The
battle to gain supremacy has heated up the Mobile app market. It has
now boiled down to the two lasting heavyweights. Android vs Ios. So
now as a developer who would you vie for. Here are some figures that
can help you in gouging the battle for supremacy. As of 2014, Gartner
pegs the number of Android devices shipped at 1 billion. This on top
of the 1.9 billion devices currently in service. So we are now
talking about 3 billion active devices and a world of infinite
opportunities.
In
comparison, Gartner suggests that iOS shipped not more than 700
million devices and earlier 200 million have become deactivated. So
Apple now has around 500 million active devices. So, will this mean
Android overwhelmingly surpasses Apple. In terms of devices,
certainly. But the real business lies in the app market. So where do
they stand in the field of app revenue.
Figures
matter – and iPhone
App Developers Know That
Despite,
3 billion devices, Android have roughly 1.2 million apps in its Play
Store the same as that of Apple. Expansion of the number of devices
would not automatically mean the number of your apps increase too.
Drilling further down, Android apps have been downloaded almost 80
billion times as of June 2014. While the number for Apple downloads
stands at 75 billion times during that same period.
For
a developer, it hence, becomes a dilemma of sorts. Android has the
market and Apple the revenue. Citigroup estimates that Apple rakes in
$5.1 million everyday from its store while Android does not do more
than $1.1 million. So what makes Apple such a humongous revenue
earner inspite not being in reckoning as far as numbers of shipped
devices go?
Apple’s
marketing blitz and what iPhone App Developers Need to Learn
The
answer lies in the carefully crafted marketing that Apple is so
famous for and of course extreme quality control. Apple apps are
vetted before they are allowed to enter the store. Moreover, the
Apple community is a closed door and knit community. Hence, it is
tightly controlled. Developers are more likely to make more profit
here than in Android primarily because Apple’s strength lies in
marketing.
Android vs Apple: The Debate for iPhone App Developers
Apple
has paid out almost $25 billion to developers over the past 6 years
and have cornered $10 billion themselves. Though significantly lower
than its massive IPhone sales revenue, it is not at all irrelevant.
The
entire market is basically fragmented. The competition between Apple
iOS and Google Android is on many platforms and across a few
verticals. You have to consider the device market which Android has
so successfully cornered. But, again numbers will not ensure that
sales of apps will always be at the top. Apple does this well.
Tightly controls its market and regulates its saes much better.
Overabundance of Android devices has been a bane as much as it has
been a boon.
What
do iPhone App Developers Look For?
So
coming back to the question previously asked. Who does a developer
look to for sustenance? To begin with Apple iOS, because of the
exposure it provides in terms of technical competence and high
quality marketing. It also is far more profitable than Android.
However, as you grow as a developer, do not limit yourself to Apple.
Android as a market that is huge. Massive, will be the correct word.
Use it to leverage the efficacy of your app. It will reach to a wider
audience.
There
is absolutely no well defined difference between who to choose from
this two. As a developer, you need eventually aim to develop apps for
both the Operating Systems; you simply can’t afford to separate out
on the user base of one, unless your app is platform centric.
Hiring
the right iPhone
app developers will help you design creative and smartly designed
apps for the iOS system that can help you increase user engagement
and downloads.
