Research2Guidance: Android Market app downloads totaled 6 billion in mid-September 2011

On September 13, 2011, mobile market research company Research2Guidance reported that the total downloads of Google's Android Market were close to 6 billion times (will reach 6 billion times in mid-September), with nearly 1,500 developers joining every week. The explosive growth trend of Android Market continues. Market research company Ovum predicted in a recent report that the number of Android Market downloads will reach 8.1 billion times this year, higher than Apple's App Store's 6 billion times.

In the Android Market, free apps that generate revenue through advertising account for the vast majority. Research2Guidance found that in August, total sales of apps in each category ranged from $300 to $21,000, and the average revenue per Android app since its release was $2,500. Research2Guidance pointed out that by choosing to develop less competitive, higher-priced apps, developers can increase their revenue by 900%.

By category, games account for nearly a quarter of Android Market app downloads. Games have long been the largest and fastest-growing app category on the Android Market. Fierce competition has led to a gradual decline in gaming app revenue in the past few months.

Surprisingly, the most profitable category in the Android Market is weather forecast apps, which, on average, generate the most revenue among paid apps. This is partly because there are a limited number of weather forecast apps to choose from, and weather forecast apps are essential for all smartphone users.

Research2Guidance recommends that developers develop innovative enterprise tools. Users are willing to pay for excellent enterprise applications that can improve work efficiency, and competition in the enterprise tool application field is not fierce.

Research2Guidance pointed out that Android Market is ahead of App Store in terms of content growth rate. In August, Android Market added more than 20,000 applications, more than the 15,000 applications of App Store. As of the beginning of this month, Android Market had 277,252 applications, of which 35% were paid applications, and the average price of paid applications was $3.13.