World's Most Downloaded Apps: Action Shifts to Google Play

Apps & Software

Published: December 5, 2013 1:53 pm

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 10:43 am

Since June Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) share of apps revenue has increased from 30% to 37% at the expense of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and its App Store. Apple’s share of revenue has dropped from 70% to 67%. The Appstore from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is not yet included in the paid app data reported by research firm Distimo.

Looking at revenue generating apps, of the five most popular apps at Google Play four are either productivity, personalization, or music player apps. Minecraft – Pocket Edition is the only game in the top five paid apps at Google’s store.

In contrast, all five top paid apps downloaded from Apple’s App Store are games, with the iOS version of Minecraft leading the pack. An interesting question is why iOS users pay for games and Android users pay for “useful” apps like SwiftKey and PowerAmp. Perhaps it’s because Android users are more serious or perhaps iOS doesn’t need a music player given that it is tightly bound to iTunes or a personalization app because iOS users are satisfied with Apple’s own interface. We think it is the latter, but Distimo’s report doesn’t really provide any support for a conclusion.

The App Store and Amazon’s Appstore also boast the only paid games in their respective top five from a publicly traded company: Heads Up! from the Warner Bros. division of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) at the App Store and Scribblenauts Remix, also from Warner Bros. Both games’ download totals are shrinking, so they may drop out of the top five soon.

Facebook Incl. (NYSE: FB) supplies three of the top five free apps at Google Play: Facebook; Facebook Messenger; and Instagram. The only free game in the top five at Google play is Candy Crush Saga, which has fallen out of the top five at the App Store. The Facebook app is the fourth most popular free download at the App Store, and Google’s YouTube app is the second most popular free download for iOS devices.

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