Google's App Store Is Catching Up To Apple's

A new report from App Annie shows that the Google Play Store for Android apps and other digital content is starting to catch up to Apple's App store.

The chart above shows that Google had more apps downloaded from the Play Store during the first three months of the year, while Apple beat its rival in terms of revenue.

App Annie doesn't disclose absolute numbers for downloads and revenue. The numbers seen on the chart are ranking figures meant to show the relative performance of the app stores in terms of downloads and revenues. They are not indicative of the exact figures.

Google Play beat the App Store by 45% in terms of downloads for the first few months of the year which is up from 35% in the previous quarter. However, Apple beat Android in terms of revenue by 85%. Still, the revenue gap between the two stores is getting narrower.

The data App Annie compiled came from 150 countries. Google Play saw more downloads come from Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey, while China became a crucial market for the App Store's growth during Q1. That could be because Apple started selling the iPhone on China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world with more than 700 million subscribers, this year.

Other factors that contributed to growth were messaging apps for both stores. Anti-virus and security apps became popular in Google Play, while Finance apps generated revenue for Apple during tax season.

Ultimately, Apple still has a comfortable lead against Android but that lead is getting smaller. Android apps are becoming more popular, but Apple has a better shot making more revenue for developers, which should entice them to keep making the best apps for iPhone first.

Android can surpass Apple, but it'll take some more time.

You can read the rest of the report here.