App Store reaches 2.2 million apps, less than on Play Store

Feb 1, 2017 11:47 GMT  ·  By

Apple’s latest financial results show that the company is surely on the right track, after recording all-time record sales for iPhones and Apple Watches. But that’s not the only department in which Apple excels, as revenue from Services grew strongly during the last year.

Apple Services grew considerably and outsold the iPad, while on track to soon overtake even Mac sales. The Services category incorporates the App Store, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook states that the App Store now incorporates 2.2 million apps. According to Statista, Google’s Play store incorporated 2.6 million applications in December 2016.

Although the Play Store has a much larger number of applications than Apple’s App Store, the latter managed to record double the revenue. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering that the situation in Q1 2016 was the same.

Apple’s App Store had double the revenue compared to Google’s Play Store, in part due to in-app subscriptions for HBO Now, Spotify and Netflix services. Google does record more downloads and more apps in its store, but it seems that Apple is better at monetizing its resources, which in the business world is all that matters.

Apple wants to double Services revenue until 2021

In total, Apple recorded a total of $7.17 billion revenue from its Apple Services, amounting to an 18% growth compared to last year. It seems that Apple’s Services recorded the highest gain among all company segments.

Tim Cook expects Apple’s Services to be the size of a Fortune 100 company by the end of the year, and it seems that developers share the same sentiment, as some prefer to launch the iOS version of their apps first and then the Android.

This was the case of Nintendo’s Super Mario Run, which was announced on iOS back in September and still hasn't arrived to all Android users. Truth be told, the App Store is comprised mostly of paid games and applications, while Google's Play Store focuses on offering free apps and alternatives to meet user needs.

The Play Store will continue to expand over the coming months, especially since Google is expected to introduce Instant Apps, to allow users to check out apps before installing them. This will surely attract more consumers, while developers would get the opportunity to reach more users.

Apple also announced that there are 150 million paid customer subscriptions, over 2 million small businesses support Apple Pay and the company intends to double the services business in the next four years.