Google Play revenue up 311%, App Store still leads
updated 07:44 am EST, Fri November 30, 2012
Google Play revenue up sharply, Apple generates 4 times as much
Google Play sees strong revenue growth, 311 percent higher than last year according to a new study by App Annie Intelligence. By comparison, Apple’s iTunes App Store revenue made four times as much in revenue over the same period. However, while Apple retains a strong lead in app monetization, revenue was up only 12.9 percent according to the App Annie study, although Apple disputes those figures.
Apple rejects App Annie’s figures, suggesting that App Store revenue is up substantially over previous years. In comments made to VentureBeat, an Apple spokesperson pointed to its published revenue figures for the App Store. Across 2008 to 2011, Apple sold $5.7 billion in apps. Between January 24 and and October 24, the Cupertino giant sold over $3.6 billion in apps. In fact, Apple suggests that its growth has been similarly stellar at over 200 percent for the year.
While Apple’s public sales data puts a question mark on the validity of App Annie’s study, there were some interesting figures the App Annie study presented. The US leads the charge when it comes to App Store revenue, generating 33 percent of Apple’s revenue. However, Japan appears to have a larger appetite for Android apps, generating 29 percent Google Play app revenue, although the US is close behind at 26 percent.
Either way, both stores are generating substantial revenue for developers, with Android increasing its appeal as it becomes the dominant platform across the globe. However, Apple remains well in front when it comes to generating profit from its hardware generating over $41 billion in profit over the past 12 months. According to Statista, this is more profit than Google, Microsoft, eBay, Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon, which when combined, amounts to only $34.4 billion. [via The Next Web]
