(Corrects the percentage of sessions from a year ago in the last paragraph.)
We’ve known that the market for mobile devices running on Google’s Android software is fragmented. New research published today by app analytics provider Flurry shows just how splintered it is.
Out of the 20 most popular Android devices last month, 17 hold a usage market share of 6 percent or less, said Flurry, whose analytics software tracks the use of more than 100 million devices globally. Only one, the Samsung Galaxy S II, commands a double-digit market share of Android fans’ use.
That spells trouble for developers, who often have to tweak their apps to accommodate each device’s screen size and features. As the Android marketplace becomes increasingly fragmented, developers’ costs of building applications for that platform are mounting, Flurry said.
The research also compared revenue generated by the top apps on Android and Apple’s iOS. Flurry found that for every $1 a developer earns on iOS, he or she can expect to earn about 24 cents on Android, which mirrors earlier findings.
“In short, Android delivers less gain and more pain than iOS, which we believe is the key reason 7 out of every 10 apps built in the new economy are for iOS versus Android,” said the report, which comes as both Google and Apple hold their developer conferences this month.
Christopher Katsaros, a Google spokesman, had no comment.
Flurry measured market share by tracking each time users launched an app from a unique device. The top 10 Android products were used for 24 percent of sessions last month, down from 47 percent a year earlier, Flurry said.
