Android App market is growing at a phenomenal rate and while its too early to talk about monetization opportunities for apps in Android, it’s expected that given this rate, Android market will have more apps than Apple store by 2012.
- The number of apps available on the Android Market increased by approximately 127% since August 2010, while the Apple App Store grew at a relative rate of 44%.
- If each market continues to grow at the same rate, the Android Market will have more apps than the Apple App Store by mid-2012.
- Android Market developers typically release more apps than Apple App Store developers. On average the Android Market has 6.2 apps per developer and the Apple App Store has 4.8 apps per developer.
The Apple App Store attracted nearly 24k developers between August 2010 and February 2011, whereas the Android Market attracted just over 4k developers in the same time period
App Economy: The Android Market is Maturing with Growth in Paid Apps
- The Android Market’s prevalence of paid apps increased from 22% in August 2010 to 34% in February 2011, whereas the proportion of paid apps in the Apple App Store decreased slightly during the same period, going from 71% to 66%.
- Android Market price points have increased: the proportion of paid Android Market apps costing $0.99 or less decreased from 61% in August 2010 to 37% in February 2011.
- In terms of advertising within apps, the Google AdMob SDK is integrated into more free apps in both the Android Market and the Apple App Store than any other ad platform, though iAd is quickly gaining traction in the Apple App Store.
App Pricing
In the Android Market, prices have shifted upwards whereas in the Apple App Store, prices have remained relatively steady.
- More than 95% of paid apps in the Android Market cost less than $10, though the prevalence of apps priced greater than $10 has significantly increased during the past 6 months.
- While most Android Market apps are priced at $2.99 or less (73%), the $0.99 or less price point has seen a major decrease.
- The largest areas of growth in the Android Market are in apps priced between $1-$9.99, with both the $1-$2.99 and $3-$9.99 segments seeing significant growth.
Privacy @Apps
28% of free apps in the Android Market and 34% of free apps in the Apple App Store have the capability to access location. As expected, iOS Apps leads the race when it comes to accessing contact information (7.5% of free apps in the Android Market and 11% of free apps in the Apple App Store have the capability to access contacts). [Via/Report link]
By end of 2011, expect to see ‘The Third Ecosystem’ (i.e. Microkia or Noksoft, what’er you want to call it) start gaining mindshare, though monetization is still the most important piece for app developers and that’s where Apple has a huge leverage.
What’s your opinion?
Recommended Read: Explained: Google’s In-App vs. Apple’s In-App Subscription Policy | Mobile Internet Trends for 2011–SoLoMo [Social, Local & Mobile].
[Reproduced from Appnomy].
