According to a new report from App Analytics firm, Distomo, Google Play’s piece of the pie has increased significantly over the past six months. While only 19% of the combined revenue came from Google Play in November 2012, this share went up by eight percentage points to 27% in April 2013.

1. Google Play is Catching
Up with iOS App Store
in Terms of App
Revenue

2. Few days ago we wrote a blog post on App Store Revenues
few weeks ago(which can be read here). Apple App Store
was 2.6x more profitable for developers when compared to
Google Play Store in terms of revenue. While Apple is still
profitable, Google Play is catching up quickly.
According to a new report from App Analytics firm, Distomo,
Google Play’s piece of the pie has increased significantly
over the past six months. While only 19% of the combined
revenue came from Google Play in November 2012, this
share went up by eight percentage points to 27% in April
2013. The Japanese and South Korean markets were the
main contributors for the growth in Google Play’s revenue
share.

4. Distomo study noticed a shift in revenue from the Apple App Store to
Google Play in general and for some applications and publishers in
particular.
Mobage is an example of a
developer quoted who generated
more or at least an equal amount
of revenue in Google Play
compared to the Apple App Store
in most countries. This applied
not only to Asian countries,
where revenue in Google Play is
sky high, but it applies also to the
U.S., which is still the largest
market in terms of combined
revenue in the Apple App Store
and Google Play.

5. The revenue distribution in the U.S. of all Mobage applications
together, and two of its top applications in particular, are shown in
the graph below. In April 2013, Mobage generated more than $5.1M
in Google Play in April 2013. The Apple App Store total revenue
during April 2013 in the U.S. was $5.6M, which was slightly higher.
This equates to a revenue share of 48% for all Mobage apps in
Google Play in April 2013, while 52% of revenue came from the
Apple App Store (iPhone and iPad).
Looking at the application level, Rage of Bahamut and Blood
Brothers (RPG) were popular Mobage applications in Google Play
and the Apple App Store and had similar revenue levels. Rage of
Bahamut gained a total of $2.3M in both stores combined: 56% in
the Apple App Store and 44% in Google Play. Blood Brothers
generated more revenue in Google Play than in the Apple App Store
in the United States.

6. What
about
Global
Trends?
The
U.S.
is
not
the
only
market
where
Google
Play
is
winning
ground
in
terms
of
total
revenue.
Many
popular
applica>ons
appeared
to
have
internal
Apple
App
Store
vs.
Google
Play
baAles
in
terms
of
most
revenue
per
country.
Final
Fantasy
III
by
Square
Enix
and
World
at
Arms
by
GameloH
are
two
illustra>ve
examples
of
this
trend.
The
two
world
maps
on
following
slides
show
which
applica>on
store
is
winning
in
which
country
in
terms
of
total
revenues
in
April
2013
for
each
applica>on.
This
first
world
map
presents
the
revenue
of
World
at
Arms.
The
pink
colored
countries
represent
countries
where
this
applica>on
collected
more
revenue
in
the
Apple
App
Store
during
April
2013,
and
blue
countries
represent
those
countries
in
which
more
revenue
was
generated
from
Google
Play.
The
countries
in
which
GameloH
generated
more
money
with
World
at
Arms
in
Google
Play
compared
to
the
Apple
App
Store
were:
United
Kingdom,
Germany,
Spain,
Finland,
India,
Thailand,
Korea,
Vietnam,
Israel,
Ireland,
and
Hong
Kong.
A
remarkable
finding
is
that
World
at
Arms
did
not
only
generate
more
money
in
Google
Play
than
in
the
Apple
App
Store
in
some
Asian
countries,
but
actually
this
gap
was
in
favor
of
Google
Play
in
some
large
European
countries
as
well.

7. World
At
Arms
gained
more
revenue
com-­‐
paring
Google
Play
to
the
Apple
App
Store
in
major
countries
like
Germany
and
UK.

8. 73%
of
Final
Fantasy
III’s
global
total
revenue
come
from
Google
Play
in
April
2013.

9. ComparaMve
Study
for
an
App
A
more
interes>ng
case
study
of
how
a
popular
developer
is
aAacking
both
app
stores
successfully
comes
from
WhatsApp,
which
uses
different
business
models
to
mone>ze
its
mobile
messenger.
On
Android,
users
get
a
one-­‐year
free
subscrip>on,
but
then
have
to
pay
for
the
app
aHerwards,
while
on
Apple’s
App
Store,
the
app
costs
$0.99.
Download
volumes
on
iOS
are
high,
but
then
the
app
oHen
goes
on
sale
in
order
to
kick
those
volumes
into
high
gear.
The
long
game
–
hoping
to
mone>ze
Android
users
aHer
geng
them
fully
addicted
–
is
star>ng
to
pay
off
in
a
handful
of
countries
for
WhatsApp,
including
Germany,
Italy
and
Spain.
In
Germany,
Google
Play
earned
the
company
nearly
$290K
versus
$207K
in
Apple’s
store
in
April.
Compare
that
to
the
U.S.
version
with
$355K
in
Apple’s
App
Store
versus
just
over
$41K
in
Google
Play.
This
applica>on
should
con>nue
to
gain
more
revenue
in
the
Apple
App
Store
than
in
Google
Play.
The
result
of
this
though
is
shown
in
the
world
map
below
by
country.
Again,
pink
represents
the
countries
where
WhatsApp
made
more
money
in
the
Apple
App
Store
than
it
did
in
Google
Play
in
April
2013.
Blue
represents
the
opposite.

10. WhatsApp
Messenger
generated
more
revenue
in
Google
Play
than
in
the
Apple
App
Store
in
Germany,
Italy
and
Spain.

11. Is
Google
the
Overall
Winner?
Short
Answer:
NO.
Although
the
examples
clearly
suggest
that
the
balance
is
shiHing
between
the
Apple
App
Store
and
Google
Play
in
terms
of
total
revenue,
this
does
not
mean
that
this
applies
to
all
applica>ons
and
publishers
-­‐
especially
not
in
the
United
States.
In
April
2013,
the
United
States
was
s>ll
the
largest
market
in
terms
of
total
revenue
in
Google
Play
and
the
Apple
App
Store
combined.
The
daily
revenue
in
April
2013
generated
by
all
applica>ons
in
the
top
200
grossing
in
Google
Play
was
$1.1M,
while
the
daily
revenue
of
the
top
200
in
the
Apple
App
Store
(both
iPhone
and
iPad)
was
4.6
>mes
higher
at
$5.1M.
The
vast
majority
of
applica>ons
in
those
two
top
lists
contained
free
applica>ons
with
In-­‐App
purchases
and
this
business
model
automa>cally
generates
the
most
revenue
in
both
stores.
The
higher
revenue
share
in
the
Apple
App
Store
compared
to
Google
Play
was
also
characteris>c
for
long
tail
applica>ons
and
did
not
apply
solely
to
popular
applica>ons.
The
Simpsons:
Tapped
Out
by
Electronic
Arts
are
illustra>ve
applica>ons
that
were
popular
on
both
plaforms
in
the
U.S.
and
generated
much
more
revenue
on
iOS
compared
to
Google
Play
in
April
2013.

12. The
graph
below
shows
the
revenue
share
of
The
Simpsons:
Tapped
Out
for
each
store.
This
applica>on
generated
around
$4.8M
in
both
stores
in
April
2013
in
the
United
States,
and
the
revenue
was
generated
only
from
In-­‐App
purchases.
The
vast
majority
of
this
revenue
was
collected
in
the
Apple
App
Store
over
April
2013:
79%.
Only
21%
of
the
total
revenue
from
The
Simpsons:
Tapped
Out
came
from
Google
Play,
which
was
s>ll
more
than
$1M.

13. You
can
also
reach
us
on:
Facebook
-­‐
www.facebook.com/TechAhead
TwiAer
-­‐
www.twiAer.com/TechAhead
LinkedIn
-­‐
www.linkedin.com/company/techahead
At
TechAhead,
we
have
helped
many
clients
incorporate
mobile
payments,
be
it
through
SMS,
Web/WAP
based,
NFC
etc.
Mobile
payments
and
mCommerce
are
on
a
boom,
and
every
business
should
make
best
out
of
this
opportunity.
If
you
are
a
business,
we
can
help
you
in
this.
For
any
mobile
apps
development
requirement,
get
in
touch
with
us
on
info@techaheadcorp.com
for
FREE
30
minutes
no
obliga>on
consulta>on
with
our
mobile
experts($200
Value).
Credits:
hAp://techcrunch.com/2013/05/29/google-­‐plays-­‐app-­‐revenue-­‐share-­‐up-­‐8-­‐since-­‐
november-­‐but-­‐apple-­‐s>ll-­‐leads/whatsapp-­‐total-­‐revenue-­‐april-­‐2013/