I wouldn’t call myself an Apple Fan-Boy or an ‘Appleangelist’ (Apple – Evangalist, See what I did there?) but I do have to admit, if it came to a fight between Apple and Android I’d be swayed to side with the fruity logo. It’s not because they’ve won me over with their shiny metal and glass products. It’s not that their designs are flawless with the perfect amount of straight lines and curves. It’s not that their operating systems and platforms are so intuitive and ‘just work’. It’s something else and it looks like there are a few people who agree with me.
A new report from NewZoo shows that Apple has claimed 84% of all mobile gaming revenue in the US. Android fans have been ‘pushing out their chest’ recently with the launch of some great smartphones. The HTC One X is one of my favourite phones and if I was going to make a move away from the iPhone, this would be my 1st choice.
The report explains that mobile gaming has increased increased from 75 million to 101 million mobile players. 69% of them are playing on smartphones while 21% are using tablets. At this point you should be saying ‘Wow! 101 Million mobile gamers?! That’s amazing!‘, but there’s more…
There is another sector of gamers that has also increased and it’s had the largest growth, ‘Paying Gamers’. 36% of all mobile gamers are now paying gamers and who has the largest market share of these paying gamers? Apple, of course.
I’d like to believe that the reason for Apple’s grip on the market share is due to it’s games being so ‘shiny’ and smart as they’re meant to (We like shiny here at Pocket Fruity, don’t we Kim?). But can a company really hog that much of the gaming market simply because of the selection and design of it’s applications and games?
Some argue that Apple has been able to monopolise on the mobile gaming industry through it’s iPhone and App Store. Newzoo’s CEO, Peter Warman believes that Apple has dominated the paying game arena because; “Apple requires users to connect their credit card information directly to their account, thus creating a seamless purchase experience…” and this makes it easy to purchase full games, gaming add on’s and upgrades, at the click of a button.
It has to be said and agreed that Android has grown quickly BUT right now Apple is King, when it comes to mobile gaming. Whether it’s because iOS games are simply better or the gaming experience is just more enjoyable, the facts don’t lie. So for all you Apple geeks out there, you now have the facts and figures to back up your claims, but I have a sneaky feeling that Android won’t lay down and die just yet.
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