iOS developers earn more than Android developers

An interesting report has come to light that claims iOS developers as a whole have earned more revenue than their Android counterparts… A lot more. Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, gathered data from Apple’s public announcements and AndroLib, an Android application discovery tool, and used that information to estimate just how much money each application store was earning.

Since Apple’s App Store launched in July 2008, it’s taken in gross revenues of $4.9 billion. What’s more, $3.5 billion of that was paid directly to developers. On the other hand, Android App Marketplace grossed only $341 million since its inception in February of 2009. Of that, a comparatively small $239 million went to the developers behind the apps.

Such a massive gap between the revenue of the two stores seems a bit surprising, especially due to recent studies reporting Android’s growth is surpassing that of iOS. However, Munster explains that this disparity will likely continue for at least the next few of years because only 1.3 percent of Android applications are bought, while iOS boasts a 13.5 percent buy-rate.

What are your thoughts on this? Are iOS users just more willing to pay for apps, or is there a real difference between iOS and Android apps that warrants the extra dough being spent? Comment below or let me know on twitter!

 

Via: eWEEK Europe

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Here is the answer from my own personal experience. The iOS isn't very customizable, recently I wanted to set an alarm with a song from my library, you can't do that with the native "Clock" app, so I had to buy a $.99 app for it. That's just one example but I think you get the point, because of the lack of customization of the iOS, users are somewhat forced to buy apps to accomplish tasks that should be native to iOS. -Note; I have spent months upon months hacking Android based phones, I purchased an iPhone because I am a phone phreak, I don't discriminate.

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iOS apps are better looking, stable, and cheap. Keep your ads android. Quality over quantity. Btw people apple give refunds if not satisfied. Have fun with a unstable fragmented Android and shitty battery life and cheap plastic thing in your hand called a phone.

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I guess these days it's more of a priority to make money than to have satisfied customers. Good for apple/devs, bad for us. I'm not against them making money, just let us test drive before we purchase.

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Im satisfied with all my apps from the app store. I had an android phone b4 and the apps crashed, slowed, and suck the life out of my battery. My iPhone just works. That's something android can never achieve.

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Most of the apps on Android are cheaper than iOS, thats why. Angry Birds is a good example. Angry Birds on iOS is $1.99 I think and it is free on Android.

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All the angry birds games on android are free. Seasons, rio, and regular. You'd be surprised how many apps that are free or cheaper on android that are paid on iOS. I'm not an android fanatic. I'm on a 4s now but previously had a few android phones two and a half years before this iPhone. The app store is my biggest dislike of the iPhone experience. The phone is great. The service isn't bad, but the app store is bad. The arguement of better quality apps with ios... Wouldn't you guys think it would be pretty sweet if there were more free, trial, lite apps in the app store? Wouldn't it be easier on your wallet if you could return an app within 15 minutes of when you bought it for whatever reason, no questions asked? Wouldn't it be better if more developers for ios would actually reply to your emails? Besides obviously waiting for a jailbreak, to me, the iPhone experience would be just about perfect if they ran the app store like the android market. One last thing about the market vs the app store. The market immediately charges your card and sends you a receipt email when you buy something. Most of the time you will get the receipt before the download finishes. If you return it within fifteen minutes of buying it, you get an email showing your refund and telling you your card will be reimbursed in a few days. The app store waits sometimes a few days then totals up everything, charges the card, then sends you a receipt. For me, it's more convenient for me to get charged immediately so I can keep a more up to date total of how much is used on the card and when I need to put more money into that account. One time I got a bill for forty bucks from the app store and was caught off guard. Good thing I had enough to cover it. What happens if there's not enough on the card to cover your purchases? The market just rejects your purchase if you don't have enough to cover whatever you're buying.

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There are many junk/useless apps on Android, much more than IOS. IOS apps are better quality, but Android has greater potential.

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It's not that are they willing, it's kinda forced on them. Android has much more free and trial apps than iPhone. With apple, the percentage of paid apps that have a lite version to try before you buy is very small. There's no refunds at the app store. There's a 15 minute period in which you can get a refund with android. I've wasted so much money with apps that are crap, don't work, don't fit what I'm looking for. Yes I read reviews first. The apple apps also tend to nickel and dime you to death. Sometimes even when you buy a program, there's other things that you can buy to unlock with the program. Tapatalk is a perfect example. When you buy it with android, that's what you get, a fully functional app. Same app with apple, if you want to change the theme colors, they charge you for that. I've noticed programs are more expensive with apple. Yeah there's more apps with apple but quantity does not equal quality. I've noticed developers seem friendlier and more responsive with apps and questions or suggestions with android. So yeah, apple developers do make more money because there's no refunds, prices seem sometimes higher, you can charge for features, and there isn't a lot of lite/trial versions available.

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The truth is that the quality of apps on ios is far better then android. That's not to say android doesn't have good apps or developers. That's the truth though in my opinion. I use both and like both but Ios is just better.

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2 reasons: 1. Android apps have adds in them.  2. Android attracts open source devs, who for make free apps and leave a optional donation.

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Apple apps have ads too and sometimes even the paid apps have ads.

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Apple has better apps. I have had an android but I deleted more apps than I kept. But this is only my opinion. I have my 4S and yes, I spend a heck of a lot more than I ever did with my Evo. Again this is my opinion and my apples to androids based on my experience.

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Maybe because Apple checks them for Virus infections and when submitted they are well thought out and programs take longer to make when done correctly. I don't own either of them right now, so just going by what I read on here. Still deciding which OS to buy.

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This isn't completely true. Apple has let some things slip through their fingers and posted in the store. When it came out later that it was a shady app or one that was outright bad, they yanked it. There was a developer recently that found a bug with ios and nobody would listen to him. He wrote an app and included the exploit and submitted it and it made it to the store. The dev then made it public of this exploit and that apple accepted the app. As soon as apple found out they yanked the program and revoked his developer status and banned him.

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Same scenario as Walmart vs. Nordstroms.  Better quality costs more.  Needless to say the employees at Nordstroms make more than the employees at Walmart (ghetto).

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That's an oxymoron. There is no such thing as better quality with made in china.

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And here comes another bigger moron. Look at your TV and all your other gadgets. What an ignorant guy.

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I think it has to do with the fact that Android is just cheaper. Apple is money hungry and will get every little penny out of you they can. With Android, they are more financially helpful to consumers. Android has many more free apps where as Apple requires you buy all their apps.

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yes i agree with that, apple really seems to be out for all of the money, not just on phones but macs too are overpriced. but i think why there isnt as much revinue for android is that its alot easier for people to get the paid apps for free. on ios you need to jailbreak and install installous to get the apps free. on android though no need to root or anything. just download of a site like 4shared or somewhere else and install.

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