Google Play app downloads reached 19.2 billion in the first quarter of 2018 according to a new report from App Annie, which looks at all kinds of data related to applications on popular platforms such as Android and iOS. While Google Play still holds the lead by more than 10 billion downloads iOS downloads reportedly came just a little bit closer this quarter, totaling over 8 billion downloads globally. It was just downloads that increased either, as global spending between both app market platforms amounted to around $18.4 billion. This figure includes anything from paid app purchases to in-app purchases for other digital content within the apps.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the first quarter of the year saw big upticks in direct relation to game downloads and usage. This increase was driven by two of the most popular games that are our right now, PUBG and Fortnite, both of which saw the western releases of their mobile counterparts earlier this year, with Fortnite mobile being exclusive to iOS for the time being as the Android version is still getting the finishing touches, while PUBG Mobile has been available for Android players for around a month.
As has always been the case consumer spending on Google Play still lags behind that of consumer spending on iOS, but the first quarter of 2018 saw a pretty big increase for Google Play users. According to the analytics report, Google Play consumer spending is up by 25-percent over the same time in 2017, exceeding $5 billion. The U.S., Japan, and the Philippines were the largest regions for Google Play consumer spend and in that order when compared to the consumer spending for Google Play in the fourth quarter of 2017. This changes a little bit when looking at the first quarter for last year, or the Year-Over-Year market share growth, which lists Germany and France as the number two and number three regions for consumer spending on Google Play respectively, with apps that revolved around music and entertainment taking the largest chunk of that money.
