Analyst: Apple Beats Android 12:1 in Mobile App Revenue

Android may have more market share than iPhone, but it’s Apple’s platform that has claimed the lion’s share of paid mobile app revenue, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. In a research note to clients obtained by The Mac Observer, Mr. Munster estimated that Apple has garnered between 85% and 90% of all paid mobile app revenues, while Android has generated only 7%, giving Apple better than a 12:1 lead on revenues.

Gene Munster Chart

Moving forward, the analyst believes that Apple will continue to maintain 70% of those paid downloads, even while he expects Android to continue to grow faster than Apple’s iPhone.

“While Google has closed the gap in terms of app dollars spent over the past year and we continue to believe Android will grow smartphone share faster than Apple, we believe Apple is likely to maintain 70%+ share of mobile app dollars spent over the next 3-4 years,” the analyst wrote.

To put some dollars to those percentage, the analyst estimates that Google has generated some US$330 million in paid mobile app sales. That compares to $4.9 billion in mobile app sales for Apple. A big part of the equation is that Android users don’t want to actually pay for apps.

In the chart above, Mr. Munster has estimated total paid downloads and total downloads for both platforms, and he believes Android users pay for just 1.3% of their apps. App Store customers, on the other hand, pay for 13.5% of their apps.

Mr. Munster maintains an “Overweight” rating on both company’s stocks.

Shares of AAPL opened higher on Tuesday at $371.96, up $2.95 (+0.80%). Shares of GOOG also opened higher, at $582.30, up $1.36 (+0.23%).

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.