App Store, Google Play Downloads Hit Record High in Q3, India Said to Be 'Biggest Contributor': App Annie

A new report on global app revenue and downloads claims that both Android and iOS continue to go strong and reached record levels in Q3 2017. A report from App Annie says that downloads for the App Store and Google Play combined reached nearly 26 billion worldwide - which is 8 percent growth year over year. The report points that the numbers do not include new downloads and does not count reinstalls or app updates.

The report adds that India was the "biggest contributor" to overall download growth on Google Play, and by a wide margin. App Annie acknowledged Reliance Jio's launch last year for the massive increase in downloads. It claims that the Google Play downloads were almost twice as high as those in Q3 2016.

"India, the largest market for Google Play downloads since Q4 2016, was the biggest contributor to absolute download growth by a wide margin. Coinciding with the disruptive launch of Reliance Jio's network in September 2016, Google Play downloads in this country have increased at a staggering pace," said report.

Talking about consumer spending, the report said that worldwide consumer spend on both App Store and Google Play combined saw over 3X the growth rate seen for downloads. In Q3 2017, the consumer spending reached nearly $17 billion with year over year growth of 28 percent. It also points that the app usage continued to increase at a "significant pace." Detailing total time spent in apps worldwide among Android phone users, the report said there was 40 percent year over year growth which estimated to almost 325 billion hours in Q3 2017.

Similar to previous quarters, Google Play safely maintained a healthy lead over the App Store for worldwide downloads in Q3 2017 as well. App Annie pointed out that Google Play managed to widen the gap to 125 percent compared to 115 percent in Q3 2016. "This was the result of Google Play's nearly 10 percent year over year download growth, outpacing that of iOS," added report.

Apart from India, the report adds that Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam and Indonesia were another key source of Google Play's year-over-year download growth. Both these countries reported double-digit growth rates, with Indonesia ranking fourth place and Vietnam on seventh spot in Q3 2017.

Talking about iOS downloads, the report named China as the leading country with app downloads with the US and Saudi Arabia following next.

In terms of worldwide consumer spending, App Store was nearly double that of Google Play. The Entertainment category was the biggest when talking about consumer spending. "Worldwide consumer spend in this category grew 30 percent quarter over quarter on iOS and 45 percent on Google Play," added the report.