Distimo Publication - December 2013 - en

2013 Year in Review
December 2013
By Christel Schoger, Analyst at Distimo
Publication - Year 2013
Solving the App-Puzzle
Distimo 2013, some rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
2013 Year in Review

2013 was a big year for mobile. At the end of the year, Distimo takes a look back at the top apps, publishers and developments that mattered most in the mobile app stores in 2013. Even though the year is not completely over yet, major trends and top performances in the main app stores could already be identified. The typical holiday spike in terms of download volumes and app revenue, as seen in previous years over the holidays, is still ahead of us, leaving room for even further notable events in 2013. The public rankings offered by the app stores, provide only a small snapshot of the most popular apps on a daily level in the country of interest. One of Distimos strengths is the ability to analyze the success of apps in a broader picture, on aggregated levels in terms of both time and countries, which enables more global insights. Every day, new apps are released and the number of active publishers in the app stores is continuously growing this year was no different. This publication analyzes the development trend of mobile apps in terms of download volumes and revenues, focusing on the top markets and app stores. Along with this, we will highlight major movements and milestones. We analyze the past year to reveal the top global app trends of 2013 along the following topics: Top 10 countries by mobile app revenue Year-over-Year market growth Development of revenue analyzing different business models Top apps and publishers in the Apple App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore
All data used in this report is directly extracted from Distimo AppIQ. Any statement containing the Year 2013 is referring to data covering January through November 2013, unless otherwise noted.
Major Findings
During 2013, Google Plays revenue share has been growing at Apples expense. In November 2013, the Apple App Store was still leading though with 63 percent relative to 37 percent for Google Play. The top 10 countries in terms of mobile app revenue from the Apple App Store and Google Play are:
1) United States 2) Japan 3) South Korea 4) United Kingdom 5) China 6) Australia 7) Germany) 8 Canada 9) France 10) Russia
The three countries with the highest market growth in 2013 compared to 2012 are: South Korea, Japan, and China. 2013 showed an increasing trend towards the freemium business model, while paid apps made up a smaller portion of mobile app revenue. Apps were explored more quickly than ever before in 2013. We identified apps that reached over one million downloads in only a couple days after release, e.g. Despicable Me: Minion Rush and Temple Run 2. For some apps, the download volumes from the Amazon Appstore started to compete with download volumes in established app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play. The most revenue generating app of 2013 was Supercells Clash of Clans, making Supercell the top grossing publisher of 2013 in the Apple App Store. None of newly released apps of 2013 reached a top 10 position in the yearly grossing charts in the Apple App Store. In contrast, four out of the top 10 grossing apps on Google Play were released in 2013. Minecraft Pocket Edition by Mojang was the only paid app in the top grossing charts of the Apple App Store. The majority of top publishers in all three app stores are game developers.
Top 10 Countries by Mobile App Revenue

Starting off, we present the 10 most revenue generating countries in terms of combined mobile app revenue from the Apple App Store and Google Play based on data covering January through November 2013. Over these months, the United States was still the largest revenue generating country in the app market overall, followed by Japan and South Korea.
Top 10 Countries - January through November 2013
United States
Japan
South Korea
United Kingdom
China
Australia
Germany
Canada
France
Russia
Revenue by Country and Platform

Stepping away from combined app store revenue, and looking at iOS data only, the revenue from both iPhone and iPad was the largest in the United States, followed by Japan and the United Kingdom, while South Korea rounded out the top 10 countries for the Apple App Store. For Google Play it was interesting to note that after the most dominating countries - Japan, South Korea, and the United States - Germany had the fourth biggest revenue portion in 2013. The following graph presents the platform split of the revenue generated in the top 10 countries based on most current data in the month of November 2013. This overview also enables a more detailed perspective on the Apple App Store, as the revenue portion is also shown separately for iPhone and iPad. Please note that there is no paid content offered in China on Google Play. Therefore, the estimated revenue for China is only based on the iOS platforms iPhone and iPad.
Revenue Distribution by Country and Platform - November 2013

Canada Russia United Kingdom Germany France South Korea
United States
China Japan
Australia
iPad
iPhone
Google Play
Market Growth
Analyzing the market growth over the year provided further interesting insights about the top 10 countries:
759%
280%
245%
125%
90%
89%
81%
77%
69%
64%
South Korea
China
Japan
Russia
Germany
France
United States
Canada
Australia
United Kingdom
This graph is based on a comparison between January through November 2013 relative to 2012, looking at the development of the combined revenue from the Apple App Store and Google Play. The growth rates of revenue in 2013 are displayed for each of the top 10 countries. The countries on the left-hand side: South Korea, China, and Japan, can clearly be identified as the growing mobile markets. South Korea shows the highest growth, increasing its revenue by 759 percent. Australia and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, are more established markets, which already reached a high revenue volume in 2012 and did not increase that much during 2013. Nevertheless, over the whole year of 2013, all markets showed a positive growth contributing to the overall market growth.
Revenue Development of the Apple App Store and Google Play

After analyzing the development of the top countries, we move to the broader level of the app stores and look into the revenue development between the Apple App Store and Google Play. The aggregated revenue of the Apple App Store increased by 12 percent over the last six months, whereas Google Plays revenue grew by 51 percent when comparing the revenue at the end of June and November 2013 respectively. The combined revenue of both major stores grew by 24 percent over the past six months. Analyzing this positive growth on a store level brings the following findings*: In November 2013, the market share distribution was at 37 percent for Google Play, compared to 63 percent for the Apple App Store. This picture was different a half year ago: In June 2013, Google Play was only responsible for 30 percent, accordingly Apples share was at 70 percent.
37% 30% 70% 63%
Apple App Store
Google Play
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
This analysis is based on comparing the revenue generated from the app stores of the following 34 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. These countries are chosen for this analysis, as revenue is generated for both stores in each country.
On a typical day in November 2013, we estimate the global revenues for the top 200 grossing apps in the Apple App Store at over $18M. For Google Play, our estimate is about $12M. In November 2012, these estimates were at $15M for the Apple App Store and only at $3.5M for Google Play. With these insights we conclude for 2013: The Apple App Store is still leading in terms of total revenue. However, during 2013 Google Plays piece of the pie was consistently increasing month over month.
Business Models
After looking at increasing revenue in both stores, the question about the largest revenue source arises. We analyzed the revenue proportions of the different business models and the related revenue proportions over the year 2013. The graphs below show the development of the business model distribution for globally aggregated revenue from apps in the top 200 grossing charts. The proportion of revenue based on in-app purchases increased from 77 percent to 92 percent in the Apple App Store and from 89 percent to 98 percent on Google Play. As the graphs demonstrate, the freemium business model (free apps with in-app purchases) clearly takes the lead in terms of revenue, while the other business models: paid apps with in-app purchases and paid apps without inapp purchases have a significantly smaller revenue share, which is even smaller on Google Play than on iOS. The general trend continuous in 2013: the revenue share from free apps with in-app purchases is clearly increasing on both platforms, the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Apple App Store - Revenue Share of the Freemium Business Model

100% 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% 55% 50% January February March April May June July August September October November
77% 11% 12% 92% 4% 4%
Free apps with in-app purchases
Paid apps
Paid apps with in-app purchases
Google Play - Revenue Share of the Freemium Business Model

100% 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% 55% 50% January February March April May June July August September October November
77% 89% 6% 5% 92% 98% 4% 1% 4% 1%
The data behind these graphs is based on globally aggregated revenues. When looking at specific countries, the user behavior in terms of a preference for different app business models can vary between different regions.
For example, when looking at iOS data for the month of November among the top 200 grossing apps in the United States compared to Japan, the difference is also notable, even when looking at the same platform.
Apple App Store - United States
November 2013
Apple App Store - Japan

November 2013
4% 4%
1% 1%
92%
98%
Paid apps
The United States is, in this case, representing a trend that is more common among the western markets, where paid apps still make a notable portion in revenue. Japan, in contrast, as an example for the Asian markets, shows that paid apps have a smaller share. The preference toward paid or free content, not only varies in different markets, but also per category. While the freemium model is in general more successful (looking at revenue for the complete market), some categories show a larger revenue share for paid content. The graph below is based on data aggregated over all countries for the month of November 2013 in the Apple App Store, showing the top 10 categories in the order of largest revenue from top to bottom.
All Games Social Networking Newsstand Music Entertainment News Education Books Productivity Navigation 90% 88% 99% 65% 68% 95% 43% 77% 29% 22% 55% 70% 24% 56% 22% 31% 31% 5% 4% 5% 8% 7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Paid apps
The revenue in the top categories Games and Social Networking is largely generated from free apps with in-app purchases. Categories such as Newsstand and News show an even higher revenue portion from in-app features, as many apps released in these categories are based on subscription models. As about 63 percent of the revenue on iOS* is generated from apps of the Games category, the distribution is much in line with the picture of the whole store. In contrast, categories like Productivity, Navigation, and Education show that a larger revenue share comes from paid apps or paid apps with in-app purchases. In these categories paid content still monetizes well, despite the general trend to the freemium model.
*
For a more detailed view on categories and their related revenue please refer to our Publication - Games: King of the Mobile Ecosystem
Top Global Apps - Year 2013

Knowing these general developments and trends, we now present the best performing apps of 2013 (based on data covering January- November 2013). The analysis for the top apps of 2013 brought a lot of familiar names back to our attention, that we reported on previously in our monthly series: Top Global Apps
Top Free Apps

In the Apple App Store, King.com Limited took the number one position of the year for the most downloaded free app with Candy Crush Saga. The app has been around since October 2012, and has since then consistently been ranked high in both free and grossing charts of the Apple App Store. Next to a few apps that are more often downloaded as the first general apps for a smartphone, such as YouTube, Google Maps or Find my iPhone, especially Despicable Me: Minion Rush and Temple Run 2 performed extraordinary right after being released. Within the first couple days of release, both of these apps reached the initial milestone of one million downloads and have since then achieved high positions in the free charts throughout the year.
Top 10 Free Apps in the Apple App Store

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Candy Crush Saga YouTube Google Maps Temple Run 2 Despicable Me: Minion Rush Facebook Instagram Snapchat Subway Surfers Find My iPhone Publisher King.com Limited Google, Inc. Google, Inc. Imangi Studios, LLC Gameloft Facebook, Inc. Instagram, Inc. Snapchat, Inc. Kiloo Apple
Next to being positioned in the top 10 free apps of 2013 on Google Play, the following apps also have another fact in common: each of them reached more than 100M device installs. Out of these apps, Temple Run 2 is the youngest app, being released in January 2013, but it was still able to catch up in terms of device installs.
Top 10 Free Apps on Google Play

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Facebook WhatsApp Messenger Skype - free IM & video calls Facebook Messenger Candy Crush Saga Instagram Subway Surfers LINE: Free Calls & Messages Temple Run 2 Twitter Publisher Facebook WhatsApp Inc. Skype Facebook King.com Instagram Kiloo LINE Corporation Imangi Studios Twitter, Inc.
In the top performing free apps for the Amazon Appstore, a lot of names are listed, that we saw in the Apple App Store and Google Play as well. This result showcases that in 2013 a lot of the top developers have become successful across multiple app stores. Facebook, Candy Crush Saga, Subway Surfers, and Temple Run 2 are present in the top 10 free charts across all three stores.
Top 10 Free Apps in the Amazon Appstore

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Netix Subway Surfers (Kindle Tablet Edition) Temple Run 2 Facebook Despicable Me: Minion Rush Candy Crush Saga Pandora Flow Free Fruit Ninja Free Temple Run Publisher Netix, Inc Kiloo Imangi Studios, LLC Facebook Gameloft King.com Pandora Media Big Duck Games LLC Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd Imangi Studios, LLC
In line with this fact, we saw an increasing weight of the Amazon Appstore during 2013. When looking at a recently released app, e.g. Wheres My Water? 2, it is interesting to note that the download volumes in the Amazon Appstore are more and more competing with the larger established app stores Google Play, and even the Apple App Store: In November 2013, for example, the download volume in the United States on Amazon was 33 percent for Disneys top app, compared to 67 percent for the Apple App Store.
100%
75%
50%
25%
Nov 13
Downloads Wheres My Water? 2 - United States - Estimated One-Off Downloads Wheres My Water? 2 - United States - Estimated One-Off Downloads
Top Paid Apps

Looking at 2013 as a whole, the WhatsApp Messenger app was still leading the paid charts of the Apple App Store, even though WhatsApp Inc. has been offering their messenger app for free since July 2013. The download volumes generated by WhatsApp Messenger during the first half of 2013, were by far higher than the ones of Minecraft Pocket Edition. Mojangs top game follows on rank two in the yearly charts. In general, we saw the paid download volumes decrease in the Apple App Store over the year. Coherent with this, as covered in the section about different business models, paid apps didnt contribute a large portion of revenue in the stores. Next to mostly Games and the WhatsApp Messenger, only one app from the Productivity category (which features a higher portion of the paid business model) is present in the most popular paid apps: Pages by Apple, ranked 10.
Top 10 Paid Apps in the Apple App Store

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. WhatsApp Messenger Minecraft Pocket Edition Pou Temple Run: Oz Plague Inc. Angry Birds Star Wars Heads Up! FIFA 13 by EA SPORTS Where's My Water? Pages Publisher WhatsApp Inc. Mojang Paul Salameh Disney Ndemic Creations Rovio Entertainment Ltd Warner Bros. Electronic Arts Disney Apple
The top paid apps of 2013 on Google Play are all apps that have been released prior to 2013. All of these apps were able to continue their success with an increased user base and hence, still achieved top positions in the charts in 2013. The main difference to the Apple App Store is that only the minority of these apps are games. Most apps are released in other categories such as Productivity, Tools, Music & Audio, and Personalization.
Top 10 Paid Apps on Google Play

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. SwiftKey Keyboard Titanium Backup PRO Key root Minecraft - Pocket Edition Poweramp Full Version Unlocker Nova Launcher Prime Beautiful Widgets Pro TuneIn Radio Pro Root Explorer Where's My Water? HD Widgets Publisher SwiftKey Titanium Track Mojang Max MP TeslaCoil Software LevelUp Studio TuneIn Speed Software Disney cloud.tv
The Amazon Appstore, on the other hand, has more in common with the Apple App Store. All top apps in the paid category are Games.
Top 10 Paid Apps in the Amazon Appstore

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Minecraft - Pocket Edition Plants vs. Zombies (Kindle Tablet Edition) Cut the Rope Temple Run: Brave(Kindle Tablet Edition) Survivalcraft Scribblenauts Remix Where's My Water? Angry Birds Star Wars Premium HD (Kindle Tablet Edition) Bike Race Bejeweled 2 Publisher Mojang PopCap Games, Inc. ZeptoLab Disney Candy Rufus Games Warner Bros Disney Rovio Entertainment Ltd. Top Free Games Electronic Arts Inc.
Disneys Wheres my Water? and Mojangs Minecraft Pocket Edition are the clear winners in the paid apps category. In 2013, they were present across all three stores in the yearly top 10.
Top Grossing Apps

Apples top grossing charts displays the most revenue generating apps. It comes as no surprise that all of these apps are published in the Games category. Another commonality is that all of these apps have been released prior to 2013, but still achieved top ranks over the whole year. None of the newly released apps of 2013 performed better than these top 10 grossing apps. One interesting member of these top apps is Minecraft Pocket Edition on rank seven, as it is the only paid app in this overview next to nine free games with in-app purchases. Minecraft Pocket Edition is priced at $6.99 and does not offer additional in-app purchases. With this game, Mojang proved that it is possible to be continuously successful with a paid game app. The long-lasting battle between the two top apps, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga, was won by Supercell, leading slightly ahead in the grossing charts of 2013. With the iOS version, Clash of Clans was especially in the Asian markets: Japan, China, and South Korea, ahead of Candy Crush Saga, which is likely a result of a well thought-through localization strategy.
Top 10 Grossing Apps in the Apple App Store

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Clash of Clans Candy Crush Saga Hay Day Puzzle & Dragons The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North Minecraft Pocket Edition Modern War The Simpsons: Tapped Out Big Fish Casino Free Slots, Blackjack, Roulette, Poker and More! Publisher Supercell King.com Limited Supercell GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. Kabam Kabam Mojang Funzio, Inc Electronic Arts Big Fish Games, Inc
On Google Play, also a few newer apps gained top grossing positions, such as LINE Pokopang, LINE WIND runner, for Kakao, and for Kakao, which were all released in 2013. Next to a few messaging apps in the Social Networking category, Games also made up the majority of apps in the top grossing charts. The Google Play top grossing apps include apps from more diverse regions. In line with the top two countries on Google Play, the LINE Corporation is mainly successful with their messaging and game apps in Japan, while Kakao-based apps from various developers are successful in South Korea. Nevertheless, the western developer King.com took the number one position in the Google Play charts with Candy Crush Saga, which is also successful in Asian markets. After the United States, Japan is the most revenue generating country for Candy Crush Saga on Google Play. This accomplishment makes King.com not only a successful cross-cultural, but also a successful cross-store publisher, showing that next to the Apple App Store, also Google Play has substantial monetizing potential. In the months to come, it will be interesting to see how Supercells Clash of Clans will develop on the Google Play platform, after it achieved the global number one position for the first time in November 2013.
Top 10 Grossing Apps on Google Play

Globally aggregated over 2013 App 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Candy Crush Saga (Puzzle & Dragons) LINE: Free Calls & Messages for Kakao LINE POP for Kakao LINE Pokopang Anipang for Kakao PRIDE LINE WIND runner Publisher King.com GungHoOnlineEntertainment LINE Corporation WeMade Entertainment CO., LTD LINE Corporation Devsisters Corporation LINE Corporation SUNDAYTOZ, INC COLOPL, Inc. LINE Corporation
Top Global Publishers

Along with the Top Global Apps, this section provides a more detailed view on the relation between the publishers behind these apps. The top charts from the angle of top performing publishers present a different perspective. To provide a complete overview, we show the globally most successful publishers of 2013 along with their best performing apps in the related categories, based on the number of free or paid downloads or total revenue in the Apple App Store (for iPhone & iPad), Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore.
Top 10 Publishers - Free Apps in the Apple App Store

Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Google, Inc. Gameloft Apple Disney Electronic Arts King.com Limited Out Fit 7 Ltd. NAVER JAPAN Rovio Entertainment Ltd George CL Best App in 2013 YouTube Despicable Me: Minion Rush Find My iPhone Where's My Water? 2 Real Racing 3 Candy Crush Saga Talking Tom Cat 2 LINE Angry Birds Rio Little Dentist - kids games
Top 10 Publishers - Free Apps on Google Play

Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Facebook Google Inc. LINE Corporation WhatsApp Inc. Rovio Mobile Ltd. Gameloft Outt7 King.com 6677g.com Skype Best App in 2013 Facebook Google Translate LINE: Free Calls & Messages WhatsApp Messenger Angry Birds Despicable Me Talking Tom Cat 2 Free Candy Crush Saga Crazy Dentist - Fun games Skype - free IM & video calls
Top 10 Publishers - Free Apps in the Amazon Appstore

Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 6677g ltd Gameloft Rovio Entertainment Ltd. TabTale LTD Disney LiBii Imangi Studios, LLC Electronic Arts Inc. Glu Mobile Inc. Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd Best App in 2013 Crazy Dentist Despicable Me: Minion Rush Angry Birds Free Baby Care & Dress Up - Play, Love and Have Fun with Babies Where's My Water? Free Princess Salon (Kindle Tablet Edition) Temple Run 2 The Sims Freeplay (Kindle Tablet Edition) DEER HUNTER RELOADED Fruit Ninja Free
Top Global Publishers - Paid Apps

Top 10 Publishers - Paid Apps in the Apple App Store
Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Disney Electronic Arts WhatsApp Inc. Rovio Entertainment Ltd Gameloft Apple Mojang Warner Bros. PopCap Chillingo Ltd Best App in 2013 Temple Run: Oz FIFA 13 by EA SPORTS WhatsApp Messenger Angry Birds Star Wars Asphalt 8: Airborne Pages Minecraft - Pocket Edition Heads Up! Plants vs. Zombies Cut the Rope
Top 10 Publishers - Paid Apps on Google Play

Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Disney SwiftKey Gameloft Titanium Track TeslaCoil Software Mojang EA Swiss Sarl Max MP Electronic Arts Inc LevelUp Studio Best App in 2013 Where's My Water? SwiftKey Keyboard Asphalt 7: Heat Titanium Backup PRO Key root Nova Launcher Prime Minecraft - Pocket Edition Plants vs. Zombies Poweramp Full Version Unlocker Plants vs. Zombies Beautiful Widgets Pro
Note for Plants vs. Zombies by EA Swiss Sarl /Electronic Arts Inc: These apps are analyzed independently from each other, and hence displayed in this overview twice, as these are regionally different apps. For both EA Swiss Sarl and Electronic Arts Inc, Plants vs. Zombies was the most successful app.
Top 10 Publishers - Paid Apps in the Amazon Appstore

Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Disney Electronic Arts Inc. Gameloft Rovio Entertainment Ltd. Mojang ZeptoLab Beansprites LLC PopCap Games, Inc. DifferenceGames LLC Agile Fusion Corp Best App in 2013 Temple Run: Brave(Kindle Tablet Edition) Bejeweled 2 UNO (Kindle Tablet Edition) Angry Birds Star Wars Premium HD (Kindle Tablet Edition) Minecraft - Pocket Edition Cut the Rope Dentist Ofce Kids Plants vs. Zombies (Kindle Tablet Edition) Hidden Object - Kingdom of Dreams Word Games Bundle Pack
Top Global Publishers - Grossing Apps

Top 10 Publishers - Grossing Apps in the Apple App Store
Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Supercell King.com Limited Electronic Arts NAVER JAPAN Kabam GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. Gameloft Funzio, Inc TeamLava Big Fish Games, Inc Best App in 2013 Clash of Clans Candy Crush Saga The Simpsons: Tapped Out LINE The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth Puzzle & Dragons Despicable Me: Minion Rush Modern War Jewel Mania Big Fish Casino - Free Slots, Blackjack, Roulette, Poker and more!
Top 10 Publishers - Grossing Apps on Google Play

Globally aggregated over 2013 Publisher 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. LINE Corporation CJ E&M corp. GungHoOnlineEntertainment Mobage COLOPL, Inc. King.com WeMade Entertainment CO., LTD Kabam GREE, Inc. NHN Entertainment corp Best App in 2013 LINE: Free Calls & Messages for Kakao
(Puzzle & Dragons)
MARVEL War of Heroes

PRIDE
Candy Crush Saga

for Kakao
The Hobbit: Kingdoms GREE

for Kakao
The top developers listed are, to a large extent, also game developers. Disney, being present as a top publisher on multiple app stores with games as well, is in addition, one example of successful global brands entering the app stores and establishing a mobile presence. The top developers also feature Apple and Google themselves, who have achieved some high ranks with more specific service apps.
2013 Year in Review - Recap

In December 2013, we looked back at a year full of growth and evolving markets. The top performing apps of 2013 and their publishers represent the clear global trends in the mobile markets: Asian markets show the largest growth and more and more western developers are gaining ground in Asian markets, proving to be successful with cross-cultural strategies, such as localization The monetization strategy of the freemium business model (free apps with in-app purchases) continued to be successful through 2013 as the revenue share of this business model increased. With the Apple App Store still leading in terms of revenue, we saw Google Plays market share increase. We also noticed an increasing weight of the Amazon Appstore in terms of download volumes, and analyzing the top app charts, it became apparent that a lot of the top apps are also successful across the app stores. The vast majority of mobile app revenue was generated from the Games category, which becomes clear when looking at the most successful grossing apps. Clash of Clans by Supercell was the most revenue generating app globally, making Supercell the most successful developer in 2013 in terms of mobile app revenue. The holidays of 2013 are still ahead of us and a lot of developers have new apps in place to be released. For the rest of 2013 and into the coming months, it will be interesting to see if and which new titles and developers can become top players in the mobile markets in 2014.
Publication - December 2013
Christel Schoger
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2013 Year in Review

Solving the App-Puzzle

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2013 Year in Review

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Top 10 Countries by Mobile App Revenue

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MARVEL War of Heroes

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The Hobbit: Kingdoms GREE

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