Data Wednesday: iOS vs. Android Engagement

by December 4, 2013

Exactly a year ago, I shared some data around the Android Engagement Mystery. That is, while Android is dominant in smartphone marketshare across the World it lags behind iOS in engagement. A year later have things changed?

  • In 2012, the Android operating system ran on 75% of the smartphones shipped in the third quarter. Apple's iOS was second with 15% marketshare. (source)
  • In 2013, Android took 71% of all sales across 12 key markets versus 21% for the iPhone over the 12 weeks ending October 31. (source)
  • In December 2012, 64% of Android devices were running version 2.x of the OS and only 34% were on the latest version 4.x. This led many to hypothesize that lower engagement on Android was due to a lesser user experience on older devices with Android 2.x. (source)
  • In December 2013, only 25.7% of Android devices are running Android 2.x and 74.2% are on 4.x. Yet the engagement differences continue. (source)
  • Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday 2013 saw record online sales. iOS-based devices drove more than $543 million dollars in online sales, with iPad taking a 77% share. Android-based devices were responsible for $148 million in online sales, a 4.9% share of mobile driven online sales. (source)
  • On Thanksgiving 2013, iOS ended up accounting for over 21% of all sales, and $121.61 per order. Android accounted for only 4.6% of sales. (source)
  • For every $1.00 in app download revenue earned by iOS developers, their Android counterparts earn just $0.19. That's five-times-greater return rate for developers. (source)
  • Ads on Apple's iOS posted return nearly 1,800% higher than the same ad running on Android. (source)
  • iPhone users spend an average of 19 cents per app downloaded against just 6 cents per download for their Android counterparts. (source)