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The market data suggest that you're mistaken. In 2010, the App Store took in almost 20 times the revenue that the Android Market took in. $1.7 billion for the App Store, compared to $102 million for Android Market. Considering where Android market share stands relative to iOS, this means that iOS users are absolutely more willing to spend money on apps. That's obviously not the case for every Android user, but the relative aggregate difference is what matters when deciding what platforms to develop for.


As an iOS developer, I can't stress how important this metric is. I don't care if Android gets 70%, 80%, 95% marketshare if the App Store is generating way, WAY more money for developers.


In 2010, the App Store took in almost 20 times the revenue that the Android Market took in.

That's less extreme than it sounds for several reasons:

- Android's market share was tiny for the beginning of 2010. It didn't start taking off until mid-year with the EVO, Droid X, Galaxy, Desire, etc.

- There were way more paid apps for iOS than Android in 2010.

- Android apps more commonly use ads than iOS apps, which isn't captured in app store revenue.

I'd still expect that the median iOS app makes more than the median Android app today, but the difference should be much less than 20x.




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