Android vs. iOS: The green robot wins on app downloads (but not revenue)

Here’s a fun fact for mobile developers: As of the past three months, Android is the best place to angle for more app downloads.

According to the App Annie Market Index, Q2 2013 metrics show that Android beats iOS by 10 percent in number of applications downloaded.

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However, Apple’s App Store still beat Google Play on one very important metric: the App Store pulled in 2.3 times as much revenue as Google Play.

When it comes to internationalization, the U.S. and China make up around 40 percent of all app downloads for iOS. Japan is gaining speed, but Russia is a newer contender for a top-three spot in worldwide downloads. The country has climbed six spots in App Annie’s country rankings year over year. Russia maintains a top-five rank for Google Play, along with the U.S., India, South Korea, and Brazil.

“This growth put Russia in the unique position as the only other country besides the United States in the top five countries by downloads for both the iOS App Store and Google Play,” App Annie reps noted.

And interestingly, Japan is a leading country in revenue for both iOS and Google Play, reflecting the country’s long-standing digital culture of pay-to-play on mobile devices.

Not surprisingly, the gaming category swept both the App Store and Google Play in number of downloads and revenue generated.

Here’s a visual look at the numbers: