Competition is still going on between the two Smartphone giants—Android and Apple—as to which will rule the Smartphone market. While Android leads the Smartphone industry, Apple is still leading in the number of apps’ downloaded from its stores. This is making Apple as most obvious choice for developers across the globe. However, trend may change soon as Android is expected to lead over iOS for by mid of next year in number of apps downloads.
Though, Apple’s recent quarter result clearly indicated the promising market in future, but the number of downloads in the Android market is speculated to surpass Apple in mid 2013. However, with more than 700,000 devices being activated per day by Android, the above speculated results can be expected to reach much earlier. The growth rate of app downloads by Android is quite obvious because of the number of devices sold on different manufacturer platforms, whereas iOS is based on only one manufacturer – Apple itself.
According to Ovum— A research and analysis firm—developers would start considering Android as more important than iOS for development projects in the next 12 months.
“A smartphone platform’s success is dictated not only by the pull of consumers and the push of handset vendors and mobile operators but also by a healthy economy of applications delivered by third-party developers,” said Adam Leach, Ovum’s devices and platforms practice leader and author of the research, in a release.
66% of developers in a recent survey said they have planned to work on mobile projects in 2012. But developers have been in favor of Apple from the beginning over Android. Around 73% apps’ created in Q4 2011 were for iOS device while Android grabbed only 27%. The report also said that Windows Phone platform has convinced the developers and has proven that it is worthy of investment. Cross platform web-based applications like HTML5 were seen to be focused by developers but most developers are still using vendor specific distribution channels to deploy apps, as it is the best way to reach large audience.
Ad network CEO Dale Carr wrote, “Click-through rates on iOS are more than double what they are on Android, but the cost per thousand is only 30 percent higher. This would indicate that Android developers are getting more bang for each click. “Combine this with another recent statistic that Android generates twice the ad impressions of iOS, and you have Android earning more in real dollar terms from ad revenue.”
The developers’ choice of platform is going to change because of increasing popularity and increased sales of Android based Smartphone’s. And as Android generates more revenue than iOS from apps the developers would opt for Android as they are generating more income from each click. Android users can now expect more interesting and productive app’s to be added to the Android store. This will prove to be a plus point for the company and would help Android surpass the total app downloaded over iOS in the coming years.
Source: Ovum
