Apple announced that customers spent over $10 billion on the App Store in 2013, including $1 billion in December alone. This record-breaking number of app revenue makes December the most successful month in App Store history. Apple developers have now earned $15 billion on the App Store. With the introduction of iOS7, developers were able to create apps that integrated with the redesigned user interface. The year brought in new apps created by international developers that saw high success. These apps include Candy Crush Saga, Puzzles & Dragons, Minecraft, QuizUp and Clumsy Ninja.
The growth of Google Play revenue over the course of 2013 may serve as a warning to Apple, according to Distimo. Distomo's Year in Review report looked at the top downloads by country, app business models and more. The report showed that Google Play's revenue grew by 51 percent from the end of June to November 2013, while the Apple App Store increased by only 12 percent. Apple App Store still leads in terms of revenue, but Google Play's market share saw an increase.
As a forefront of mobile technology, Japan has moved from feature phones to smartphones backed by a high spending rate on app downloads. An App Annie Japan Spotlight report shows that Japan has overtaken the United States for app store revenue and will continue to do so in the future. The report shows which publishers are driving the growth and looks ahead to future trends in smartphone penetration. With the constant growth, Japan has become one of the fastest-growing regions in the app world.
LINE has held top spot in the Google Play publisher revenue rankings in the Apps Index since April 2013. In December, they went one better by taking top spot for publisher revenue in both Google Play and the iOS App Store. This ended a phenomenal run for Pandora, who held the top position in the iOS App Store since April 2013.
With the holiday season at the end of the year, apps such as OfficeMax's Elf Yourself also saw success, especially with in-app purchases. Apple held the top spot for app publisher for the end of the year. With the help of Apple's 12 Days of of Gifts, the publisher was able to maintain its top ranking, with Google following shortly after.
With the decision to transition from paid to freemium, Angry Birds Go! positioned itself to race to the top of the game download charts for iOS. To further expand on the download success, the publisher also temporarily dropped the purchase price of Angry Birds Star Wars II, resulting in an increase in downloads and a very successful end of year for Rovio.
This App Annie Index 2013 Retrospective report recaps the top trends of 2013 with insights to the top-growing countries, categories, app stores, and more. According to the report, BRIC countries and 5 other regions outpaced the big 3 superpowers in download and revenue growth, both iOS App Store and Google Play experienced a surge in app store game revenue, vaulting them ahead of handhelds in 2013 for the first time ever, and freemium as a business model continued to be massively successful for a range of app categories in 2013, with games seeing the most money.
The month of December saw a successful spike for both free and paid app downloads for Apple App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon App Store. The December holiday season saw chart-topping downloads from holiday related apps. Apple's own 12 Days of Gifts topped its charts, Facebook came out on top for Google Play, and Candy Crush Saga placed no. 1 for the Amazon App Store. In the paid app category, Minecraft - Pocket Edition remained no 1 for Apple App Store and the Amazon App Store and SwiftKey Keyboard for Goolge Play Store.
According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, Android captured 79 percent share of all smartphones shipped worldwide and extended its lead over Apple, Microsoft and other rivals. Android shipped four times more smartphones than Apple and Microsoft combined. It seems that 2013 was definitely the year of the Android.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), vendors shipped one billion smartphones in 2013, a record high for the mobile industry. Smartphones accounted for 55.1 percent of all mobile phone shipments in 2013 with Samsung ending the quarter as the worldwide leader in phone shipments, followed by Apple who sustained demand from its initial markets.
According to Evans Data, 41 percent of Android developers finish their app in one month or less. With the constant need to product new apps, developers are better off looking to Android as their first market. Additionally, Evans Data also found that only 36 percent of iOS and 34 percent of Windows Phone developers said they could achieve as quickly a turnaround. For developers targeting tablets, 84 percent said they would choose Android as their lead mobile platform over iOS or Windows Phone.
With just 25 engineers and a commitment to no games, no ads, and no gimmicks, WhatsApp boasts 430 million active users, with 30 million active users in Germany alone. According to Jan Koum, CEO, the app's main focus is great user experience, applications that are fast, and pure messaging. The app processes 50 billion messages in total, which is almost as much as SMS. Even though the app is on track for continued growth, monetization is a goal that is far down the road, according to Koum.
Tagged: #Apple, #AppStore, #iOS7, #CandyCrushSaga, #GooglePlay, #AppAnnieJapan, #AngryBirds, #Freemium, #Android, #developers, #WhatsApp