Android has a monetization problem. According to a report from Flurry, for every dollar of iOS revenue, developers only get 24 cents from Android.
Recently, we spoke with Peter Farago, VP of Marketing at Flurry, to get his thoughts on the mobile platform wars. Flurry is a mobile analytics company and so has a pretty good vantage point on trends and developments in the app ecosystem.
Farago laid out three reasons for us that he thinks are behind Android's monetization gap:
Payments are not seamless on Android. Google Wallet, a new mobile payments system, was supposed to help solve this problem. However, as Farago told us, "Google Wallet has limited penetration, there is commerce friction." Compare this to other platforms. With iOS, you can link your phone to your iTunes account and download an app with one click. Farago also cited Kindle Fire as another example. When a consumer fires up their brand-new Kindle Fire, they have to put a credit card down for the Kindle store, or else they can't use the device.
"They don't have a curated store." This is Farago's personal hypothesis. As a result of the platform's nature, Android has a less efficient app distribution model than iOS. Farago thinks consumers have been burned more on Android, or, as he put it, "There's a lot of garbage on the shelf."
"The consumer on Android is less willing to pay, there is more of an expectation that they get free stuff." Farago tells us this is a lot of developers' hypothesis. However, he believes it is often a self-fulfilling prophecy; developers choose to release a free, ad-supported Android app. He pointed to Rovio's Angry Birds Space, one of the most popular games of all time, as an example. Rovio only released a premium version on iOS. However, they created a free version, in addition to a premium one, for Android.
Farago also believes that Google will have a hard time fixing the problem, it goes against the company's DNA. Google wants to create highly scalable, frictionless systems. Consequently, it's the "anti-customer service company;" search engines don't have help lines. Apple and Amazon, on the other hand, have customer and retail in their DNA, it is a critical aspect of their user experience.
Furthermore, Farago told us, "It's against their culture, but it's also against their business model." Google wants to drive ad revenue, they are not as worried about the store. Their primary concern is expanding their ad inventory.
Closing Android's monetization gap, therefore, is not only a cultural challenge, but an inherent issue with the platform's business model.
We go deep in the weeds of this topic in our special report on the mobile platform wars.
Via sfgate
That is completely untrue, Google has great customer service for one. I have only had to make use of them a handful of times since I have used their service for the last 4 years at the least. Apple on the other hand has retail stores and their customer service/support is horrendous. Goggle's payment system only requires you to link a card to the system, same as iTunes. Before you make an assumption that developers make more money developing for iOs remember to research the upfront cost of being able to supply apps on the apple store.They have to pay a very high upfront cost to get a developers kit, and it really isn't all that difficult to program for a product store when there is only a handful of devices compared to the hundreds that Android developers face. Androids users want free apps yes, but we also support the developers that take the time to support their customers and ensure that their product works on all the devices and as many of the current OS's that Android has on the market at any one time.
ReplyDeleteThe moral of this story is that Apple sucks, and an open source OS will come out on top.