Android or Iphone – Which is Ruling the Mobile Application Development Market?

‘Which platform do I want to target?’ ‘Should I build something new on the iOS or Android operating system?’ – Any developer who is into developing mobile applications, should first answer these questions prior to making any move. Though iPhones made a big hit on the market a few years ago, today Android powered phones are essentially paving way for the mobile phone developers. To be honest, in some way these android phones are overtaking the iPhones and are provoking a new sort of trend in the smartphone industry. However, when it comes to brand and classiness, nothing to could ever compete with iPhone.

First of all, you need to know about the differences between iPhone and Android. iPhone is a phone from Apple, whereas Android is a Google operating system that powers different number of phones. iPhone is based on the iOS operating system and android devices are based on the Android operating system. Let us discuss in detail on the several aspects involved in building an app for the android and iphone, and which one is better.

Present Market Share of Android and iPhone

A recent ComScore survey reports that around 33% of overall mobile phones in today’s market are Android devices. As Google Android powers a lot of different phones, it is quite difficult to calculate exactly how many phones were sold. The same ComScore survey also reported that iPhone shares only 25.2% of the market, which is almost 5% lesser than that of Android. However, considering iPhone as a one-man show (while Android is a home for a number of smartphones), the number is quite promising. It seems that Google Android phones command a larger share of market and are growing at a faster rate. All these factors symbolize that android is the apt platform for mobile application development. However, there are also few iphone application development services outsmarting the industry with professional apps.

Who Downloads More Apps – Android Or Iphone Users?

Android has relatively more users when compared to that of iphone. But according to Wikipedia, there are over 350, 000 apps available in the Apple App Store and more than 10 billion downloads have been hit so far in the app market. Androlib, which tracks the live count of Android App downloads has recently found out that there have been almost 5 billion android app downloads till date. So, iPhone users have downloaded more times than that of androids. But the same way, Android users vs iPhone users download almost the exact same number of apps on an average. Only the download rate is higher with iPhone.

Which Is The Biggest App Store Market?

As we see, iPhone apps have had more number of downloads and android apps are still on the way to catch up the count. However, it is quite important to see that which platform makes more money with app downloads. Most of the reports taken from 2010 to 2012 states that Apple App Store is the apparent winner in making revenue. The Google android market has not yet come closer to Apple in this area. In 2010, the Apple App Store brought almost $1.8 billion in revenue when it was just $102 million in the Google Android market. Another report released by IHS Screen Digest in 2011 and 2012 conveys that Apple App Store stands first in download rates and therewith the revenue brought in. Though Google Android is all on its fledge with growth rates increasing year by year, it is in no way near to the revenue made by Apple. One probable reason for this may be custom android application development. Most of the phones running on Androids differ each other and apps will work differently on each of them. This can be the major reason for why Android app market is less centralized.

Bottom Line

On an overall, both iPhone and Android apps are great markets which experience a constant higher growth potential. When it comes to app store, with no doubt Apple App Store takes away the score. The brand is huge and has already made up a great name in mobile application development. Of course, Android is also succeeding in all ways but the only concern with android app development is, you got to focus on an android device while developing an app. It is impossible to make an app work on all android devices. But, an iPhone app can be most probably used with all versions or even upgraded at any time needed. To my view, iPhone App development is a loyal industry to rely on to make money avail with, when compared to that of android.