iPhone app downloads exceed Android counterparts
iPhone users are more likely to download smartphone applications than Android users, with iOS apps outperforming their Android counterparts, an app developer has revealed.
Speaking with TrustedReviews, Dan Beasley, Head of Mobile at development firm Jam, has suggested that the same app on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms will prove more popular with Apple handset owners as “iPhone users are likely to be searching for more applications.”
Suggesting that iPhone users are more app savvy than Android handset owners, Beasley has revealed that iPhone apps regularly record triple the downloads of their identical Android-based counterparts. He said: “Generally, for us, app downloads tend to be split three-to-one in favour of iPhone despite each app we do being so different, for very different brands and very different audiences.”
Using the RBS Six Nations Live Challenge app, developed by his team at Jam, as an example, Bealey stated: “Last year iPhone out performed Android about four-to-one in terms of downloads.”
Looking ahead to the 2013 iteration of the rugby tie-in application, currently being prepped ahead of this weekend’s opening encounters, Jam’s Head of Mobile added: “I’m expecting that to have shifted a lot towards Android. I think iPhone will still rule in downloads but I don’t think it will be such a difference, it may be two-to-one this time.”
Suggesting that the Android platform is currently narrowing the gap on its Apple rival, Beasley stated: “Obviously there is a numbers issue there, in the fact Android has gained significant market share, but I still think iPhone will dominate.”
Attempting to find reasoning in the discrepancy between iPhone and Android app downloads, Beasley has suggested the type of consumers attracted by the two platforms could be responsible for Apple’s increased app activity, stating Android users are slower to grasp the possibilities on offer.
“With Android, because there is such a varied demographic, it is taking users longer to understand the benefits of downloading applications,” Beasley said. “You can’t go into a phone shop now without buying a smartphone. There are many people who didn’t want a smartphone but will come out with an Android.”
Are you an Apple or an Android handset owner? Roughly how many smartphone and tablet applications would you say you download in a week? Let us know via the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or through the comment boxes below.