App Annie has presented a large report on the dynamics of App Store and Google Play revenue for December 2012. Just below is a short version of it.
Overall results
In the last quarter of the past year, both the App Store and Google Play have significantly increased profits. Moreover, at the official Android store, it doubled in just one quarter.
In the same three months, the volume of the App Store grew by only one fifth. Despite the impressive dynamics of Google Play in absolute terms, it still earns significantly less than the App Store, namely 3.5 times less.
It is clear that such high rates were the result of the emergence of new users on both platforms: at Christmas, many give themselves, and some give their loved ones mobile devices. For the first time after the purchase, they are especially actively used, they buy applications, let’s say, get acquainted with the capabilities of the platforms. As a result, downloads are growing.
China’s profit is growing
The top five countries in terms of mobile revenue in the App Store in the 4th quarter, compared to the 3rd quarter, has not changed and looks like this: USA, Japan, UK, Australia and Canada. They accounted for 60% of all profits from the App Store in the 4th quarter of 2012.
However, there have been changes in the top ten: China has stepped from the 7th position to the 6th. Against the background of Tim Cook’s words that the Celestial Empire shows the highest growth rates (we are talking not only about the App Store, but also about Apple as a whole) and is ready to work more closely with this market, it is quite possible that in the next quarter we will see China in the top five most profitable countries.
Google “hit”
As we noted a little above, Google Play’s profit for the 4th quarter of 2012 turned out to be twice as much as the profit for the 3rd quarter of the same year. The drivers of its growth were Japan and South Korea, which provided the market with about 50% of all profits in October-December.
The growth is ensured by the high popularity of games.
In December 2012, Japan, the United States and South Korea ranked first, second and third in terms of profits on Google Play, respectively. These three are also the leaders in gaming costs. In the last month alone, 76% of Google Play’s American revenue came from games. In Japan, this figure is slightly higher – 88%, in South Korea it is 95%.
iOS Developer Tops
Apple remains the world leader in iOS app downloads. Google and EA also retained the second and third positions. Immediately five positions up (9th place) Storm8 jumped (on Christmas alone, the total downloads of all the company’s games amounted to 2 million). However, this most likely happened not due to the popularization of World War, but to the high performance of its casual games, which the company distributes under the TeamLava brand.
Electronic Arts once again became the highest-grossing publisher with a library of 958 applications, shifting Supercell to second place. The Simpsons™: Tapped Out is responsible for most of the electronics’ revenue. Very good indicators were demonstrated by Japanese GungHo Online, which moved from 11th to 5th place thanks to Puzzle & Dragons, and SQUARE ENIX, which found itself in 9th place after the release of Final Fantasy IV.
Tops of Android developers
On Google Play, if we talk about the leading companies in downloads, everything is not so clear and straightforward. First place for Facebook apps. But in second place is the South Korean NHN Corp, which shifted Finnish Rovio from there to the third position.
Both on iOS and Android, Outfit 7 feels great. Only here the company is on the 6th, not on the 10th place. Out of curiosity: the Chinese GO Launcher is on, attention, the 5th position. The office is not engaged in games, it lives with various software. The company’s flagship project is the extremely popular UI – GO Launcher EX customizer.
The top leading companies in terms of revenue on Google Play were occupied by Japanese and Korean companies. The exception is Gameloft, which is located on the 8th position.
Gaming tops
In December, one of the main surprises was Candy Crush Saga from King.com . The game, released back in November, unexpectedly rose by as many as 28 positions and entered the top five highest-grossing games of the last month of 2012. Minecraft – Pocket Edition also performed very well, which was purchased by more than 700 thousand users during the Christmas season.
There are no familiar names in the Google Play box office top, moreover, it is not possible to read half of them if you do not know Japanese or Korean.
