Google Play passed iOS App Store in Downloads

Written by Cristina Radu

Published on Aug 2, 2013

Read time 3 min

Category App Marketing

App analytics company App Annie released recently their App Index, an analysis on the major moves in the app market on Q2 of 2013. Google Play takes lead in terms of the number of downloads surpassing iOS App Store with around 10%, however the iOS App Store still generated 2.3x the revenue.

The countries with the strongest performance in this quarter on Google Play were Russia, India and Brazil. Brazil rose two spots and joined India and Russia in the top countries by downloads for Google Play, further establishing Google Play’s leadership position in those emerging markets. In both app stores games are making the most of revenue, on Google Play they accounted for over 80% of revenues vs. roughly 75% in the iOS App Store.

The United States and China are leaders in the iOS App Store and combined are making up about 40% of total iOS App Store downloads in Q2 2013. China’s iOS downloads continued to grow at an impressive rate, underscoring the country’s eventual potential for the iOS App Store. Russia also saw a big increase, climbed three spots and broke into the top 5 in Q2 2013. In terms of revenue on iOS, the main players are: United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia and China.

In terms of downloads on Google Play, US and South Korea are holding the lead and Brazil climbed two spots mainly because of the gaming category, to join India and Russia as another emerging market in the top 5 countries by downloads for Q2 2013. Android has a strong position in these emerging markets mainly because cell phone manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia, HTC and LG are bringing to market cheap devices. In terms of revenue the leaders are: Japan, South Korea, United States, Germany and United Kingdom.

Almost 40% of store downloads in Q2 2013 on iOS are in Games category, followed by Entertainment, Photo & Video, Lifestyle and Utilities. In terms of revenue, Games made nearly three-quarters of total iOS App Store revenue in Q2 2013, up from about 70% in Q1. The Social Networking and Music categories have grown their revenue dramatically in the past year and surpassed Productivity.

Very similar to iOS, in Google Play the Games category continued to lead in Q2 2013 and weighted for about 40% of all downloads, followed by Communication, Tools, Entertainment and Social. As of Q2 2013, Games in Google Play accounted for over 80% of revenue, compared to roughly 75% for the iOS App Store. The Communication category raised to the second position, followed by Social, Travel & Local and on the fifth position the Tools category.

If you’re curios to see what apps perform best, checkout App Annie’s App Index.