Google’s Play store is gaining pace over Apple’s App Store. According to App Annie, Google Play Store reached over 19 billion downloads in Q4 2017. This graph is increasing year over year by 10%. Apple’s App store garnered around 7.7 billion downloads. Therefore, in comparison, Google’s Play Store leads Apple’s App Store by over 145%.
The above report further states that the total number of downloads of Google’s Play Store App only includes new downloads, not reinstalls or app updates. The three most popular categories of Play Store are Games, Finance, and Personalization which are expected to grow more. India outpaced the US for combined Play Store and App Store downloads in 2017. The sources suggest that finance is expected to continue to grow in Q1 2018 due to the impending tax season in the US and banks increasing the amount of interest in mobile apps.
Google’s Play Store has no doubt earned points over Apple’s App Store over the number of downloads, but in terms of consumer spending, Apple’s App Store holds its place. App store still saw 95% more in worldwide gross consumer spend in Q4 as it accounted for $11.5 billion, while the Play Store got around $5.9 billion. The major contributor to both platforms was the US, which holds 1st position, followed by South Korea at 2nd and Germany at 3rd. According to sources in terms of consumer spending for Q4 2017 Play Store and App Store both saw 20% year-over-year growth worldwide.
