For those of you wondering how the Android platform has grown so significantly over the past few years, there’s a key factor to consider — Google Play.
The store has provided a number of apps and games for Android users to download with ease, and, according to a new report from App Annie, its worldwide growth is bigger than anyone could’ve expected. The mobile-measuring company released its latest stats through various Intelligence researches, coming up with some strong results.
According to the report, quarterly app downloads on Google Play have grown about 30 percent from the first quarter of last year, mainly due to emerging markets such as Brazil and India seeing bigger exposure. These numbers are likely to continue growing into next year.
In addition, revenue has grown faster than ever with downloads at 40 percent, mainly due to growth in various markets that have already been established. These include the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Emerging markets overall showed major growth for the start of this year, with the five largest countries experiencing increases all around, with Brazil showing the most at 1.9 times the previous year. With continued economic growth, investment in telecom infrastructure and falling device prices contributing, this isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
The top five countries by revenue show increases across the board as well, with Japan showing a 1.4 times growth overall, and United States with 1.5 times last year’s numbers. Germany and United Kingdom are on the lower ends, but still showed boosts from last year’s numbers.
As far as overall ranking, here’s the standings in terms of overall App Downloads and App Revenue:
App Downloads: The United States has a firm lead in first place, followed by Brazil in second and India in third, moving up two spots from last year. Russia dropped to fourth place but still shows substantial growth, while Mexico rounds out the top five.
App Revenue: Japan leads the charge at number one, which is no surprise given the popularity of apps like Puzzle & Dragons. The United States is close behind in second place, while South Korea, Germany and Taiwan round out the top five.
Other little facts have been reported as well, including the following:
- Games revenue soared, increasing roughly 50 percent year-over-year
- The proportion of total time spent in games is vastly higher for Japan and South Korea than the US, Germany and the UK
- In all countries, however, most time is spent outside of games. Especially in Western countries, Social and Communication apps account for a large portion of user’s time
- Eight or more of the top 10 most-used apps in the UK, Germany and India are also published by either Google or Facebook
- Both Candy Crush and Clash of Clans appear in the top 10 of all 6 countries (US, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea and India)
- Quarterly app downloads on Google Play grew about 30 percent from Q1 2014 to Q1 2015 largely due to growth in emerging markets such as Brazil and India
- Revenue grew even faster than downloads at 40 percent, largely due to growth in established markets (especially the US, South Korea and Japan)
- Brazil is the fastest growing country in app downloads
By revenue, the top five countries in order are: Japan, United States, South Korea, Germany and the UK
And with Google’s I/O event taking place today, we’re likely to see more Google Play news pop up as well. It’s a good time to be an Android-based gamer.