In-app purchases are driving revenue generated by Apple’s App Store and Google Play, according to analyst firm CCS Insight and app store analytics firm Distimo. More than 60 percent of app store revenue generated by the iPad, iPhone and Android was from in-app purchases in January 2012, according to the joint App VU Global report.

In February, revenue from apps with in-app purchasing functionality accounted for 73 percent of total revenue from the top 200 highest-grossing Android and iPad apps and 79 percent of the top iPhone apps.

Average daily revenue in the App Store from the top 200 highest-grossing apps was US$3.34 million for the iPhone and US$2.07 million for the iPad in January. Google Play (previously Android Market) averaged US$679,000 per day, a 31 percent increase compared to the previous month.

Figures for February indicated a 27 percent drop in iPad downloads as people waited for the new iPad to be released. This led to a US$250,000 drop in daily revenue for the highest-grossing iPad apps compared to January.