Source: Distimo
FORTUNE — Manufacturers on Google’s (GOOG) Android platform may be selling more devices, but Apple’s (AAPL) App Store is still the best place to be for developers trying to make a living.
That’s the bottom line in the year-end review published Friday by Distimo, a Dutch analytics company:
“On a typical day in November 2012, the revenues in the Apple App Store exceeded $15M USD, while in Google Play the revenues are just below $3.5M USD in 20 of the largest countries in both app stores.”
And although Google Play seems to be catching up — its revenue grew an aggregated 43% in the past four months compared with Apple’s 21% — it still has a long way to go. Looking back to January 2012, the App Store’s daily revenue grew an estimated 51% (split 71% for the iPad and 40% for the iPhone).
The report is packed with surprising details. For example:
- Countries with fastest app revenue growth: Russia leads the world on the iPad (up 143%), Japan leads on the iPhone (+138%) and Korea in Google Play (+94%)
- Fastest growing apps: It took AOL (AOL) nine years and Facebook (FB) nine months to hit the 1 million user mark. The mobile app Draw Something did it in nine days; Line Pop did it in three — and within 12 days had generated an estimated $1 million in revenue.
- Fewer winners take home more: In January 2012, 11 apps accounted for 10% of the revenues on the App Store. By November, that number was down to 7.
- The average selling price varies by platform: It’s down 8% since January on the iPad and up 16% on the iPhone. Google Play apps, on average, are more expensive. Navigation apps, on average, cost the most.
- In-app purchases vs. one-off sales: Revenue from in-app purchases continued to grow in 2012 — from 53% in January on the App Store to 69% in November — but one-off sales still generated 35% of the revenue among the top 10 money makers on Apple’s iOS.
- The big money is in the game market: See chart below.
