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Android Developers Can't Get Paid And It's Killing The Platform—Here's Why

A version of this note appeared last week on Business Insider Intelligence, BI's market research service on the internet industry. If you were a subscriber, you'd already know this! Click here to find out more and sign up for a free trial →

Android has a monetization problem. According to a report from Flurry, for every dollar of iOS revenue, developers only get 24 cents from Android.

Recently, we spoke with Peter Farago, VP of Marketing at Flurry, to get his thoughts on the mobile platform wars. Flurry is a mobile analytics company and, as such, has a pretty good vantage point on trends and developments in the app ecosystem.

Farago laid out three reasons for us that he thinks are behind Android's monetization gap:

  1. Payments are not seamless on Android. Google Wallet, a new mobile payments system, was supposed to help solve this problem. However, as Farago told us, "Google Wallet has limited penetration, there is commerce friction." Compare this to other platforms. With iOS, you can link your phone to your iTunes account and download an app with one click. Farago also cited Kindle Fire as another example. When a consumer fires up their brand-new Kindle Fire, they have to put a credit card down for the Kindle store, or else they can't use the device.

  2. "They don't have a curated store." This is Farago's personal hypothesis. As a result of the platform's nature, Android has a less efficient app distribution model than iOS. Farago thinks consumers have been burned more on Android, or, as he put it, "There's a lot of garbage on the shelf."

  3. "The consumer on Android is less willing to pay, there is more of an expectation that they get free stuff." Farago tells us this is a lot of developers' hypothesis. However, he believes it is often a self-fulfilling prophecy; developers choose to release a free, ad-supported Android app. He pointed to Rovio's Angry Birds Space, one of the most popular games of all time, as an example. Rovio only released a premium version on iOS. However, they created a free version, in addition to a premium one, for Android.

Farago also believes that Google will have a hard time fixing the problem, it goes against the company's DNA. Google wants to create highly scalable, frictionless systems. Consequently, it's the "anti-customer service company;" search engines don't have help lines. Apple and Amazon, on the other hand, have customer and retail in their DNA, it is a critical aspect of their user experience.

Furthermore, Farago told us, "It's against their culture, but it's also against their business model." Google wants to drive ad revenue, they are not as worried about the store. Their primary concern is expanding their ad inventory.

Closing Android's monetization gap, therefore, is not only a cultural challenge, but an inherent issue with the platform's business model.

We go deep in the weeds of this topic in our special report on the mobile platform wars →

DON'T MISS: Like Hell It's A Bubble [The State Of Startups] →

A version of this note appeared last week on Business Insider Intelligence, BI's market research service on the internet industry. If you were a subscriber, you'd already know this! Click here to find out more and sign up for a free trial →



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