Google Play Store downloads surpass Apple App Store for the first time
Google's Play Store has exceeded the Apple App Store in app downloads by 10% in Q2 2013, but Apple still leads the way when it comes to generating revenue.
Robert Triggs
According to research conducted by App Annie Index, Google Play exceeded the Apple App Store for quarterly app downloads for the first time. But we're not talking tiny margins here, the Google Play store managed to surpass the Apple App Store's downloads by 10 percent in the second quarter of 2013.
It looks like the Play Store picked up the pace a little quicker than other analysts expected, but it was seemingly inevitable that Google Play would overtake Apple in regard to app downloads, simply because of Android's larger install base. However, Apple still managed to make a lot more money from its smaller portion of downloads, the company generated 2.3 times as much revenue as Google's storefront over the same quarter.
This difference in revenue is no-doubt due to the trends identified by other research firms, which noted that Google customers prefer cheaper apps than their Apple counterparts.
App Annie's latest statistics also reveal some interesting information about the largest markets for each of the two smartphone rivals.
The US retained its top spot with both storefronts as the largest market for downloads. This isn't particularly surprising considering the size of the US market, but it's a little more interesting to note that Apple's App Store received its largest number of downloads from more economically developed countries, like the United Kingdom and Japan, whilst the Play Store seemed to fair much better in emerging economies.
We've been talking quite a bit about how emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil could become increasingly important markets as the major western markets appear to be saturating, and it's Android which seems to be performing slightly better in these markets. It will be interesting to see if these countries continue to swing future downloads, and maybe revenues, in Google's favor.
If you'd like to take a closer look at store revenue statistics, and some other data, head on over to the original report.
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