In an interesting bit of competition, Google continues to usurp Apple as the top publisher on the iOS App Store, even as Facebook bests Google on Android, according to market data from App Annie.
The app analytics firm released its February numbers for non-game apps on Thursday. Beginning this month, the company has begun breaking out mobile app store data into separate games and non-game app reports.
Apple held the number one spot in terms of downloads on the App Store last December, but Google passed up the company on its own platform in January and held onto the crown in February.
YouTube and Google Maps were the top two downloaded apps on the App Store last month. That’s a significant win for Google. The company struck out on its own on iOS after enjoying several years of having its apps pre-installed. Apple has moved away from Google by developing its own mapping service, which drew heavy criticism for being sub-par.
While Google may be enjoying success at the top of the App Store, it has been bested on its own mobile OS by rival Facebook. With just four apps on Google Play, Facebook has managed to take the top spot on the marketplace. By comparison, Google had 62 apps on its Android storefront and ranked second by downloads.
Facebook’s core app, Messenger and Instagram took three of the top five downloaded non-game apps on Google Play. WhatsApp took second, followed by Skype in third place.
App Annie noted last month that monetization on social networking apps were coming on strong in January, and February continued that trend.
Also interesting to note for the App Store is the surge in Chinese publishers. Baidu rose five spots to crack the top ten in terms of downloads, while the smash hit app iMadeFace came out of nowhere to take seventh.
Apple did prove to be the top earner on the App Store last month, followed by NHN, which makes the popular Line messaging app, and Intuit, which enjoyed a seasonal jump in its TurboTax app as tax season approaches.
Over on Google Play, GREE brought in the most revenue. While GREE is at its core a gaming company, it has recategorized its main app as social. It generates money by accepting in-app purchases for currency that can be spent across its gaming platform. NHN took second, followed by Korea’s Kakao.
App Store figures from Fiksu released this week suggested that overall app downloads were down in February compared to record months during the holiday season. Apps are still taking the world by storm, though, with estimates of roughly two billion downloads per month on Apple’s platform alone.
See also: App Annie on rapid growth, its latest European move and tips for speedy startup expansion
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