It’s a tough mobile market in Japan and China, with both iOS and Android platforms thriving for dollars. In a way, both are successful, but Apple is clearly leading the charge.
Industry tracking firm App Annie has reported that while Google Play leads the charge in terms of outperforming on a mobile scale, Apple continues to make more money. Google Play shows a growth of 60 percent more downloads than Apple’s market (a rise from last quarter’s 45 percent). However, Apple’s App Store generated 80 percent more revenue than Google Play – and in the end, that’s where the most money is being seen.
China and Japan play a big part in this market, as mobile-game spending managed to reach $16 billion in 2013, with a higher goal set for this year.
Apple managed to make a deal with China Mobile to enable iOS, which in turn helped increase the revenue for both parties. As a result, Chinese iOS revenues managed to grow by 20 percent between Q1 and Q2, creating a lead over Google Play and Android platforms.
“China is proving to be pivotal in Apple’s international growth strategy,” says the report. “In its Q2 2014 earnings call, Apple reported a records high revenue in China of almost $10 billion, inclusive of retail sales.”
In the past, Japan has leaned more towards the Android platform, but with a deal in place to sell iPhone directly through superpower service provider NTT Docomo, iOS could easily catch up there as well. Apple’s smartphone sales grew 50 percent year over year in the last year, and this has helped Apple maintain its revenue lead over Google despite Google’s increasing Android smartphone sales.
It’ll be interesting to see where the market goes from here. Will iOS continue its growth, or will Google Play find a way to catch up
Source: VentureBeat
