This survey claims app devs make more money on Windows Phone than Android or iOS

Hammad Saleem

App development arena is becoming more and more competitive with every passing day. There are hundreds of thousands of app developers working across the globe, some making tons of money while others just keep it as much as to cover their expenses.

According to a new survey, 55 percent of app developers earn around $1,000 a month with just a minor 4 percent racking up around $100,000 a month. Things are still a little better for those developers residing in North America. The survey suggests the developers on average earn $9,400 a month despite the fact that 49% of developers are still earning less than $1,000. As for those residing in the Asia-Pacific region, 61 percent of them still earn $1,000 at most.

Coming over to the most interesting bit of the survey, developers tied to Microsoft’s operating system earn the most money — Windows Phone developers can net around $11,400 a month as per the report. On the other hand, Android developers make the least money, that is, $4,900 a month. Things are still better for those who are tied to iOS as they can earn, on average, $8,100 a month. Well, the reason cited is that “it has a niche audience and there are not as many apps available to that small segment of the population that have a Windows Phone.”

This makes sense if you think about it. Android is the most popular operating system and has the most number of developers. So finding one in the app marketplace is quite easier compared to Windows Phone, which despite being the third most popular OS, has a very small user base. The report says that Android is still the most preferred operating system where 86 percent of developers are building Android apps while iOS is the focus for 57 percent. Windows Phone is once again the least preferred by developers — only 21 percent are working on it.

As far as the categories of apps are concerned, more than 41 percent of developers are into games followed by entertainment, utilities, education and lifestyle apps.

Thanks Dave for sending this in.