This is not a statement about technical superiority or mindless Apple fanboying. Both tech giants have some fantastic products and services on the market. In 2018, the simple business of mobile apps continues to favor Apple’s App Store over Google Play.
Having experienced firsthand the vocal outcry for an Android version and citing the countless articles written about Google’s dominating market share in the mobile space, our company took the leap on the A Color Story app. Unfortunately, after taking twice the resources to build, the Android version of A Color Story generated 5% the revenue of its iOS counterpart.
Put simply, it cost more and earned less. But that’s one app’s story, so let’s unpack the overarching realities of the two app markets.
1. The App Store Makes A Lot More Money
If there was only one takeaway, this should be it. In 2017, Apple’s App Store generated nearly twice the revenue of the Google Play app market, despite Android having 85% worldwide market share.
While Apple has taken some criticism for feeling more like a luxury brand than an innovative tech leader, it would be safe for aspiring app startups to assume Apple customers shelling out $1,000 for a phone have more disposable income.
Coming back to A Color Story as an example, iOS interest in our product dwarfs Android, outpacing the installs nearly 10 to 1, which is a problem, albeit anecdotal. When reviewing the data at an individual level, the average Android user of A Color Story spends 50% what an iOS user spends in-app, matching the macro trend exactly.
2. Fewer Devices To Test
From a technology standpoint, Google’s open system means more flexibility and room for innovation. However, when it comes to quality assurance and testing, the literal thousands of devices and hundreds of screen sizes create an incredibly time-consuming challenge for developers.
Conversely, Apple maintains a closed system, vertical control of its products and only offers around a dozen device types at any given time. While this comes with less technical freedom, it drastically minimizes the potential for bugs and, therefore, bad reviews.
3. App Store Connect Is Easier To Use Than The Google Play Console
For startups in need of reporting solutions and developer tools that just work out of the box, Apple’s App Store Connect is both robust and simple enough that any executive could figure it out themselves.
This includes flexible and dynamic sales reporting, easy beta test management and an intuitive release manager for new app versions.
The Google Play Developer Console, unfortunately, offers solutions that are either far too simplified or far too complicated. Sales reporting is the worst offender here, as its interface only allows fixed date ranges with no option to review proceeds earned after Google’s 30% cut of the total revenue.
Google does offer the option to export every transaction in a given month for a more granular data review. But it adds significant time and effort to answer the simplest questions, such as, “How much money did this in-app purchase make in Q1?”
4. Less Operating System Fragmentation
Similar to the device issue, there are fewer operating systems to consider and test on iOS. Albeit annoying, Apple’s forceful push to users to update their devices is effective.
While the battery life controversy last year definitely hurt iOS fragmentation a little, a year after its release, 85% of iPhones and iPads were running iOS 11. Meanwhile, only about 19% of Android users have updated to 8.0 or newer in the same timeframe.
This means developers can support only the two most current root versions of iOS but still feel confident in a substantial market reach. However, on Android, a similar limitation would cripple the app’s potential. And supporting more operating systems means more time testing, more room for bugs and more bad reviews.
To sum it up, none of this is saying companies should never invest in Android. It’s a solid, flexible platform with great resources, and there’s plenty of business to be found on Google Play. However, entrepreneurs looking to launch and field test their app idea would be wise to focus their initial limited resources on iOS.
