Despite Android clearly being the more dominant smartphone operating system compared to iOS, developers still love developing for iOS simply because it has been found that iOS users are more willing to pay for apps compared to Android users, which in turn means that developers are more likely to make money off iOS apps compared to Android.
However that could change in 2017 where according to the latest stats provided by App Annie (via TechCrunch), there seems to be a trend in which it would suggest that this is the year that Android app store revenue could finally surpass that of iOS. The report takes into account the fact that there exists third-party Android app stores (for example Amazon has its own Android app store) and compares that to the iTunes App Store.
Assuming the numbers are right, Google Play is expected to generated $21 billion and third-party app stores will generate $20 billion, bring it to a total of $41 billion for Android. This is compared to iOS where it is expected to earn $40 billion in 2017. However if we were to look at just iTunes versus Google Play, Apple is expected to maintain its lead over Google until at least 2021.
Whether or not these predictions will come true remains to be seen, since we’re sure that release of new hardware and new features will also dictate what apps are being developed, and whether or not it will convince customers to switch platforms, but what do you guys think of these figures?