Why it's harder to make money on Android than on Apple's iOS
Out of 72,000 paid apps in Google's Android Market, only two have sold more than 500,000 copies — 80% of Android paid apps have sold fewer than 100 copies. Source: Distimo — The Utrecht-based analytics company Distimo generated …
Context & Ripple Effects
Utrecht-based analytics firm Distimo's breakdown of 72,000 paid Android Market apps — only two above 500,000 copies sold, 80% below 100 — puts hard numbers on what developers have suspected: the paid-app market on Android barely functions. The story traveled widely for a single-day datapoint, picked up the same day by AllThingsD under the framing that Android users like apps but not paying for them.
The timing sharpens the contrast with Apple, which heads into its WWDC conference amid rumors of an iOS 5 unveiling and a new iPhone — unconfirmed, but consistent with Apple's cadence of controlling both the device and the store where developers actually get paid. The Distimo data lands squarely in that window.
First-order effects
- Independent app developers choosing where to launch paid software now have Distimo's distribution curve as evidence to build for iOS first and treat Android as a secondary port.
- Google's Android Market team faces a demonstrated monetization problem it cannot attribute to catalog size — 72,000 paid apps exist, but almost none sell at scale.
Second-order effects
- With paid downloads this thin on Android, developers are pushed toward ad-supported and free models on that platform, which matches AllThingsD's read that Android users balk at payment rather than at apps.
- Handset makers and carriers courting exclusive or early Android apps lose negotiating leverage against Apple's App Store, where the same title reliably earns more.
Third-order effects
- If the volume-versus-revenue split persists, the app economy structurally bifurcates: Android wins installs and iOS wins developer income, forcing Google to rebuild payments and carrier billing to keep its platform attractive.
- Analytics firms such as Distimo become the de facto referees of platform health, with their per-platform revenue curves shaping where venture-backed studios allocate engineering budgets.
The trend: Mobile app economics are splitting into an Android-led download market and an iOS-led revenue market, with third-party analytics like Distimo's becoming the standard evidence developers use to sequence their launches.