Do you hate in-app purchases? Sick of downloading an app only to discover its borderline unusable until you drop an extra five bucks? Sick of games that aren’t play to win, but pay to win?
Tough noogies. In-app purchases account for a staggering 76% of all iPhone App Store revenue, with 71% of all iPhone app revenue coming from in-app purchases for total free apps.
If there’s any comfort to be had from U.S. IAP haters, at least there’s this: Americans spend, on average, only about a buck in in-app purchases per download. In Japan, it’s four times that amount.
Apple’s iOS devices have always been hot Christmas gifts, especially for young folks. This year was no exception. Mobile app analytics firm Distimo is reporting that App Store downloads spiked a staggering 87% on Christmas Day, and revenues went up 70%.
Mobile app analytics firm Distimo annually publishes a review of the past year’s growth and trends in the app space. For 2012, Distimo compared Apple’s App Store vs. Google Play on Android handsets. While both marketplaces are considered winners in their own right, the App Store is still where the real money comes from.
Google Play has technically been growing faster than the App Store in recent months, but the daily revenues generated in the App Store are still far greater than anything Google has been able to muster.
Apple’s App Store is widely considered the king of mobile marketplaces — even Android fanatics will admit that it offers a greater selection of high-quality apps and games. But it’s Google Play that’s currently seeing the most growth, according to the latest data from app analytics firm Distimo, while the App Store enjoys more than four times as much revenue.
Remember the recent story about the App Store being worth more than all of RIM? Here’s another astounding factoid: Just the top 200 most-grossing App Store entries generate four times the revenue than everything offered by the Android Marketplace. A new report also pegs China as a major App Store user, accounting for 30 percent of overall downloads and nearly half of iPad apps.
How much is a good iPad app worth? According to a new report, quite a bit more than a decent iPhone app… and the margin between the two is growing every day.
![App Store Downloads Spiked 87% On Christmas Day 2012 [Report]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-Shot-2011-12-25-at-6.56.47-PM-640x357.jpg "Santa Apple ad")
![Google Play Grew Rapidly In 2012, But App Store Is Still Cash Cow [Report]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Apple-and-Android-lightsaber-duel.jpg "Apple and Android lightsaber duel")
![Google Play Grows Fastest, But App Store Sees Four Times As Much Revenue [Report]](http://www.cultofandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/gs3iphone.jpeg)
