Google Play Store vs Apple App Store

Introduction:

Apple app and Google play are the two leading stores in the mobile app industry. They both offer free and paid apps, books, Music, TV series and much more. But the question is that which store is better in term of performance, downloads, apps, etc

There are lot of comparisons in our daily life routine eg. compare of smart phones, sports teams, laptops, brands and much more. Today, we are going to discuss that which app store is better in term of performance. Apple App Store vs Google play store.
Let’s have brief details of each:

Google Play store:

The Google Play Store launched on March 12, 2008, by the name of Android market. In 2012, Google brought the Android Market, Google Music, and the Google eBookstore together By the name of Google Play. It was the pre-installed app by Google and delivered with Android devices, it was compatible Android OS version 2.2 and above. It is the distribution platform operated by Google that allows Android user to download apps which published through Google.

Apple’s App Store:

App store which is also known as iTune was launched on July 9, 2008, with iPhone 3G. It is the pre-installed app by Apple on all iOS devices. iTune allow its user to download apps that published on Apple platform. Users can directly download apps from iTune into iOS devices and personal computers.

Number of Apps:

60% of apps on the App Store are free while 80% of apps available on Google Play are free. Google Play Beats Apple App Store in Number of Applications. Play store has 17% more apps than apps available on App store. The reason behind it that Apple rejects a lot of App and it either tough for developers to create iOS apps as compared to building Android apps. It is very easy to submit App to the play store while Apple’s rules are very strict.

Google Play Store:

At the time of its launch, there was few handful apps in it. In 2009, there was 2400+ apps in Google Play Store and the middle of 2010 Play store across the number of 80000. In 2015, the number of apps available in Google Store surpassed the digit of 500,000 for the first time. In 2013 it reached the number of 1 Million and Now in 2016, it is the largest app store in the world, and there are over 2.4 Million apps are available in Google Play store.

Apple app store:

There was only 500 app in App Store when it launched, but within three months it reached 3000+ apps. In 2011, the number of apps in app store was 350,000. In 2012, app store crossed the 550,000 apps. At the end of 2013, available apps on Apple store reach the number of 1 Million. Apple currently has around 2.2 million iOS apps available for download. And it is the second largest apps store.

Stats of Download Apps:

Google Play store:

According to Google report, from 2010 to 1st quarter of 2016 there are over 75 billion apps downloaded from Google Play Store. In the first three months of 2016, The number of apps downloaded from Play store is twice then app store but overall it is less than App store. In September 2012, Google announced that over 25 billion apps downloaded from its app store, and In July 2013, 50 Billion downloads milestone reached and now in Q1 of 2016 it reaches the 75 Billion downloads.

Apple app store:

From July 2008 to first quarter of 2016, 140 billion apps had been download from App Store.In 1st three months of 2016, Number of apps downloaded from Play store is twice then the apps downloaded from app store But the overall result is entirely different. It reached 10 million downloads over the first week of its release, hit three Million downloads in first three months and within one year, app store cross the digit of 1.5 Billion downloads. In March 2013, App Store reached the 50 billion downloads mark. By June 2016, the number of downloads was 75 Billion, and now in 2015 It crosses the number of 140 Billion downloads.

Best for developers:

Apple app store is the best choice for developers. Because app store gives a chance to make more money. Most of the developers today, the option is to target both stores. But 80 percent of them want to target Apple app store first.

To publish apps on Play store, the developer needs to Pay only one $25 as registration fee for a google console account.

To release an app on Apple app store, Developer needs to pay $99 every year to use the iPhone SDK and upload applications to the App store. However, App Store will receive 70 percent of developer’s sales revenue

Recommendations:

If you want to make some money through your app than Apple app store is best for you. Because Apple almost generates 45% more revenue for their developers than Google create for its user. However, The time which user spend on the app store is 5x stronger than Android user spends on Play store. So developers should focus on building for iOS first.
Apple developers have now made close to $25 Billion since the Store’s launch in 2008

 Demographics:

Apple users spend much more money in app store than Google users spend in Play Store. The main reason for that is Apple users are from higher class family and Apple only sells premium products with a very high price tag. Apple only sells premium products. Apple users are from high-income families they have mostly credit/debit card so mostly they prefer to buy premium apps instead of downloading a free app.
While Android operating system can be found easily in huge range of devices and a lot of them are in very low price. So Android users are from middle-class families, and they prefer to download free apps instead of buying them.
Apple users mostly tend to stay with Apple, and they don’t want to switch to Android and other operating systems. So this is also one of the possible reason for that User demographic of Apple app store is better than Google play store.

Revenue:

Apple app store revenue is almost double than Google Play store revenue. Yes, I am right! In first 3 Months of 2016, Apple app store makes 90% more money than Play store does. Will you believe that only China, Japan, and the US contributed close to 90 percent of the App Store’s annually revenue
In first three months 2016, Google Play store had 70% more app downloads than Apple’s App Store, but Apple’s app store revenue was about 70% higher than Play store. App store made $20 Billion in 2015 while Play store revenue was about 7 to 8 Billion. Per day revenue of app store in 2013 was $5.1 Million while the income of Playstore at that time was $1.1 Million per day.

App Store UI:

The most annoying thing about Apple app store is that you need to use iTune. If you search the web for any Apple app, you will get a web page showing your app, but you can’t download it. The only way forward from there is to view the app details in iTunes. But if you are looking for any app on a iOS device then it is bit easy to download. You can easily search, download and install the app you want without using the iTune client.

On the other hand. Using of Google Play store is more than easy. When you use it on windows, it relies on a pure web service. From here you can easily download free apps and as well as purchase apps that are making play store more accessible in using as compared to App store.

Media:

If you want to buy movies from App Store, You can watch then only on iOS devices or on PC that is using iTune. If you want to change your operating system from iOS to Android or any other, then you can take your movies with you. It means you can only watch them if you are using Apple devices.
The same problem isn’t with Google. If you buy movies, TV shows, etc. from Google. You can watch it on any device including Apple devices. That mean if you want to buy media from Play store then you have the option to watch that media on any device you want.

Comparison:

Term	Google Play store	Apple App Store
Date of Release	March 12, 2008	July 9, 2008
Owned By	Google	Apple
Work with	Android OS 2.2 and above	iPhone 3G and above
Number of Apps	2.4 Million	2.2 Million
Free Apps	80% Apps are free	60% Apps are free
Stat of download apps	75 Billion	140 Billion
User Experience	Best	OK
Developers recommendations	No	Yes
Revenue	About 10 Billion (2015)	20 Billion (2015)
Developers Fee	$25	$99 annually + 70% revenue
Media Support	Best	OK
Demographics	On 2nd position	On First Position
Top countries by revenue	Japan, USA, South korea	China, USA, Japan
Top countries by downloads	US, Brazil, Russia, India	US, China, Japan, UK

So what do you think, Which store is best for you?