Only Half of Top 100 App Store iPad Apps Available and Optimized for Android Tablets

According to a new report from research firm Canalys, Android tablets have only a portion of the quality apps that are available on Apple's iPad.

30 of the top 100 paid and free apps in Apple's iPad App Store during the first half of 2013 were unavailable in the Google Play store. An additional 18 apps could be downloaded, but were not optimized for tablet users.

Only 52 of the 100 top App Store apps were available on Google Play and optimized for tablets. Six of those apps were originally paid apps in the App Store, but available in an ad-supported capacity on Google Play, which Canalys points out often provides an inferior experience.

"Quite simply, building high-quality app experiences for Android tablets has not been among many developers' top priorities to date," said Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd. "That there are over 375,000 apps in the Apple App Store that are designed with iPad users in mind, versus just a fraction of this – in the low tens of thousands – available through Google Play, underscores this point ."

Earlier this month, Canalys reported that non-iOS tablets surpassed the iPad in global market share for the first time, with Apple taking just a 42.7% share of worldwide tablet shipments. Tablets from Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo, Acer, and others combined to capture 57.3% of tablet shipments.

Google Play downloads also reportedly surpassed App Store downloads during the second quarter of 2013, but despite greater Android tablet and smartphone shipments and a higher number of app downloads, Apple's App Store still brings in over twice the amount of revenue.

Canalys obtained its data on the App Store and the Google Play store by aggregating daily app rankings during the first half of 2013. Canalys has provided a detailed list [PDF]
of the top free and paid App Store apps that were available or unavailable for the Google Play store.

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

ghost187

20 months ago

Oh yeah !?

What apps ?

I just got a Nexus 7 and it beats the hell out of iPad

HOW? With it's GPS and Multitouch issues, or by flapping its monster bezel?

Rating: 8 Votes

Doctor Q

20 months ago

How many of the top Google Play apps are available for the iPad? Without answering that question the reported results could simply show that the marketplaces have different sets of apps, as opposed to one being a subset of the other.

It wouldn't surprise me to see proof that iPad apps are higher quality, but rather than show it this analysis begs the question by defining a high quality app as one available for iPad.

Rating: 7 Votes

jav6454

20 months ago

I don't want to sound like a overzealous Apple lover, but....

Apple holding it's own against 5 other companies world wide is an impressive feat. Regardless if Apple's marketshare is just 42%. Rather impressive.

Rating: 6 Votes

Karma*Police

20 months ago

I'd say that even the Android phone apps aren't on par with their iOS counterparts. Flixster comes to mind cos I just used it on my HTC and iPhone this weekend and the difference in design and polish was immediately obvious.

Rating: 5 Votes

yousifabdullah

20 months ago

Proud to be an iPad user. :)

EDIT: I should clarify, I have used my iPad exclusively since late 2012. Bought the 4th gen when it came out and sold my rMBP the same week. I work in retail and as a librarian, need Office apps and I draw and make music in my free-time. I've found the iPad to be perfect for me. The app experience is the best I've ever had and I've tried out the Nexuses, Surfaces, etc. Can't wait for the 5th gen to drop, will buy a 128GB Cellular instantly! :)

Rating: 4 Votes

Technarchy

20 months ago

This is exactly what I was thinking. Unless they go the other way, this report means very little. Not to say the results would or wouldn't come to the same conclusion, but the methodology of judgement is completely flawed.

Note that I've been using Samsung Galaxies for about two years after switching from my iPhone 4S, and I also use an iPad. So I continuously use apps on both platforms. And I can say unequivically that in geberal the totality of the apps are pretty comparible. There are certainly a lot of apps that iOS does better or don't exist on Android and mny that ASndroid does better or don't exist on iOS. The top aps are pretty comparable. Android is weak on anything that uses no-latency audio and iOS is weak on anything that needs access to file systems and a lot of menu options. Generally iOS apps look visually better while Android apps have more flexibility.

The difference being that android users care more about what they are missing on iOS.

All my favorite android apps are on iOS. I do mean all.

But several of my favorite iOS apps are totally missing from android.

This doesn't even factor in apps that cater to specific industries like medical and education that don't have a prayer of ending up on Android.

Rating: 3 Votes

KidSqueek

20 months ago

Those Andriod apps don't even compare to iOS apps when it comes to quality. Before my iPhone, I had a Android phone and I used my iPod touch a lot more than my phone because of the quality of the apps.

Rating: 3 Votes

JackieInCo

20 months ago

I originally bought a Nexus 7 thinking it could be an iPad replacement and it worked for 4 months. Then I bought an iPad Mini and discovered that when buying all the same apps that I had on the Nexus 7, very few of the Nexus 7 apps were actually made for tablets, they were simply scaled up phone apps.

If I had bought my Mini first, I would not have bought a Nexus 7. iPad is that much better. It's all about the apps. Apps are clearly superior on iOS.

Rating: 3 Votes

nagromme

20 months ago

Not all apps are created equal!

How many Android-exclusive apps are little system utilities/mods (fine, that can be neat, for sure) and how many are like the best iOS exclusives: real power apps? Like ArtRage, GarageBand, Procreate, Inkpad, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, Keynote, Textastic, iDraw, iTunes U, OmniGraffle, iPhoto, Bento, Omni Outliner, ArtStudio, Adobe Ideas, NanoStudio, Diet Coda, Intaglio, Freeform, TouchUp, iTeleport, and ReBirth.

Where are apps like these for Android? Not, “well, here’s SOME kind of app in this category,” but a truly top-level (and tablet-optimized) experience with that level of productivity, features, and quality?

There must be some--but far fewer; I can think of only two candidates: Photoshop Touch and Sketchbook (which is reportedly maddeningly slow on Android). But those aren’t exclusives—they’re on iOS too—and both have better competing apps that are iOS-only. (And often when an app technically exists both iOS and Android, the two versions are the same in name only, and side-by-side comparison makes the Android version look terrible.)

I'm amazed the number found was even 50%. I often look up an Android version whenever I find a new great app, and I almost never find one. (I do sometimes find an app with the same name and icon that's a scam or malware!)

Rating: 2 Votes

jeffe

20 months ago

Did anyone actually look at the list of apps? I can't believe the 3rd top free app on the iPad is a calculator app.

Don't think Android users are missing much of anything.

Rating: 2 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]