How much is an Android user worth? And one from iOS? Both Google and Apple are trying to maximize their revenue on their mobile platforms, and the metric that answers this question is the average monthly revenue per user in their app stores. Apple always knew very well how to squeeze this part of its business, and a recent study reveals that the Google platform has a lot of room for improvement.

quality vs quantity. Well-known analyst Horace Dediu described the current situation on his blog Asymco, and after years of analyzing the market, he made his conclusion clearly: “It is very important to segment customers, or to put it less politely, to distinguish customers correctly. Customer quality is equally important. . Important or more important than quantity”.

Android has more users… The latest EU data (July 2023) quoted by Dediu revealed that the Google app store has 284.6 million users, while the Apple App Store has 123 million, that is, less than half.

Source: Asymco.

… but beware. Apple and Google’s own data provide some important clues. Apple claims it has 650 million active users on the App Store, while Google says it has 2.5 billion active users, four times as many Android device users worldwide. But there are 167 million iPhone users versus 144 million Android users in the US: Apple smartphones are king there. This is important because it is an important factor for Apple.

Revenue (=”quality”). According to Dediu, it seems that the more money users have, the higher the share of iOS will be. In the app store revenue graph, you can see that revenue from the Apple App Store is almost double that of the Google Play Store: 81,000 million (1.93) compared to 42,000 in 2022. In contrast, the number of global users is 3.8 times that of the iPhone.

Apple takes too much juice from its users. These rates ultimately turn out to be overwhelming: Google ensures that each user of the Play Store earns $1.4 per month, while Apple ensures its users earn $10.4 per month, or 7.45 times more.

Premium users. Dediu’s data confirms remote data once again: the iOS platform continues to overtake Android in revenue per user, as the App Store managed to attract “not only 1,000 million customers, but also the top 1,000 million customers.” or in other words, those who have more economic resources and also spend more money on apps and games for their mobile phones.

envy of the market. The analyst himself also highlights how difficult it is to achieve what Apple has achieved. Attracting this user base is often done by pricing products high, “but this often results in a ‘luxury’ brand with a small user base that is only barely growing.” Apple has managed to position itself as an inspirational brand, but it also doesn’t stop growing; which means a fundamental advantage over Google and other competitors.

Image | james yarema

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