By the end of 2013, Android had captured an impressive 81 percent of the global smartphone market share.But in terms of developer mindshare, Android still ranks slightly behind iOS; and for a good reason.
An average Android app makes 5 times less money per download than an iOS app. Even though Android has by far passed iOS in terms of global market share, the picture is not so clear-cut in terms of revenue. Despite Android’s dominant market share, for many app developers, iOS is still the biggest platform.
The most popular reason often repeated as the cause is related to user demographics. In every country of the world, iPhone is the top-end device, only affordable to the relatively well-off. Android, on the other hand, is available on a whole spectrum of devices from high to low end forms.
It would be logical to assume that the owner of a $600 high-end Android smartphone would spend more on apps than the owner of a $40 low-end device on average.
This notion seems to be backed up by data. According to App Annie, India already takes third place in all app downloads for Google Play, but it is nowhere to be found in the corresponding revenue chart. The same story for Brazil and Russia — lots of downloads, but almost no revenue for developers.
It sure seems that users in these countries either can’t afford or just do not want to pay for app content the same way that users in the US and Western Europe do.