Apple Apps Outperform Android

We recently blogged about mobile app developers’ deep and abiding love for iOS platforms, and according to Distimo’s end-of-year app market summary, Apple has yet another reason to celebrate.  In spite of Android’s comfortable, indeed commanding lead when it comes to total devices sold, Apple’s App Store still managed to generate four times the total revenue of that yielded by Google’s Android market.  This figure is based on an assessment of the top 200 apps in the respective stores, but no matter how you look at it, Apple still rules the roost when it comes to mobile app development and monetization.

And speaking of monetization, Apple’s 2011 performance is doubly impressive considering the burgeoning popularity of the freemium app marketing model, which at least in theory would seem to favor Android apps and devices.  Android users positively hate paying for their apps and it would seem that the Android marketplace’s love of freemium apps would translate into increased revenues as the monetization model gains some traction among developers.  That model is beginning to catch on in the Apple App Store, which saw a rise in available freemium apps from 29% to 48%; however, Android is well ahead when it comes to total percentage of freemium apps (65%), and yet this still failed to translate into developer revenue on par with Apple’s.

It’s worth noting that a few pundits were concerned about Apple’s “slumping sales” in the months of August and September, though the reason for this slump became apparent in October with the release of the iPhone 4S.  It turns out that Apple customers were merely awaiting the release of the new device before stocking up on the latest mobile apps, demonstrated by the fact that Apple’s App Store saw a sharp rise in app sales immediately after the release of the new device.