iPhone vs Android: Monetization Capabilities. iPhone ARPU is 3.5X of Android
If you are developing Apps and still prioritizing between iOS & Android, this article might help you.
This article gives you a quick snapshot of key metrics around Android & iPhone collated from various sources.
The table below lists down the key numbers for Apple App Store & Google Play Store which further highlights the monetization capabilities of iPhone vs Android. The data has been collected from multiple sources (list at the end) to arrive at this table:
It is self explanatory and clearly highlights the superiority of the iPhone over Android from monetization POV.
However, Android is at par with iPhone on Ad revenue capabilities if you look at Avg Ad Revenue per App metric.
It took me 5 hours to collect all the data & another 3 hours to analyze and prepare this report. Since I have over 90% of my visitors from India, I decided to invest another 2 hours to prepare a similar report for India. While some of the data was not directly available (IAP), I extrapolated it based on several reports on IAP vs Ad revenue share in India market.
ARPUs in India are abysmal as expected. CAC has gone up in India with no corresponding increase in ARPUs, thus reducing the net returns drastically.
I will be happy to hear your feedback on this. Feel free to comment here or tag me on twitter @deepakabbot or mail me at dabbot@gmail.com
Data Sources:
Apple IAP Revenues: http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/01/08/apples-app-store-generated-over-10-billion-in-revenue-for-developers-in-record-2014 & http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/6/25/market-shares
App Store Revenues: http://qz.com/235992/revenue-from-the-google-play-store-will-overtake-apples-app-store-in-2018/
Android Device Share: http://www.cnet.com/news/android-shipments-exceed-1-billion-for-first-time-in-2014/
Handset Share: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2014/12/handset-market-and-installed-base-in-2014-the-total-handset-picture-by-communities-dominate-blog.html
Ad Revenues: http://marketingland.com/android-closing-gap-mobile-ad-revenue-3-percent-q3-41-8-pct-report-105063
Download Stats: http://www.statista.com/statistics/263794/number-of-downloads-from-the-apple-app-store/
Ad Revenues: http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/03/apple-still-the-easy-leader-in-ad-revenue-on-mobile-for-2014-despite-android-gains/
In-App Spends: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/04/08/googles-mobile-division-to-fuel-revenue-growth-in-2014-and-beyond/
App Advertising & Monetization Trends: http://blog.appannie.com/mobile-app-advertising-and-monetization-trends-2013-2018/
