With the iPad coming under scrutiny as the competition begins its latest assault on Apple’s tablet dominance, new figures suggest that the iPad may still be the best bet for those looking to make a living out of making tablet-based apps.
Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Gene Munster has written in a research note released Monday that Apple’s iPad still accounts for between 85% and 90% of the money spent on mobile applications.
The news comes as Android moves into a new era thanks to the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, the release which Google hopes will combine the tablet and smartphone software in a way similar to the iPad and iPhone. Munster’s claims show that Android may still be suffering from an old issue: Android users just don’t seem to buy apps as much as iOS users…
Munster goes on to say that he believes around 1.3% of Android apps downloaded are of the paid-for variety, while that statistic jumps to a comparatively massive 14% for the iPad and iPhone’s App Store.
With buyers seemingly unwilling to spend money on their Android applications, developers of the Google persuasion are left with an ad-based model as their only source of income. Whether that will be enough to pull the very best iOS developers over to Android remains to be seen, but it isn’t quite happening just yet.