While there are more Android handsets than iPhone, over 30% of internet traffic from mobile devices comes from iPhone, compared with just under 26% from Android devices. The remaining 44% comes from RIM and Symbian devices and other iOS devices like the iPad.
When all iOS devices are considered, 73% of ad revenue generated by them comes from apps rather than mobile websites. The typical mobile user spends around 100 minutes per day using apps, and nearly 18 million apps are downloaded yearly. Today, around 20% of all searches are mobile, and of those, 40% are local searches.
Android apps development is big. Really big. According to research firm Gartner, 79% of all smartphones sold between April and June this year were running Android: 177.9m handsets compared to Apple’s 31.9m iPhone. Another research firm, IDC, estimates that 62.6% of tablets that shipped to retailers between April and June were running Android: 28.2m devices versus 14.6m iPads.
Meanwhile, Google says that more than 1.5m new Android devices are being activated every day, it’s nearing 1bn activated in total so far, and that by the end of this year that total will include more than 70m Android tablets.
Yet a lot of apps still come out for Apple’s iOS first or even exclusively. Right now, if you own an iOS device, you can play Plants vs. Zombies 2, Clash of Clans and Worms 3, but Android owners can’t. Why are android apps developments behind?
Instagram launched on Android 18 months after iOS. Nike’s Nike+ Fuel Band still hasn’t made the leap. Mailbox and Tweetbot are still no-shows, and while much-praised children’s app-maker Toca Boca has 18 apps available on iOS, only one of them is also on Android.
It’s one of the blogosphere’s favorite tech topics. Is the iPhone this, can android apps development do that? Every new nugget of competitive information is fodder for an avalanche of coverage. Oftentimes, a story will declare that android apps development is beating iOS development or that iOS is beating Android.
Really, though, it’s silly to obsess over any one data point. If what you’re after is a clear idea of how the world’s two dominant mobile operating systems are doing — rather than an excuse to make bold proclamations and/or cheer for your favorite — you want to consider lots of data points.
Is android apps development better than iPhone? Let us know what you think. The battle rages on!