As the year is about to come to an end we have looked at how the download patterns in the Android Market and the Apple App Store have changed between 2010 and 2011. The key finding: while more and more games are being downloaded from the Android Market, it it still apps which have the majority of downloads. In November 2011 there were 85 apps in the top 150 downloads, totalling 91,500,00 downloads. There were 65 games in the Top 150, totalling only 33,420,000 downloads that month.

Hence, not surprisingly, we find many app publishers among the Top 25 Downloaded Publishers on Android in 2011 with Google itself leading the way. In contrast, there is only one app publisher (Burbn who has created Instagram) among the Top 25 Downloaded Publishers on iPhone.

2011

*Update 28/12: Please note that all the apps in the Android Top 150 are free apps. Hence this is a comparison of free US Android Market apps with free US Apple App Store iPhone apps.  Additionally you can view the core data sets we publish each month for free here  or further illustrations of more data sets for iPhone, iPad and Android which prove our thesis.

2010

The Top 25 Downloaded Publishers on Android in 2011:
Google, Facebook, Rovio, Adobe, DroidHen Casual, Outfit7, Magma Mobile, Glu Mobile, Go Dev Team, Kittehface Software, Skype, Notes, Nikolay Ananiev, Swiss Codemonkeys, NHN Corporation, Yahoo, Handcent, Pandora, Al Factory Limited, Kaufcom Games Apps Widgets, Verizon Wireless, Runnergames, Backflip Studios, Polarbit.

This list is a mix of app and games publishers.

Please note that in 2010 Google only had 2 apps in the Android Market – Google Maps and Google Sky – yet both did not had major downloads that year. Only in 2011 Google has become by far the most successful app publisher in the Android Market.

Additionally you can view an overview of the Top 10 Most Downloaded Apps in the US Android Market in November 2011 - it reflects a typical top 10 in the Android Market which is heavy on app titles.

The Top 25 Downloaded App Publishers on iPhone in 2011:
Glu Mobile, Gameloft, Big Fish Games, Rovio, Capcom, Chilingo, Storm8/(TeamLava), Outfit7, Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts BV, Gamevil, Halfbrick Studios, DeNa/(Backflip Studios/Ngmoco), Zynga/Newtoy, NaturalMotion, Pocket Gem/(Streetview Labs), Tencent, NimbleBit, PopCap, Playforge, Clickgamer, Com2uS, Burbn, Orangenose Studios.

All except one of these publishers (Burbn, the creator of Instagram)  is a publisher of games.

Additionally you can view an overview of the Top 10 Most Downloaded Apps in the US Apple App Store in November 2011 – it reflects a typical top 10 in the Android Market which is heavy on game titles.