App Annie’s Market Index for the first quarter of 2013 shows Google Play continuing to narrow iOS’ lead in app download volume and revenue creation. In fact, Google Play delivered nearly 90% Apple’s app download volume in Q1. The iOS platform is still generating 2.6 times the revenue of Google Play, but that gap is narrowing rapidly as well — in the previous quarter, iOS apps generated 4 times the revenue of Google Play. The app market gap is closing at the same time that Samsung has managed to pull decisively ahead of Apple in smartphone shipment volume. At the end of 2011, both vendors were selling roughly the same amount of smartphones; by the end of 2012, Samsung had pulled far ahead. As the Android smartphone market has consolidated around Samsung, Google Play download volumes and revenue generation have soared.
