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Revenues generated via Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store for iPhone exceed Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) rival Android Market by a 4-to-1 margin, according to app marketplace analytics firm Distimo's Full Year 2011 report. Apple's App Store for its iPad tablet yields roughly double the revenues of the Google storefront, the report states.
Freemium applications--i.e., free downloads that offer premium in-app transactions like virtual currency and virtual goods--emerged as a thriving business model for developers in 2011. Freemium apps now account for half of all revenues generated by the 200 top grossing iPhone apps and make up 65 percent of revenues among Android Market's most lucrative apps.
App stores now offer subscribers more than a million apps in all, Distimo states, adding that nearly all app marketplaces doubled their inventories in 2011. Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone Marketplace experienced the most significant growth, increasing its app inventory more than 400 percent year-over-year. In addition, Windows Phone Marketplace now offers more mobile games than Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) Ovi Store and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry App World.
Two years after its initial release, Rovio Mobile's blockbuster game Angry Birds reigns as 2011's most downloaded mobile app across all stores and operating systems, Distimo states. Angry Birds--which brings to life the epic battle between a flock of vengeful birds and the green pigs that stole their eggs--is available for download from all major stores except BlackBerry App World. The remainder of the top five most downloaded apps, in descending order: Facebook, Skype, the spinoff Angry Birds Rio and Google Maps.
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