A large part of being a mobile developer is identifying your target platforms, and optimizing for the majority of your users. This can be difficult though, without some stats to indicate how your user base is spread out.
Luckily, Unity has released a huge set of statistics for Mobile Devices, and there’s some very interesting details.
You can find the main blog post below:
iOS
A couple interesting points here for sure:
- iPad 1 is a mere 1.5% of the market at this point
- 3Gs is also quite low at 2.5%
- iPhone 4 install base is fairly high, when counting the iPod Touch 4, it’s 24%!
The takeaway points for me are that it is not really worthwhile to spend a ton of efforts on supporting the older hardware such as iPad 1 and 3GS. On the other hand, iPhone 4 is an extremely important demographic and you must make sure your apps run flawlessly there.
It’s also quite impressive to see the mobile upgrade stats, with 98% of iOS user’s running iOS 5.1 or higher. That is great news for the HTML dev’s in the room. The general performance characteristics of the iOS userbase remain pretty high as well, with nearly 60% rocking an extremely powerful device (iPad 2 or higher, iPhone 4s or higher).
Android
The Androiod stats also reveal some very positive numbers:
Here we’re seeing Android 2.x begin to twindle down. 4.x is now occupying 70% of all devices, this is awesome news for Android Dev’s across the board as it significantly reduces fragmentation. I’m not sure how to reconcile these numbers with my own though. My numbers from the Android Dev Console show 2.x being much higher…
The next most interesting thing for me, is Samsung’s utter domination of the Android market. We all knew this was the case, but I didn’t realize it was this huge of an ass-whooping:
For a full breakdown of all the stats, check out the root page here:
Shawn,
Interesting post. It’s important to stay abreast of platform stats, and I like your points about adjusting developer attention accordingly. Monetizing across different platforms can prove tricky as well. That’s why at AppLift we ensure that ads across all devices and operating systems are optimized for each user base and remain easily-integrated. As the first network focused 100% on game campaigns, our transparent, fast-paying tracking system garners the best payouts in the market, with eCPMs up to $30. I’ve been following your apps, and PicShop Lite would be a perfect platform for cooperation. We can boost its monetization like we have with similar qualified apps.
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Reach me anytime with any questions. How about a quick Skype/call this week?
Best,
Elie Fuchs-Gosse
(408) 891-9125
Skype ID: eliefg