What does this mean?

From the market share data alone we cannot reach any strong conclusions relating to primary platform selection. However luckily we also have some data around the number of downloads and revenue for each platform.

App Annie Indexed Downloads Q1 2016 [2]

App Annie Indexed Revenue Q1 2016 [2]

Taking these three graphs together we start to see a more complete picture. There is a larger number of Android devices. Which leads to a larger number of App downloads on Android. However users in the iOS ecosystem are more willing to spend money through the App store.

The ideal for developing a new Application is to develop for both platforms at once, and releasing simultaneously. However if you have limited budget, or want to roll out more slowly we can reach a rudimentary strategy based on these graphs:

If you are a service or subscription based application looking to reach the largest number of users to get them into your ecosystem, then going with an Android first approach might be the way to go.

However if you are a paid application, or rely on in app revenue as your main revenue stream, then an iOS first approach is likely better for you.

Choosing a strategy gets more complicated when you take into account things like: