More Android Apps Downloaded in Q1, But Apple Had Higher Revenue

Fifty-one percent of the apps downloaded during Q1 of 2013 were downloaded from Google Play, according to a report released by Canalys on Monday.

While Google had the majority when it came to the number of downloads, it didn't earn top honors in terms of revenue. Canalys reported that Apple was the big winner there, taking home 74% of app revenue during the same period.

"Apple's App Store and Google Play remain the heavyweights in the app store world. In comparison, BlackBerry World and the Windows Phone Store remain distant challengers today, though they still should not be ignored," Tim Shepherd, a Canalys senior analyst, said in statement.

Some of the strongest growth over the quarter was seen in emerging markets such as Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil. While those areas saw significant growth in terms of downloads, that didn't necessarily translate into revenue.

"This is a multi-billion-dollar growth market, with more and more consumers around the world now comfortable and confident in finding apps, downloading them and making in-app purchases, on a growing addressable base of smart phones and tablets," said Adam Daum, Canalys' chief analyst of analytics.

In North America where smartphones are commonplace, app downloads were up 8%, with revenue trailing slightly behind at 6%.

Altogether, the four leading app stores — Google, Apple, BlackBerry and Windows — had a total of 13.4 billion downloads during Q1, equaling revenue of $2.2 billion.

Image courtesy of Flickr, iphoneshopusa

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