Despite holding the market share of 81.3% in 2013, revenue of Android for every $1 on iOS platform is only $0.19. The iPhone scores only 15.6% of market share. Infact, the total Android apps in the market is 212 million while it is only 34 million for iPhone. Android has reached the mass extensively, but iPhone developers know the trick of earning five times more revenue per download of Android developers.
Per Dollar Revenue
A deep market study compiled by Business Insider states that for every $1 revenue of iOS, the Android earns only $0.24 for in-app purchases, 0.43 for paid downloads & in-app purchases, and 0.77 for mobile ad revenue. It is worthy to note that Android nearly meets the revenue of iPhone when related to app revenue, advertising, developer fees, and commerce by making $0.91 revenue in comparison with every one dollar revenue of iPhone.
Developer's Revenue
The popularity of the platforms and their earning power is also affecting the mobile app development companies. There is an increasing demand for iOS developers while Android developers hold the share of 53%. Some of the data released by CyberCodes state that earnings of junior developers in both platform are more or less similar at $107,000 per year. But the senior developer of Android are earning $10,000 more than the iPhone counterpart. A senior Android developer earns about $131,571 a year while iOS senior lead/developer earns only $121,117.
Language Popularity
One more glance into the data shows that the Java,which is the base for Android development, ranks for popularity at 2nd place in the market while the Objective C associated with iPhone development ranks at 3rd place (1st place goes to C language)
In-app/Ads
The in-app ads are the main revenue fetcher for the amount of free ads uploaded. The ad rates are still lower in Android than the iPhone. Unfortunately, advertising on Android platform fetched nearly negative return on investment when compared with iPhone. The ads on iOS brought about 162% more than what was spend while Android ads fetch 10% less than the cost of the ad.
Facebook
The inevitable King of social network, Facebook, states that they have generated 1,790 percent more ROI from iPhone ads than Android. The RRP (revenue per click) for first three quarters of 2013 showed that iPhone were 6.1 times higher than Android
Festive Season
It is naturally expected by everybody that there will be lots of variation in apps downloading during the festival season of Christmas. Report states that 23% of total sales during Christmas in US was done via iOS while Android had its numbers at 4.6%. The average order came upto $93.94 in iOS and $48.10 from Android devices.
Mobile Owners
The biggest advantage of Android is its balancing money plan for the middle class and upper-middle class people. Among the people having annual income below $30,000, there were around 22% of Android holders and 12% iphone users. The statistics shows that people with annual income up to $50,000 were 23% Android owners and 18% iphone owners.
Conclusion
Android devices have become more common among the people with their simplicity of being compact within the budget of most common man. We still cannot ignore iPhone which is only in a distance of hand apart for the people to reach the enhanced user experience. Among the competition, Android reaches the mass while iPhone reaches the ruling royals. Both are good in delivering their own part. In case of income, it is astonishing to note that the earning power of iPhone apps is higher when compared to Android apps. It is wise to view the statistics in the angle that is favorable to the platform (your favorite) regardless.
Venkatesan
