Based on the full month and worldwide data, you can now view the most downloaded free, paid and top grossing global apps on April 2013. Our leaderboards are a great resource for anyone interested in mobile apps globally. These leaderboards list the most popular free, paid and grossing applications daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly per country and per category for the Apple App Store for iPhone, the Apple App Store for iPad and Google Play. Combining the monthly leaderboards across all countries and enriching with Distimo AppIQ data allows us to analyze the most successful apps worldwide.
Top Free Applications
The most downloaded free application worldwide in Google Play as well as in Apple App Store was the same as last month. So Candy Crush Saga was again the most downloaded app globally in the Apple App Store, while Facebook was again the most popular application in Google Play in April 2013. The top 5 free downloaded applications for Apple App Store has three new entries: Sonic Dash (2), Injustice: Gods Among Us (4) and Dentist Office (5). Remarkably Sonic Dash was a top paid app last month and now it is a top free app, as it became a free application with in-apps in the final days of March 2013. The other two entries are newcomers, both were released in April 2013.
The top 5 free downloaded applications for Google Play showed one new name. Instagram joined the top free most downloaded global applications in Google Play in April 2013, replacing Temple Run 2 on rank 5. Google Play’s top 5 contains only communication/social networking apps and no games. On the contrary, four out of five apps in the top 5 free applications for Apple App Store were games: Candy Crush Saga (1), Sonic Dash (2) , Injustice: Gods Among Us (4) and Dentist Office (5).
Top 5 Apple Free Downloaded Apps - Distimo - April 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Top 5 Android Free Downloaded Apps Per Google Play - Distimo - April 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Top Paid Applications
Like in March 2013 four out of five applications were games in Apple’s top 5, based on most paid downloads. Temple Run: Oz was the game that was downloaded most frequently across all countries in this store. Again, WhatsApp Messenger defeated all games and was the most downloaded paid application during April 2013. However there are also some changes as Cut the Rope: Time Travel (4) and Pou (5) are new entries in the top most downloaded paid applications. Zeptolab UK Limited has another a winner on their hands as Cut the Rope: Time Travel was just released mid April.
In Google Play there is a stable top 5, the same apps in almost the same order are listed as in March 2013. The only change is a switch between Minecraft (now 3, in March 4) and Poweramp Full Version Unlocker (now 4, in March 3). With SwiftKey Keyboard as leader, paid utility applications were more popular than games in Google Play. Only Minecraft made it as game in the top 5 in terms of paid downloads in Google Play.
Top 5 Apple Paid Downloaded Apps - Distimo - April 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Top 5 Android Paid Downloaded Apps per Google Play - Distimo - April 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Most Revenue Generating Applications
Supercell was still one of the most successful developers in the Apple App Store in April 2013. With only two apps in this store, Clash of Clans (1) and Hay Day (3), and both in the top global top 5, players are still enjoying Supercell’s games. Another stayer in the top is Candy Crush Saga. The two new names in the top are Injustice: Gods Among Us from Warner Bros. (4) and Modern War of Funzio, Inc. (5). The top is dominated by free apps with in-apps as all apps in this top 5 use the freemium business model.
In April 2013 you still see that the apps in the top 5 based on revenue for Google Play included mainly apps that were localized in Asia and hence generating most revenue from these countries instead of the US. There is an interesting newcomer in the top 5: LINE: Free Calls & Messages. The games that are related to Kakao have generated a lot of revenue in Korea, which resulted in two top five positions in Google Play, 윈드러너 for Kakao (Windrunner) and 다함께 차차차 for Kakao (Everybody Cha Cha Cha!), while LINE: Free Calls & Messages gained its revenue almost solely in Japan.
Top 5 Apple Revenue Generating Appliations - Distimo - April 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Top 5 Android Revenue Generating Applications - Distimo - April 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
COMMENTARY: The apps economy stats are pretty staggering. In first quarter of 2013 alone, the app downloads amounted to more than 13.4 billion across four major stores – Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry World – according to the latest report by Canalys.
App downloads grew by 11% between Quarter 4 2012 and Quarter 1 2013. Total revenue generated in the apps economy grew by 9% to reach $2.2 billion. Revenue sources are paid-for apps, in-app purchases, and subscription.
Apple App Store has over 775,000 apps. Google Play is predicted to become the first store to reach the 1 million apps mark by June 2013.
In terms of revenue, Apple App Store is the king of the hill. The App Store commanded a whopping 74% of total revenue generated by the four stores, or $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2013. As Android has the largest installed base in the world, it is no surprise Google Play is leading the number of app downloads during the period, with 51% of the 13.4 billion downloads.
Tim Shepherd, Canalys Senior Analyst said.
“Apple’s App Store and Google Play remain the heavyweights in the app store world. In comparison, BlackBerry World and the Windows Phone Store remain distant challengers today, though they still should not be ignored.”
He continued,
“The strength of app ecosystems will increasingly help to determine winners and losers in the smart device industry. BlackBerry 10 now has more than 100,000 apps available through its storefront, showing good growth from the 70,000 it boasted at launch, and the new devices on the platform have given BlackBerry a much greater chance to compete for consumer attention. Its app story is going from strength to strength, but there is no room for complacency. Microsoft, with the help of partners such as Nokia, is also making good progress attracting some important titles to the Windows Phone platform, but it too needs to do more to make building apps for its platform a priority for developers and also do a better job of marketing and communicating the already established strength of its app story.”
Full Canalys’ press release here.
Which platform has the most apps?
After years of obsessing over the sheer quantity of apps available for these two platforms, the numbers seem to be similar, and similarly impressive, on both sides. Both Apple and Google currently claim more than 800,000 third-party programs for their respective platform.
Apps in Apple Store (iOS) vs Google Play (Android) - March 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
What do the numbers look like for tablet-specific apps?
For iOS, Apple says there are more than 300,000 iPad-optimized programs. For Android: I wish I knew! As far as I know, Google hasn’t disclosed this number. But it’s safe to say that it remains piddling compared to Apple’s figure.
O.K., who has the best apps?
I hesitate to bring this up, because app quality is inherently subjective. But a company called uTest uses a system called Applause to crawl Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play, collecting user reviews and rankings. It then turns this data into scores from 1 to 100 for individual apps, and calculates average scores for each platform. In data published in a ReadWrite story in January, it said that the average iOS app, with a score of 68.5, is superior to the average Android app, at 63.3.
uTest App Quality - iOs vs Android - March 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Which platform’s users are downloading the most apps?
According to Canalys, just over half of all apps downloaded in the first quarter of this year were for Android. iOS, at about 40 percent share, was the only other big-time player.
Canalys App Share of Downloads by Platform - iOS, Android and Other - March 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Who’s making money from app downloads?
According to Canalys’s data for the first quarter of this year, iOS users are spending much more on apps even if they’re downloading fewer of them overall.
Canalys App Share of Download Revenues by Platform - iOS, Android and Other - March 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Courtesy of an article dated May 7, 2013 appearing in Distimo Blog, an article dated April 9, 2013 appearing in Gigaom, an article dated April 8, 2013 appearing in Forbes
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