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Since the debut of the iPhone in 2007, apps have caught on like wildfire. Just this month Apple announced that it had hit 25 billion downloads with more than 550,000 apps, and in December of 2011, Google announced that its 400,000 apps had been downloaded 10 billion times.
With its head start, Apple has always been in the lead as far as apps go, so it should come as no surprise that Apple’s App Store generates the most revenue for developers.
This month, Flurry Analytics examined how app developers generate revenue across each of the major app stores by taking a look at top-ranked apps that are available on iOS, Amazon, and Android. For the study, Flurry measured revenue from each app store over a 45-day period, from mid-January to the end of February 2012.
Because Apple’s App Store is the most profitable, it was set at 100 percent revenue, and then compared to the revenue generated by Android and Amazon (in terms of revenue generated per active user). Using this model, Amazon’s Appstore generates 89 percent of the revenue of the Apple App Store, and Google Play generates 23 percent.
Essentially, for every dollar that Apple earns in its App Store, Amazon earns $0.89 and Google earns $0.23. Impressively, after just a few months, Amazon’s Appstore is generating three times the amount of revenue of Google Play, meaning its decision to run its own proprietary app store was a smart move.
To put it in perspective, Apple currently runs the highest revenue-per-square foot generating retail store on the planet, and that’s not even counting the rest of iTunes. Amazon is right behind Apple, with its one-click purchase and complete efficiency, but poor Google’s strength is in online searching and advertising – running a store is not the Mountain View-based company’s strong suit.
Generating dollars is an important factor for any app developer, and according to the results of the study, Flurry is expecting developers to continue to flock towards iOS and Amazon.
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