Mobile downloads and consumer spending hit record high
iOS and Google Play enjoyed a 28% year on year growth in revenue for Q3, report says
In-app consumer spending reached record levels last quarter, according to the most recent report from data firm App Annie.
The Q3 2017 Recap found that spending on iOS and Google Play combined was $17 billion for the period, and amounted to a 28% year-on-year growth.
Downloads also spiked, reaching nearly 26 billion worldwide, which represents an 8% growth.
Interestingly though consumer spend on both iOS and Android grew three times more than the number of downloads.
Report author Matt Miller wrote: "The growth in downloads and usage proves that apps are becoming increasingly central to people's lives, and this value is translating to rising revenue for the industry."
Despite both iOS and Google Play stores enjoying a year-on-year growth of 25%, Apple stormed ahead of Android, it's worldwide consumer spend nearly doubling that of Google Play.
China's continues to dominate the mobile scene, representing the largest market for iOS spend and highest growth.
Meanwhile, South Korea is the second highest market share, moving up from fourth place. Report author Matt Miller attributes this growth to the release of Lineage M, a mobile game from NCSOFT based on the highly popular MMO Lineage.
Growth in Q3 has been so strong that Miller forecast "worldwide downloads will reach nearly 240 billion and consumer spend will exceed $100 billion in 2021 on iOS and Google Play combined."