Google Play dominates downloads in Southeast Asia, beating App Store by 4-to-1 ratio

Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing mobile markets prefer Google’s platform for game downloads.

Research firm App Annie says Android’s platform has a huge lead over Apple’s in Southeast Asia, with Google Play beating the App Store in downloads four times over thanks to the larger install base of Android phones there. The firm says that Games is the highest-ranking app category in Southeast Asia across both platforms, and that the category is showing explosive growth, jumping up 45 percent year-over-year. Its latest report, which focuses on Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, says that the region could be the next frontier in a mobile game market that could hit $30 billion this year, according to research firm NewZoo.