Over the past year the various app stores have shown significant growth. In fact Amazon grew their app store by 90% (293,000 apps), but they still lag far behind both Apple (1.21 million apps) and Google (1.43 million apps).
2014 marks the first time Google has surpassed Apple’s app store, and is also an indicator that the app space continues to grow and be relevant for consumers.
“App development is certainly on the rise and the platform doesn’t seem to matter. In 2014, all three app stores grew by at least 50% (by the way, when we say growth we mean the percent change from the end of the previous year). What’s interesting is that although Apple continues to grow strongly, it’s really Google Play that’s growing. In 2014, the number of apps distributed through Google Play has doubled. Amazon is also enjoying impressive growth, albeit from a much smaller base,” writes appFigures.
Some other interesting takeaways from the appFigures report include:
•The fastest growing iOS app categories include Business, Food/Drink and Lifestyle
•The fastest growing Google app categories include Games, Photography and Music
•More app developers joined Google in 2014 than in both Amazon and Apple