App Revenue Wars: Android to Top iOS for First Time
In the mobile app revenue wars, it looks like Android could overtake Apple iOS this year for the first time. This news comes from a new App Annie (via TechCrunch) survey being released today, March 29.
The firm finds that when app revenue from Google Play and third-party Android app stores are combined, they best revenue from the Apple App Store. In a matchup between only Google Play and the App Store, however, Cupertino’s lead remains. That lead should continue until at least 2021.
As TechCrunch explains:
The iOS App Store will account for a large chunk of that spend, as it’s expected to generate over $60 billion in 2021. Google Play will generate $42 billion, and third-party stores, $36 billion.
Those third-party stores – which include the Android app marketplaces offers by Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi, Huawei, and others – accounted for $10 billion in revenue last year, and will grow to $20 billion in 2017, the report estimates.
App Annie says the market for Android apps continues to grow thanks to mobile adoption in emerging markets, including Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia.
In 2016, 75 percent of all app store revenue came from five developed nations, including China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. That number is expected to grow to 85 present by 2021.
Last October, China overtook the U.S. as the top market for iOS apps. It was the first change at the top since 2010.
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