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The search engine giant and its interminable battles

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From ad business to mobile payments, the search engine gaint has many fights to win

Recently Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), through its executive chairman Eric Schmidt, responded to Tim Cook’s, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO, letter on privacy.  The letter distanced Apple from use of consumer data, a practice common with data mining companies such as those engaged in ad businesses.

The response could open a war of words on privacy between these two tech giants, but this not the only war that the search engine giant is fighting. Since the company is engaged in different business niches, the company has made so many rivals and thus receiving blows from all directions. Here are Google’s current battles and how it is handling each an every one of them:

Google vs. Facebook –ad business

Over one and a half years ago, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) bought Microsoft Corp’s (NASADQ: MSFT) Atlas ad measurement and serving platform. The social media network has now revamped this app and is soon launching it to help its advertisers measure the performance of the ads they post on the social network, its apps or third party sites. And with Facebook’s mobile ads performing exceptionally well, Google has every reason to worry of its DoubleClick display ad unit.

Google is not sleeping on the job, however. The company acquired ad measurement platform Adometry and has been upgrading its system to perform better by being able to track offline and cross-device activity. Besides this, the company launched an app install ad service for AdWords search ad. This will definitely help it secure its position as the number one online advertiser.

Google vs. Samsung: the entry of Tizen OS

The South Korean electronincs company Samsung has been gradually developing its OS known as Tizen. The system is not only meant for smartphones, but also tablets and home appliances. This bad news to Google as Samsung has been the real force behind Android dominance in the smartphone market.

To replace Samsung, Google has partnered with HTC to make its next 9-inch Nexus tablets. Both Google and HTC are poised to benefit from this deal. The search engine giant will be reducing reliance on Samsung through supplier diversification, while the Chinese gadget maker will benefit from the Nexus effect.

Payment Service: Google VS. Apple

On Sept 9 Apple unveiled its iPhone 6, and also making its debut was Apple Pay, a mobile payment solution. While Google was a first mover in the mobile payment market, the search giant failed to make any impact. But Apple has been able to convince financial industry players such as merchants, banks and insurers to accept its mobile payment service. Already some top-tier merchants are on-board including McDonald’s, Whole Foods, Duane Reade, Subway, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Staples and Disney.

In response to Apple’s onslaught on e-Payments solutions, Google is rumoured to be working with eBay Inc’s (NASDAQ: EBAY) subsidiary PayPal. This has even prompted rumours that Google might as well acquire eBay or its subsidiary.  Whatever the case, partnership with PayPal, which has gained global traction as an online payment network, will be a perfect response. Also the availability of iOS 8 mobile payment solution has created a gap for a similar solution for android. Actually, industry players will be quick to embrace an android mobile payment solution as it the largest mobile community.

Conclusion

Google has ventured in virtually every business that relates to the internet. This has created different angles for competition as each player scramble for the open market. While the search giant has many battles to fight, it has nothing to fear as it has a formidable defence thanks to huge amount of money on its coffers.

Apple introduce new encryption iOS 8 Software

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The new iOS 8 software will be able to encrypt user’s data by default

There have been several cases where Android users have lost their private information through hacking and other illegal means but this will soon be a thing of the past. Google and Apple are set to introduce a new mobile operating system that will be able to protect users’ private information through default encryption. This will make it impossible for anyone to access user’s information including Apple Company itself. Therefore even incidences of users’ private information being given to law enforcing authorities without their consent will no longer be there.

All mobile devices running the new iOS 8 software will be encrypted by default thus assuring protection to user’s data. Google and Apple have offered the encryption for quite some time now although many of the Android users were not aware of it and therefore were not running it on their devices.

Mr. Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, through an online message said that the company’s main commitment is to provide their clients with the greatest user experience without compromising their privacy. The new software will assure users their privacy as they use their mobile devices.

Clarification

Mr. Cook also emphasized that the new iOS 8 software is meant to improve customers’ privacy only and Apple will not use its clients’ private information to disseminate any advertisement information to them from Google or any other partners. He said that Apple does not use information stored by clients on their iPhone or iCloud to advertise to them nor do they read any messages or emails stores on users’ devices. He also said that Apple has a specific function for business advertisement called iAd, which users can disable.

Google announced their support on the default encryption saying that the encryption had been offered by Android for the past three years although it was not on default mode. Since the new encryption will be by default, Android users will not be required to turn it on.

Apple and Google are now following the footsteps of Blackberry which has offered default data encryption for quite some time. The move by the two companies to launch the new iOS 8 software comes following the leakage of some nude photos of celebrities over the internet in earlier September. Among those affected was Jennifer Lawrence and the leakage was attributed to iCloud storage services offered by Apple.

Law Enforcing Authorities   

With the new iOS 8 software, most US companies will also be secured against their private information being handed over to law enforcing authorities without their consent. Various US firms in technology industry including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox and Twitter have been fighting against their private information being handed over to law enforcing authorities thus threatening their privacy.

David Emm, a researcher at Kaspersky Lab, told BBC that default encryption is more about privacy rather than protection. He said that with automatic encryption, it will be difficult for users’ private information to be accessed by third parties. He also clarified that the protection will only apply to data on Apple or Android devices, but any information stored on iCloud could still be accessed by law enforcing authorities.

Facebook capture of mobile ad disturbs Google

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Is Facebook a Daunting Threat to Google?

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) lead in ad revenue. Google is way ahead of Facebook; but the world’s number social network has been making impressive progress in the mobile space. The search engine giant this year landed ad revenue of $14.3 billion in the second quarter compared to Facebook’s $2.68 billion. Ad revenue covers 90% of the companies’ overall revenue.

Facebook seems to have captured the mobile scene as Google remains struggling.  Facebook’s mobile ads hit 60% of its total ad revenues while Google reaches only 12%.   Chances are the social networking company is becoming the world king of mobile ads in two to three years.

Facebook mobile ad kit

Facebook has pinched a few plays from Google, such as the self-service tool, a clear knock-off from Google AdWords. In October 2012, Facebook also launched Mobile app-install ads. App-installs drive more traffic to Facebook ads and lure users to download them. Since the introduction, Facebook has had more than 350 million apps downloaded. With $2 to $4 paid per download, Facebook is reaping big, according to Macquarie Equities Research. Facebook has also added lots of tools to drive traffic too mobile ads such as Use App, Watch Video, Listen Now, Shop Now, Play Game and Open Link.

The “cross-platform platform” mobile development tool announced by Facebook during this year’s f8 developer conference, among others, is set to be mobile developer friendly as it cuts across Android, iOS, and Windows devices. This is bound to lure many mobile developers. Facebook is additionally offering the mega SDK (software developer kit) to mobile app developers that will be created around app marketing services.

Google’s Key Vantage Points

There is no gainsaying Google is facing a tight competition from Facebook as far as monetizing ads is concerned, especially mobile ads. However, Facebook can’t touch the paid search Google’s money pot, and has no product to compete with that.

For now marketers still prefer Google to Facebook as a digital marketing platform. Forrester Research’s last year survey confirmed that people still prefer search marketing, which is Google main forte.

Forrester Researcher’s Nate Elliot, in an open letter, questioned Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for failing marketers. Only 16% of Facebook users ever see a brand post. Worse, only 15% of the ads ever hit the target of audience. In short, Facebook reaps big but hardly get marketers reaching their intended target audience.

This is not Facebook’s fault since they face the dilemma of satisfying the marketers and making itself unpopular to users by serving unsolicited ads or service less ads to retain a happier traffic.

Google however has a free way here as their ads responds to certain keywords users place in their search queries, making them more helpful to users.

Google has faced a decline in CPC due to two main reasons. One: more clicks come form emerging markets outside North America and secondly, the growth of mobile ads pulls down the CPC, given Mobile CPC is typically lower than desktop CPC.

Bottom line

Facebook is rapidly rising as one of the most dominant players in online ad scene, but this is in no way impacting negatively on Google’s growth. With the two giants running roughly distinctive paths in a fast growing market, there is sufficient space for co-existence without a cause of brawl.

Android Wear takes on the Apple iWatch

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Google to launch Moto 360 smartwatch

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG, GOOGL) is expected to release its Moto 360 smartwatch ahead of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) September 9th event. The android wear version has notable upgrades, including its ability to perform a number of functions independently, without necessarily being linked to an Android smartphone. The search company will be seeking to seize the moment in the lucrative wearable market with huge growth potential.

About Android Wear

Android wear is a modified version of Android operating system designed for the wearable, such as the smartwatch. The platform was launched at Google’s June I/O developer conference.

Earlier, the wearable market had problems with apps as developers had lacked a common platform to build them on. But now with Google’s android wear, apps in Google Play can be upgrade to support Android wear. According to the company’s engineering director for Android Wear David Singleton already thousands of apps on Google Play support Android Wear.

The wearable market has become the next battle ground for tech giants, with Apple rumoured to launch its iWatch perhaps in its next week’s event. The iPhone maker is known for its exquisite and elegant products, and its wearable will definitely be well received.

Banking on the first mover advantage

The iPhone maker is expected to unveil its iPhone 6 in a much waited event that might also see it unveil its first wearable product, the iWatch. However, if the company goes by its tradition of giving each of its products enough shinning moment, then it is likely that the market may have to wait a while longer for the wearable device from Apple. And this is exactly what the King of internet search business is counting on.

Google is seeking to benefit from the first mover advantage with its Moto 360 smartwatch as Apple still procrastinate. While this may not be possible as the iWatch may hit the market as early as next week, there is still a possibility that the iPhone maker may yet wait a little longer to launch its iWatch.

Capabilities of the new wearable

There are already existing Android-based wearable, but these devices have limited capabilities if not paired with other devices Smartphone or tablets. However, the yet to unveiled version is expected to improve on this. Such functions include:

  • Moto 360 GPS capabilities can also use geo-location data to track their user’s fitness sessions.
  • Comes with a set of Bluetooth headphones
  • Can store music and thus the user can go for a run and leave his phone at home, but still listen to music through the headphones.

Generally, Google has expanded non-paired functionalities of its new device. The company further plans to offer frequent updates to Android Wear extending the platforms capabilities.

Conclusion

The new Android Wear version is expected to give developers a platform that make easier to develop apps. This will further position Google to continue perform in businesses outside its core search business. While next week’s Apple’s event may put pressure on Google stock, the stock is worth holding on.

 

Twitch Deal: Its Amazon and not Google

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Amazon outwits Google in battle for Twitch

On July 25, we reported that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was in the verge of acquiring Twitch for $ 1 billion fee. Things seems to have taken a different turn and now Twitch has confirmed that it has been acquired by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) instead. It is emerging that e-commerce giant pounced on the deal after Google and Twitch arguably failed to agree on a breakup fee due to the antitrust issues.

Google has courted Twitch, a video game streaming website, since May when the first reports emerged that the two tech companies were in talks. While neither Twitch nor Google ever confirmed these reports in public, VentureBeat confirmed the deal saying it was only awaiting official confirmation.

Amazon Twitch Deal

On Monday Amazon confirmed the deal is happening. The e-commerce giant said in a press release that it is investing in Twitch, which dominates the online video streaming.

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear has also confirmed that Amazon has acquired his company. Through a statement posted on the company websites, he praises Amazon and justifies why the company accepted the e-commerce company’s offer.

“Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon. We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster.” – Emmert Shear, Twitch CEO.

“Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community.” – Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Amazon will pay $970 million in cash and potential add ons that may value the whole deal at $1.1 billion. The deal will be completed next year.

Amazon and Google battle on all fronts

The Twitch deal is just but one battle among the many battles these two American tech companies are involved in.

While both companies were conventionally not rivals, both companies have diversified their portfolios through innovations and acquisitions that they are now obvious rivals. Amazon’s co-business is e-commerce, while Google’s is digital marketing.

After acquiring Nest labs, Google now makes thermostats and smoke alarms, it has invested in Smartphone market through its Android Operating system, it operates an online retail store known as Google Shopping Express and it is still the leading digital medium of advertising. Amazon on the other hand ventured into electronics, has recently revamped its digital media investment especially T.V. programs, and is working on delivery drones. Google and Amazon are already offering same-day delivery in select markets for their retail sites.

Why Google wanted Twitch

Had Twitch deal gone through as thought, Google would have folded the live video game streaming service into its video division, YouTube. Twitch is YouTube’s biggest challenger in broadcasting and live-streaming on-demand videos, especially game sessions. Nevertheless, Google’s video unit is the world’s largest and most-visited content streaming website.

Gamers have preferred to use YouTube for posting game ads, highlights and tutorials, while using Twitch as the live broadcast platform. More than half of Twitch viewers spend at least 20 hours a week watching, with every viewer watching 106 minutes per day on average. In short, gamers spend more time on Twitch than YouTube. Consequently, fusing the two video giants would not only have helped the search engine giant eliminate competition, but also expand its video community.

Conclusion

The Twitch deal is strategic for Amazon given its recent foray in digital media. This acquisition will definitely help Amazon in its quest to become a heavyweight in digital advertising, a market which is currently dominated by the search Company.  To Google, missing Twitch is not just a big miss, but losing 50 million potential online viewers to its now sworn rival, Amazon.

JetPac and Gecko deals extend Google’s Domestic acquisitions

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Google Acquires Gecko Design and may use JetPac to strengthen its navigation app

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has acquired JetPac, amobile app, and Gecko Designs, which has a design company that has worked with renowned industries players such as DellHewlett-Packard Co. and wearable-device provider Fitbit Inc. The fees involved in both cases have not been revealed. The company had dedicated at least $20 billion of its foreign earnings for acquisitions. However, its latest acquisitions, which both bring different values in the own ways, could have been funded by holdings from its domestic coffers.

JetPac Deal

Here is what JetPac wrote on their website: “We are joining Google…we look forward to working on exciting projects with our colleagues at Google.” JetPac is an iPhone application that amasses picture data to identify trends in the data and in turn use it to identify trending locations. It is not clear why Google acquired the start-up, but given the capabilities of the app it is definitely something to do with location, that is Google Maps to be precise.

JetPac Features and uses

  • The start-up has two image recognition technologies, spotter and Deep Belief. These allow its users to locate top joints and restaurants. The apps customized suggestions may be what Google is interested in, because this can be fused with Google Maps just like Google’s “Near You” feature.
  • JetPac City Guides offer customized geographic information which could come in handy in Google’s quest to be the best personal electronic tour guide.

Gecko Designs Acquisition

Gecko Designs has been in business of product design and engineering for the past 18 years. The firm is headquartered in Los Gatos, California, but will now be joining Google’s X lab. The firm’s president Jacques Gagne confirmed the acquisition reports on a web post. He wrote: “This is an incredible opportunity for everyone at Gecko… We are very excited and honoured to join Google(x) and work on a variety of cutting edge projects.” Even though Google confirmed that it was bringing Gecko to X, it did not give out any details. Google has several projects in the pipeline including Android Car, Computerised Eyewear and other Wearable. Gecko Designs employees are experienced in design and they may prove very useful in giving the Google Glass final touches before its commercial launch.

Conclusion

Google is known for its never ending acquisition binge. The California-based search engine giant has built its empire through innovations and acquisitions. It has spent over $22 billion in acquisitions, and it has acquired at least 100 businesses including Android, YouTube, Nest Labs and Double Click. As a start-up, Google was merely meant to help estimate and rate importance of sites using back links, but 14 years down the road, the company has turned into a global tech conglomerate with unparalleled success. While its latest acquisitions, JetPac and Gecko, will soon vanish in the face of the earth, they are going to work behind the shadows to make life easier, as Google has always done. The two companies’ employees are now Google’s employees and will work together with in-house developers.

Ad Rates Battle: Google to stabilise its CPC

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Declining ad rates leaves Google exposed to Facebook blitz

When Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) released results of its second quarter ending June, the company generally displayed a solid quarter both on the basis of earnings and operating cash flow. The company had a remarkable 22% revenue growth. Even so, the search engine giant could not help but notice a disturbing trend – a continuing quarterly decline of its ad rate otherwise referred to cost-per-click (CPC).

Cost-per click is the price advertisers pay every time potential customer clicks on an advert. Google’s ad rate has taken a downturn over the past few years, and this decline has been linked to pricing pressure from other digital marketing firms such as Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), which is getting it right in mobile advertising.

While the search engine multinational still thrive with its businesses, it cannot ignore this negative trend that threatens its reign as the digital marketing master. The company has therefore hatched a plan to restore stability on its ad rates.

Comparing Google and Facebook on Ad Rates

In digital advertising, conversion rate is the key to success. Advertisers are happy if a good number of people who click on their ads end up buying the product. So ad rate should be directly proportional to the advertisement conversion rate.

The plan to stop declining cost-per-click must start with proper analysis of the market data. However, since Google gives its customers a free hand to customize their adverts, the company needs to provide them with improved tools. If the results are better, then customers will not even notice the higher fees.

In order to improve the conversion rate, the Google needs to tailor its adverts for specific audience. Actually this has been working for Facebook, which posted impressive revenue growth. The social media giant uses its ever increasing user data to customize ads visible on users’ pages.

Last quarter the Mark Zuckerberg’s firm garnered about $3 billion in revenue. While the revenue growth was driven by increased sale of ads, we cannot ignore its well tailored ads that attracted advertisers who were willing to pay without second thoughts.

Shopping Campaigns: Google’s response to Facebook threat

Already Google has AdWords and merchant accounts which its clients use to monitor different performance metrics of their posted advertisement. But if you compare these tools with Facebook’s, Google clients, to some extent, have limited options. This is why Google is planning to introduce a more comprehensive analytic suite for its customers.

Google has introduced Shopping Campaigns for Product Listing Ads (PLA) to help its advertisers to easily promote their products and connect with their consumers online. The new service rationalizes items management, has advanced reporting and provides comprehensive insights. According to Google, the new system will enable them which strategies are working so that they can adjust their efforts effectively.

Conclusion

It is undoubtedly true that Google’s ads business dwarfs Facebook’s, but the latter is quickly leaving the minion zone and this is a reason enough for the online search king to worry about. The good this is Google always learn from mistakes and it cannot afford to ignore the threat posed by the social media network. So it has already begun to explore ways to improve its worrisome ad rates. However, the game is on until the search engine giant does something about its floundering mobile ad business.

Google to Pay $1 Billion in Twitch Deal

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Google eliminates Competition for its Video unit by its new $1 Billion acquisition

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is in the verge of buying Twitch, the world’s largest video game streaming website, for $ 1 billion. VentureBeat reports that the deal is done and is only awaiting official confirmation. The Twitch deal will see Google fold the video game live-streaming service into its video service unit, YouTube.

About three months ago, there were reports that YouTube, Google Inc’s video division, was planning to acquire Twitch and its services. The game website was YouTube’s live-streaming footage biggest rival, and its purchase will help the former expands its line of operation.

Authenticity of the Twitch Deal Report

Until now, neither Google nor Twitch has said anything about the reports. However, the tech world is optimistic that they’ll soon make a statement. Perhaps both parties are waiting their legal officers to handle all the matters before they can make the deal public.

Since both Twitch and Google will be at the table in the GamesBeat 2014 event in Germany this September, there is every chance that if until then these reports have not been confirmed, then this event will be the best place for this public announcement.

About Twitch

Twich is the leading live game-broadcasting site. The site was officially launched three years ago. During the launch, it had only 3.2 viewers a month, but this has now swollen to over 45 million viewers a month.

Twitch has a huge fan base among youths, as most of its users are aged between 18 and 34 years. It has warded off threat from YouTube, and has been a constant pain in the ass for Google’s video unit.

People visit Twitch to watch live broadcast of video games and as at now more than one million gamer players broadcast themselves on this platform. The platform also has over 400,000 content providers, including GameSpot and Joystiq. Primarily, the site earns revenues through ads and it shares it with these content providers.

About 58% of Twitch viewers spend more than 20 hours a week watching, while on average viewer watch 106 minutes per day. The numbers may grow beyond these, thanks to earlier deals that will see Twitch built directly into the newest gaming consoles from both Sony and Microsoft.

What Next after Acquisition

In 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion and now the video site is now the internet premier video-streaming service. Twitch is likely to be folding into YouTube, and perhaps offer live streams of other forms of entertainment, after YouTube’s efforts have drastically failed to make an impression in those areas. Moreover, many game developers have been using both Twitch and YouTube. YouTube has for a long time offered gamers a platform to post their video game tutorials as well as highlights, while on the other side, Twitch has been their live broadcast platform.

After months of speculations, and behind the curtain talks between Twitch and YouTube, it now appears that the two streaming sites have agreed on the terms of the deal. While both parties remained tight-lipped about the deal, Twitch acquisition by Google will suffice.

Google Releases Q2 Earnings Report

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Google 2nd Quarter Earnings in Line with Expectations

The internet giant Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has revealed its second quarter earnings. According to its earnings report, the quarter, dating from March though June, saw its revenue rise to $16 billion, which is a 22% jump compared to last year. Its profit swelled by 6%, rising to $3.5 billion in the same period, thanks to impervious demand for its advertising services.

The company also announced that its chief business officer Nikesh Arora, who has been with the company for a decade now, will be leaving for SoftBank. His position will be filled by Google’s business founder, who formerly led the company’s sales team, Omid Kordestani.

Meanwhile, the stock market responded positively to the Google’s earning report, with its share price closing 1% higher.

Earning Report Breakdown

Revenues

Searches and the subsequent clicks on ads on Google search engine and partner sites continued to be the major source of revenues for the company. The number of paid clicks was 2% higher than in the first quarter, and 25% higher than the same period last year. The number of paid clicks on its own sites, such as the Google search engine, YouTube and Blogger, rose by 33%, while those of its partner sites increased by merely 9%.

However, these adverts continued to become cheaper, registering a 6% decrease from the same period in 2013, and remained stable from the first quarter of 2014.

Google now makes much of its revenue from its own website. $10.94 billion (69% of its total revenue) collected in the quarter was basically from traffic to its website. This figure is 23% higher compared to last year, and is enamours compared to the 7% increase in network revenues from partner sites. These sites delivered $3.2 billion into the search engine’s coffers.

Traffic Acquisition

Google is known to pay companies for placing its ads on their sites. It also pays web browsers for placing the search engine on their search bars. These costs make up the traffic acquisition costs and it increased by about $28 million from last year’s $3.01 billion.

The Company’s Future Prospects

Google’s growth is astounding. Ten years ago no one would have believed that Google would be this big. Then it posted revenues worth $3.2 billion, and now it is almost 20 times as large. Its sales have shown enormous growth with an average of about 40% annually. Yet, this growth has not come easy.

The company, which begun as a search engine tool and focused on ads for revenues, has now diversified its portfolio and is now a key player in the Smartphone market. Thanks to its strong financial muscle, the company is able to invest in different areas that would otherwise flex its position.

Many people believe that Google many not continue to grow at its current pace. However, this has been said for a while now, but the company shows no sign of aging growth. Its near monopoly in the search industry is one of it greatest strengths.  Its Android platform, which it may soon monetize, the budding wearable market, and introduction of its operating system to household appliances and automotives will play a huge role in its growth and development in the future. Other areas that investors should also pay keen attention to include its Google Glass and high-speed fibre optic robotics projects.

App Store Pays More Money than Play Store

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App Store Pays More Money than Play Store

iOS, App Store

Last week at the annual Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) I/O conference, it was revealed that iTunes app store developers take home 4 times the amount Google Play Store developers take. Google Senior Vice- President Sundar Pichai told developers that the search engine giant paid android developers more than $5 billion over the 12 months. However how huge the amount may seem, it is merely half of what Apple is approximated to have paid its iOS developers.

In 2013 alone, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shared more than $7 billion to app developers, and this year the company is expected to pay $12 billion or more to its developers. This is due to the fact that Apple products have a loyal customer base among the affluent. Thus, its customers spend more on applications.

Google Admits iOS Developers Earns More

Google admitted to its developers that their iOS counterparts earn more; nevertheless, android platform is slowly catching up. As we speak, there are about one billion active android users, while iOS users are slightly less than half of this, in fact 470 million users to be precise.

Apple has monetized its loyal fans better than Google, or perhaps the iOS platform users are much generous and willing to spend more on apps. If this trend is to continue, many app developers will continue finding Apple much attractive.

Despite the fact that android phones have outnumbered iphones in the market, the latter still dominates the U.S. and Canadian market. According to the data by Chitika, iOS 7 devices grossly dominate in two largest North American countries.

Mobile web traffic from iPhones stood at 84.3% in the U.S. and Canada as of February this year. The iPad, which also uses the iOS platform, is responsible for about 79% of the web traffic. This follows that Apple has monopolize the large part of the North American continent. The huge monopoly of the web traffic is partly the reason why iOS developers continue to take home more money than their android counterparts.

Apple is also targeting the Chinese market. Its yet to be released iphones with large screens are in line with the Chinese smartphone market demands. Android phones have enjoyed a good run in China so far because of their large displays which are preferred by the Chinese population.  Forrester Research data show that 40% of the android mobile devices sold this year had displays 5-inches or more. By producing large iphones, Apple will be eliminating the one big advantage that android users brag about. More iphone consumers mean more money for Apple, and more demand of iOS apps!

Conclusion

If the big spenders continue with their loyalty to the Apple brand, app store developers are still going to continue to mint more money than Google Play developers.  It has been two years and Apple has still kept the distance, the disparity in app sales.  Apple has for a long time targeted big spending customers, and this has and will for a long time be its greatest strength. If the trend continues, many play developers are likely to join the app store bandwagon.