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'Pokémon Go' hits 100 million downloads
Pokémon Go is still going strong, despite privacy scares and feature bugs. According to a report by App Annie, it has now been installed over 100 million times, up 25 million from late July. While that number is from an analyst report and the actual number of downloads could be slightly different, it's not that hard to believe. As TechCrunch noted, the game was downloaded 50 million times on Android within only 19 days according to previous estimates, whereas it took 77 days for ColorSwitch to get to that point.
Google Play catching up with iOS App Store in volume, trails in revenue
The App Annie Index market report for the first quarter of 2013 is out, showing some fascinating trends. While the Android-centric Google Play app store is seeing continued growth in download volume, the iOS App Store dominates revenues, earning almost 2.6 times the app revenue of Google Play. Almost half of the total iOS downloads were from four countries -- the US, China, United Kingdom and Japan. Not surprisingly, those four countries were also responsible for the most revenue from the iOS App Store, followed by Australia. App Annie analysts noted that games were the big growth driver for the iOS App Store and made up almost 40 percent of downloads in the first quarter. One fascinating trend is that the Photo and Video category moved up to the No. 3 spot during the quarter, leading this blogger to wonder if that trend reflects increased usage of the iPhone as a primary camera. Games were also the top category in the iOS App Store by revenue, followed by Productivity, Social Networking, Education and Entertainment apps. How big are games as a revenue generator for iOS? Almost 70 percent of App Store revenue came from firing birds at pigs and slaying raiding zombies.
Daily Update for February 21, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Consumer spending on mobile games tops that for portable consoles
The market for dedicated portable game consoles from Nintendo and Sony appears to be shrinking due to competition from iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Data from IDC and App Annie shows that fourth-quarter 2012 consumer spending on game apps from the App Store and Google Play was greater than spending on those portable consoles. In the Portable Gaming Report (PDF), the two companies noted that well over 20 billion games were downloaded across the mobile platforms in 2012, and that over a third of app downloads were games. The report also pointed out a fascinating statistic -- in terms of total consumer spending on games, Nintendo and Apple were almost equal. That Apple could become a major player in gaming in less than five years since the App Store first opened its virtual doors is amazing, particularly when the Nintendo DS and its successors have been around since 2004. One other key comment from the IDC / App Annie report was that purchases of dedicated game consoles appear to be highly seasonal, with 60 percent of spending in the fourth quarter of 2012 being done in December. Game app purchases, on the other hand, don't exhibit the seasonal variability of the dedicated units. [via The Verge]
iOS games make 3.5 times more than Android counterparts
Popular App Store tracker App Annie has released its latest report, and the news is good for iOS developers. Not only is iOS revenue up in general (by about 20% year over year), but it's still about three and a half times higher than Android revenue. Both Apple's App Store and Google Play saw big revenue increases in the latter half of last year, as you can see above, but iOS is still clearly much higher, which is definitely one of the reasons developers are so keen to be on Apple's platform in the first place. It's notable that the top apps on the App Store aren't games at all: Apple and Google are the two top companies with the most downloads on the marketplace, and they don't produce any games at all. But in terms of revenue, games are still the biggest moneymakers on the store, and companies like EA, Zynga, and GREE are definitely picking up plenty of revenue. It's interesting to note that some of the companies on top of the revenue list are still only running one or two games, so as big as the App Store is, any developer out there with a big enough hit still has a chance to make the top revenue list.
