iPhone & iPad Apps Generate Revenue, Google Play Delivers Downloads

According to quarterly results released by research firm Canalys, developers looking to generate revenues directly from people purchasing their apps should keep their eye on the iOS App Store, while developers looking to get access to more eyeballs for in-app advertising should look towards Google’s Play Store.

According to the firm’s App Interrogator research, Apple’s iOS App Store dominated the stores of rivals Windows Phone, Blackberry World and Android in terms of revenue generated, accounting for around 74% of all revenue recorded. Together, all four of these app stores tallied $2.2 billion in revenue.

 On the other hand Google’s Play Store generated over 51% of all application downloads, making it the perfect place for developers looking to monetize their applications. Typically these developers offer their apps free to users on the basis that more revenue would be generated by the app’s internal advertisements than with an upfront purchase. Together users of the four largest app stores downloaded 13.4 billion apps. No doubt, today’s move by Google to make the Google Play Store more user friendly, looks to continue this trend.

Windows Phone and Blackberry World continue to be a distant third in fourth with a Canalys Senior Analyst noting that, “BlackBerry and Microsoft particularly need to continue to proactively work to attract fresh, innovative content and services to their respective catalogs, and fill gaps in their inventories.”

Overall, the app market grew by 11% in Q1 2013, in relation to the final quarter of 2012 and shows little signs of stopping, according to the report. Canalys also says the largest growth is happening in smaller emerging markets such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia. That isn’t to say that there’s were all the growth is. Revenue and download numbers also grew heavily in places with their smartphone market is already mature like North America, which was up 8% in terms of revenue and 6% in terms of downloads. Western Europe saw an 8% increase in revenue and a 10% increase in number of downloads.

Adam Duam, Chief Analyst for Canalys also noted continued confidence in the mobile application market’s growth prospects for the near future saying: “This is a multi-billion-dollar growth market, with more and more consumers around the world now comfortable and confident in finding apps, downloading them and making in-app purchases, on a growing addressable base of smart phones and tablets.”