Distimo published its review of the app store market from January to November 2012, noting strong growth in the Google Play store for Android.

The company also detailed developments in a number of markets, including tablet (iPad) apps, and highlighted some success stories from the period.

Tablet take-up
The Year 2012 report noted strong differences in demand for iPad apps across specific countries, for example with Japan performing especially poorly, while Russia ranks highly.

With iPad apps generally costing more than their iPhone counterparts, this means that in some markets revenue from iPad apps is already greater than for iPhone titles.

In Russia, 46 percent of iOS app downloads are for the iPad, while 38 percent of the total in Netherlands and 35 percent in Norway and Finland are for the tablet.

Contrastingly, only 7 percent of iOS downloads are for the iPad in Japan, with the tablet making up 21 percent of the total in Germany and 22 percent in Switzerland.

Distimo noted that “as Android tablets just start to become popular, countries with a high proclivity for iPad use and downloads could very well be the countries to target if you are a publisher aiming to reach this market”.

Large Differences in Tablet Proclivity Among Countries

Success stories
The report also noted that “everybody remembers the success stories of applications that gathered millions of users within a couple of days”, the most high-profile of which was Draw Something, which hit the milestone in nine days.

However, Distimo also said that some titles reached one million even faster, noting the efforts of APAC publisher Naver, which “launched five applications at the end of November, all of which quickly became the most popular applications in many Asian countries”.

It estimates that Line Pop, the most popular of the five, generated 1.75 million downloads in the first three days after launch – “remarkable when you stop to consider it took AOL nine years, Facebook nine months, and Draw Something nine days to reach the one million users milestone”.

Monetisation matters
In terms of monetisation, Distimo noted that in-app purchases continue to generate an increasing share of revenue. At the end of the year, this method accounted for 69 percent of the revenue generated by Apple’s App Store, compared with 53 percent at the start of the year.

However, there have been some other success stories which have used other payment methods. Publishers such as EA, Apple and Gameloft still receive a “large chunk” of their sales from paid downloads, with 35 percent of the income generated in this way by the top-10 most successful publishers on iOS.

And there are still some app categories where users are prepared to pay: Distimo noted that Navigation apps are the most expensive across both the iPhone and iPad, followed by business titles.

Average Selling Prices in Each Category in 2012 - iPhone

Top publishers
According to the study, just seven apps were responsible for 10 percent of the iPhone App Store revenue in November 2012, compared with 11 apps in January. In Google’s Play Store, just four titles made up 10 percent of the revenue in November 2012.

A greater number of apps contributed to the download tally: 31 titles generated 10 percent of iPhone downloads in November 2012, compared with 30 in January. For Google Play, the November figure was 22 apps.

In revenue terms, nine out of the ten most successful cross-platform publishers were games companies, including one, Supercell, which only offers four titles across the iPhone and iPad. The sole non-games company, Apple, also only offers titles for its iOS devices.

The chart is dominated by companies such as EA, Zynga and Gameloft, which offer multiple titles across iPhone, iPad and Google Play (454, 95 and 368 respectively).

The Winners Take It All