Paid apps are on the rise in the Android Market

The share of paid apps in the Android Market is increasing according to Lookout Mobile Security research. In August 2010, only 22 percent of Android Market content consisted of paid apps; in February 2011, this is 34 percent.

Lookout Mobile Security, an American company that focuses on the security of smartphones, bases these percentages on data from more than 500,000 apps.

In the Android Market not only the share of paid apps rose, but also the price level. In February 2011, only 37 percent of paid apps cost 99 cents or less; in August 2010, it was still 60 percent. In Apple’s App Store, the share of paid apps fell from 71 to 66 percent in the same period, while the price level there remained virtually the same.

The number of apps in the Android Market grew by 127 percent; the number of App Store applications by 44 percent. If this trend continues, the Android Market will have more apps than Apple’s App Store by mid-2012, according to Lookout. Although this seems an unlikely prediction with these linear relationships.

Free apps are largely financed by advertisements. AdMob software can be found in most of the free apps from both application stores with a share of more than 40 percent. Apple’s own iAds saw its market share triple in the past measurement period. Lookout expects iAds to take the lead from AdMob in 2011.