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57% of Android apps are free -- iPhone apps: only 27%
57% of all Android Market apps are free, compared to 28% of the iPhone App Store and just 23% for the iPad. Only the Windows Marketplace has less free apps than the iPad -- but had anyone even heard of the Windows Marketplace before now? The Palm App Catalog is in second place with 34% free apps. No other smartphone platform gets above 30% (check out the damning graph above!)
As for an average paid app price, the results are equally interesting. BlackBerry App World, no doubt thanks to its large corporate clientele, lands at the top with a rather costly $6.97! Next is Windows Marketplace ($5.96), followed by iPad ($4.65) and iPhone ($4.01). Android apps averaged out at just $3.29 -- and if you want your apps under $3, the Nokia and Palm stores are your best bet!
But why is there such a disparity? TechCrunch, as usual, simply parrots the figures and pastes some pretty graphs. It's for two reasons, I think:
1) iPhone and iPad owners are paying the usual 'exclusivity' tax. It costs more to fix a Porsche than a Ford.
2) Android has a wildly different developer ecosystem and pathos. Android, by virtue of being an open source platform, will see a lot more open source apps. Openness breeds yet more openness!
Comments
32
Subscribe to commentsBrian!Jul 6th 2010 12:29PM
Uh... Apple is a porche is android is a ford?
Come on fanboy. I am an owner of an iPhone 4, iPad and my macbook - but I am under no illusions that any of these devices are the "Porche" in the computing world.
The iPhone 4 display is cool at first, but in the every day use it makes very little difference.
Contrary, I do like those 4in Android screens. Those new Android phones aren't much bigger than the iPhone4 either.
Apple's camera is improved, but it still isn't the best on a phone.
The forward facing camera is a gimmik - partly in Apple trying to shove their own conferencing codec. Why didn't they opt to utilize one of the many established video conferencing codecs... because control, not innovation.
And the iPhone4 is faster than my iPhone 3GS, but I am also under no illusions that this phone is faster than an Android phone.
Maybe there is just a third reason that there are less free apps on the Apple App Store?
3. Apple owners are suckers (me included).
We are trapped in the Apple eco-system. Hundreds of dollars invested in apps and media that only work on the Apple devices. To switch to any other phone/tablet/computer solution means starting over. Apple's marketing engine has hyped the public to believe that the iPhone is light years ahead of any other smart phone out there.
One day I'll break this damn AT&T contract and free myself. Heck, I'd like to be able to view Flash content on all my web devices. Screw the Flash haters - I can't even run the time waster posted here from this iPad... the *almost* best web browsing experience (minus the slower loading, no Flash/Java/etc..., and limited cache)
Sebastian AnthonyJul 6th 2010 12:35PM
Did you just call me an Apple fanboy...? :P
(I own a second-generation iPod, but that's it!)
Perhaps I should've made it clearer -- the iPhone would be a Porsche, while the 4-inch Androids would be a Ford Mustang. Less sexy, but more MUSCLE.
There are plenty of cheap and cheerful Android phones though -- and those were the ones I was referring to with 'Ford'!
powerhouselb2Jul 6th 2010 12:44PM
Wow, I like your brutal honesty. I gotta admit, I agree with you. Apple users are always talking about how secure their iPhone, iPad, and Apple notebooks and desktops are, but they have no idea what makes it secure. There are several devices out there that are comparable (even better in a few cases).
Abhi BeckertJul 6th 2010 11:01PM
Some of us "apple users" really do understand what makes it secure. In the case of Mac OS X vs Windows it's swings vs roundabouts, but iOS vs Android? There's no comparison, iOS is an order of magnitude more secure.
Software running natively on an iOS device is in a sandbox similar to javascript in a web browser.
Ever wonder why you can't download a file in safari on an iOS device? It's because the web browser, until recently, didn't have enough access to the hard drive. It could write the file to the disk, but no other app would be able to even check if the file exists, let alone open it.
powerhouselb2Jul 6th 2010 12:38PM
It seems to me that Apple products attract users that don't want to be concerned with security. Apple apps being more expensive isn't all that surprising. there is a bit more security at the very least with the Apple apps than with Android apps. I like Android because the apps are less expensive and I'm usually able to find exactly what I'm looking for. Yeah, a lot of junk on Android, but there is a lot of great apps, too.
PonTelonJul 6th 2010 12:46PM
I'd venture to see if there is a correlation with price and app store size. There are a lot more developers for iPhone apps because they can make more money.
I suppose such a correlation would break down when adding in Blackberry, which on average costs more, but has a much smaller store size.
It's been a while since I've played with a Blackberry, but aren't they more "Feature phone with email and some weak web-browsing" than a true smartphone by today's standards? (honest question).
obiJul 7th 2010 3:10AM
ok
around 50000 android apps, and around 230000 Iphone apps:
57% x 50000 =>28.500 free android apps
27% x 230000 => 62.100 free apps:
quote:
Not only does Android have significantly more free apps than either the iPhone or iPad, but paid apps also cost less on Android.
quote
WTF?
do the math, call out this article for misleading statements.
Can make any bogus claims, just interpret and spin numbers from an investigation into a BS article, which handily leaves out the real important information. This should be in the comedy section.
Sebastian AnthonyJul 7th 2010 6:43AM
Where do you get the '50,000' figure from?
(And 230,000, for that matter.)
KlaxxionJul 7th 2010 2:39PM
- 27% of 225,000 = over 60,000 free apps for the iPhone.
- 57% of 42,000 = over 23,000 free apps for Android.
60,000 > 23,000
Android doesn't have half as many free apps as Apple store.
*notices Sebastian Anthony's Android ico*
No bias in this post whatsoever
There is a reason why this second rate blogger is writing for 'downloadsquad.'
Sebastian AnthonyJul 7th 2010 6:06PM
The Android icon is there because the post is 'categorized' under Android. It's just something the blog software does! I'm not a huge fan of either platform, FWIW.
Where do you get the '42,000' figure from?
quantaJul 9th 2010 1:38PM
I'd like to point out that, since Android Marketplace uses Google Checkout for purchases, many Android developers around the world have no choice but to offer their app for free. Google Checkout only works for those with US or UK bank accounts and addresses.
They can, however, sell a paid version of their app on their own website using PayPal or other payment gateway. As a result, many adopt a freemium model and can go a long way to explaining the high percent of free listed Android apps.
iPhone App ReviewsJul 14th 2010 4:58AM
This was really informative post,..Thanks