and, while it was a mildly clever over-generalization when Jobs used it, nowadays it seems mostly to be used as a kind of pompous way to say nothing useful whatsoever. Which is to say: In a few years everyone's going to be freakin' tired of that quote and so continuing whip it out is very "where the puck was.")
- corresation 13y ago
  Fascinating commentary about the "puck" quote, which existed decades before Jobs ever uttered it (did he? I know it as a quote that Gretzky's father told #99. Even that is unnecessary attribution, as it is fundamental training that every kid learns about hockey, and the wisdom is as old as the sport). The point of it, your personal hang-ups about it notwithstanding, is obvious: When a market is changing quickly, if you're undertaking a project that is going to take time -- which pretty much all mobile projects do -- you target where the market will be when you hit it, not where it was last year, or even right now. if I'm releasing an app this year, I should target iOS first because Android is a distant second Personally I target both "first", because the tools and methods to do so are simple and effective. However if you are somehow making Absolutely Median Software, then sure. Reality tends to be dramatically more nuanced, and such a blanket statement is almost certainly naive nonsense.
  - chasing 13y ago
    "Reality tends to be dramatically more nuanced, and such a blanket statement is almost certainly naive nonsense." Indeed, which is why I dislike the "puck" bromide, regardless of who popularized it.
  - hershel 13y ago
    >> Personally I target both "first", because the tools and methods to do so are simple and effective. I thought cross-platform development creates less quality apps. Could you please share what tools and methods are you talking about?
chatmasta 13y ago
"Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the App Store, by common metrics. One year ago it was 1/4. The most recent stat is 1/2 -- still months old. Do you see where this is going?" Yes, the Play Store revenue may be gaining on iTunes revenue. -- but per-app revenue in The Play Store has not necessarily grown. Revenue growth indicates nothing without the number of apps on each platform. Since the Play Store has more apps than iTunes, we cannot reliably correlate an increasing revenue (and a decreasing revenue differential) with increasing per-app revenue. In fact, per-developer revenue represents more useful data than per-app revenue. Since the developer (firm or individual) pays the cost of residing on the platform, he also recoups the revenue. He can decide to reinvest revenue in more apps. Therefore we should not exclude developers with multiple apps from our model. So we use per-developer revenue instead of per-app revenue. What is the per-developer revenue of The Play Store and iTunes?
- corresation 13y ago
  The Play store has more apps, so the per-app revenue has not necessarily grown The overwhelming majority of apps on both platforms are free. Among what I could charitably call "pay-worthy" apps, my personal impression is that there are probably a magnitude more on the iOS platform. Indeed, this submission seems to talk to that, pointing out that there is more of an opening for quality apps on Android. I've never respected any number of apps metric because they are overwhelmingly chaff.
  - hobs 13y ago
    I salute you, because those metrics are garbage. Also, that's the point that I hearkened to the most as well, the screenshots of those apps hit home all my kind of janky android apps that work great and I love... but could easily be beaten by a bit of concerted effort. I know there are a lot of arguments AGAINST the play store, but this is quite real and imo quite valid.
- bilbo0s 13y ago
  Gotta agree. Developers are motivated by per-DEVELOPER revenue... not per-APP STORE revenue. It's just crass selfishness... but there it is.
aufreak3 13y ago
Can you please clarify with some references where you got that from .. and whether that trend you mention is not because the revenues on iOS are also going down?

jcampbell1 13y ago

I'd also add that Apple had a head start on doing payments in many countries. Google is catching up in this respect as well. If Google were to promote paid apps a bit more, we could see developer revenue parity a year or so. It is also a bit comical that iTunes Connect is down today.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

speeder 13y ago

Care to elaborate on the iTunes cards thing?? It is not just a 50 USD card (or other similar values) that people buy and gift around? What this has to do with games?

ryderm 13y ago
I rarely spend money on the app store, but if I get a card I'll buy many more apps and games than I otherwise would have.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
CodeCube 13y ago
Kids don't have credit cards connected to their iTunes account, and thus receive iTunes gift cards for music, which they turn around and use for apps, IAPs for games, etc. I don't have any source for that, or even necessarily believe it (I don't disbelieve it either) ... I'm just pointing out what OP meant by that comment.
corresation 13y ago
iTunes cards are a hugely popular gift for children / teenagers / college kids, quickly exchanged for fart apps and in app smurfberries. The nascent Google simile of this is still minuscule in comparison, making gifting in the Android market a much less pleasant affair. I would gather that the KitKat promotion is partly to help spread awareness of Play cards. As a second effect, people don't think of things like iTunes cards as real money. Give someone $50 on an iTunes cards and, I suspect, it will see much less discretion than a $50 bill.
- speeder 13y ago
  I see... I was wondering about it... Gift cards do not exist on my country, neither on my target markets, thus why I was kinda confused about it!

chasing 13y ago

"Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the App Store, by common metrics. One year ago it was 1/4. The most recent stat is 1/2 -- still months old. Do you see where this is going?" Sure: I see that, if I'm releasing an app this year, I should target iOS first because Android is a distant second. (And can I say that I continue to hate the "puck" quote and, while it was a mildly clever over-generalization when Jobs used it, nowadays it seems mostly to be used as a kind of pompous way to say nothing useful whatsoever. Which is to say: In a few years everyone's going to be freakin' tired of that quote and so continuing whip it out is very "where the puck was.")

corresation 13y ago
Fascinating commentary about the "puck" quote, which existed decades before Jobs ever uttered it (did he? I know it as a quote that Gretzky's father told #99. Even that is unnecessary attribution, as it is fundamental training that every kid learns about hockey, and the wisdom is as old as the sport). The point of it, your personal hang-ups about it notwithstanding, is obvious: When a market is changing quickly, if you're undertaking a project that is going to take time -- which pretty much all mobile projects do -- you target where the market will be when you hit it, not where it was last year, or even right now. if I'm releasing an app this year, I should target iOS first because Android is a distant second Personally I target both "first", because the tools and methods to do so are simple and effective. However if you are somehow making Absolutely Median Software, then sure. Reality tends to be dramatically more nuanced, and such a blanket statement is almost certainly naive nonsense.
- chasing 13y ago
  "Reality tends to be dramatically more nuanced, and such a blanket statement is almost certainly naive nonsense." Indeed, which is why I dislike the "puck" bromide, regardless of who popularized it.
- hershel 13y ago
  >> Personally I target both "first", because the tools and methods to do so are simple and effective. I thought cross-platform development creates less quality apps. Could you please share what tools and methods are you talking about?

chatmasta 13y ago

"Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the App Store, by common metrics. One year ago it was 1/4. The most recent stat is 1/2 -- still months old. Do you see where this is going?" Yes, the Play Store revenue may be gaining on iTunes revenue. -- but per-app revenue in The Play Store has not necessarily grown. Revenue growth indicates nothing without the number of apps on each platform. Since the Play Store has more apps than iTunes, we cannot reliably correlate an increasing revenue (and a decreasing revenue differential) with increasing per-app revenue. In fact, per-developer revenue represents more useful data than per-app revenue. Since the developer (firm or individual) pays the cost of residing on the platform, he also recoups the revenue. He can decide to reinvest revenue in more apps. Therefore we should not exclude developers with multiple apps from our model. So we use per-developer revenue instead of per-app revenue. What is the per-developer revenue of The Play Store and iTunes?

corresation 13y ago
The Play store has more apps, so the per-app revenue has not necessarily grown The overwhelming majority of apps on both platforms are free. Among what I could charitably call "pay-worthy" apps, my personal impression is that there are probably a magnitude more on the iOS platform. Indeed, this submission seems to talk to that, pointing out that there is more of an opening for quality apps on Android. I've never respected any number of apps metric because they are overwhelmingly chaff.
- hobs 13y ago
  I salute you, because those metrics are garbage. Also, that's the point that I hearkened to the most as well, the screenshots of those apps hit home all my kind of janky android apps that work great and I love... but could easily be beaten by a bit of concerted effort. I know there are a lot of arguments AGAINST the play store, but this is quite real and imo quite valid.
bilbo0s 13y ago
Gotta agree. Developers are motivated by per-DEVELOPER revenue... not per-APP STORE revenue. It's just crass selfishness... but there it is.

aufreak3 13y ago

Can you please clarify with some references where you got that from .. and whether that trend you mention is not because the revenues on iOS are also going down?