Google Play Revenue Increases Sixfold, But The App Store Still Pulls In 3.5 Times More

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Thanks to the increasing popularity of Google’s Android platform, Google Play revenue increased more than sixfold during 2012. The boost has helped the search giant gain ground on Apple’s App Store, but it still has a lot of work to do. Despite that growth, the App Store still rakes in 3.5 times more cash than Google Play does.

That’s according to a new report from research group App Annie, which monitors Google Play’s sales statistics. But the company will only disclose so much of its information; the rest it sells to software companies interested in the data and analytics.

What it has told us is that even though Google Play revenue has been boosted, Apple’s App Store still sees 3.5 times as much cash. On January 7, Apple announced that its App Store had surpassed more than 40 billion downloads since it opened its doors back in 2008, while its recent financial results revealed that it sold $333 million worth of apps a month between June and December.

Nevertheless, Android 70% share of the world’s smartphone market is certainly having a positive impact on Google Play, and according to App Annie, developers who once avoided Android and built exclusively for iOS are now dedicating resources to Google’s platform, too.

“Both platforms are very healthy,” said Oliver Lo, vice president of marketing for App Annie. “More and more publishers are going cross-platform than a year ago.”

App Annie says that Android’s boost has been helped by customers buying games in Japan and South Korea, while the App Store has seen a 20% increase thanks to the recent success of the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini.