That might sound obvious, but in general, iPhone and iPad apps in English are the most widely downloaded and bring in the most money across the top 12 markets in the world. More than 90 percent of free downloads and revenue generated in the top 200 iPhone and iPad apps in the Apple App Store in the 12 largest countries support English.

But outside of English-speaking countries, China, Japan and South Korea have the highest proportions of free downloads and revenue from native language-only applications. Distimo found that among the top 12 markets, apps that serve English dominate all of the markets for downloads of the top 200 free apps except in China, where Chinese language apps are slightly more popular. In terms of revenue for those same markets, English is the top language for apps in the top markets except in China, Japan and South Korea.

That makes these Asian countries a ripe opportunity for developers who put the work into translating their apps. Of course, there are cultural differences and marketing strategies at play and just localizing the language doesn’t guarantee success. But these markets prize localization more than the rest of the world. That may because their languages are not based on the Latin alphabet, which makes it harder for locals to decipher an English-only app.

Distimo also looked at the immediate impact of translating an app. It followed 200 iPhone apps that introduced local language support in a market in August and charted their growth. In the week after introducing local language support through an app update, the apps enjoyed a 128 percent boost in downloads and a 26 percent increase in revenue the following week. It’s unclear how much of that is due exactly to local language translation because apps tend to get some kind of a boost after an update. But the results suggest the apps did see a nice bump from going local.

Distimo found that China and Japan, in particular, had the the highest improvement in terms of total downloads following the introduction of local language support. And China and South Korea were among the top countries that saw a boost in revenue. Adding local language support for updated iPad apps, however, had no impact on downloads and only contributed to a 5 percent increase in revenue.

Overall, it’s interesting to see how much some countries will download apps that are not distributed in their native language. In Brazil, the top two languages for downloads and revenue are English and Spanish, even though Portugese is the main language. And in Brazil, Italy and Russia, more than half of the most downloaded apps don’t support the local language at all. That may suggest that these markets can be targeted without localizing language support. But it might also provide an opportunity to generate more downloads and revenue by translating an app for local users.

As we’ve written before, there are opportunities in going global with mobile apps. When combining this data with how much it costs to acquire users in certain markets and what the relative return on investment is per app user, you can see that there can be a payoff in translating an app. Chartboost last week shared how Japan, South Korea and Thailand have lower cost-per-install costs for app developers than many western markets. Again, localizing an app doesn’t mean instant success and it’s not exactly easy. But with translation services like Smartling and others around, there’s less excuse not to translate an app.

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Distimo said that of the top 110 apps that appear in both the  Android Market and Amazon Appstore, 42 of them make more money on Amazon than on Android Market. Overall, 28 percent of the revenue in those top apps came from the Appstore. That’s a big showing for an Appstore that is less than one year old and has 26,826 available applications, compared to more than 400,000 worldwide for Android Market, according to Distimo.

Amazon Appstore is turning out to be a great place for paid app downloads, compared to Android Market which monetizes better through in-app purchase. Distimo said paid apps in Appstore made up 65 percent of all apps, while the percentage of paid apps in Android Market has slipped from 38 percent to 32 percent over the last seven months. Of the top 200 grossing Android Market apps, 66 percent of the revenue comes from in-app purchases.

The rise of Amazon Appstore is due in large part to the emergence of the Kindle Fire, which has been a major accelerant for Appstore and is now used more than any other Android tablet. In December, the total number of downloads generated by the top 100 apps in the Appstore increased fourteen-fold compared to two months earlier. While Android Market generated 22 times more new apps than the Appstore in September last year, by December and January, the number of new apps on Amazon had surged, cutting the Market’s advantage for new apps to about 5-1.

The fact that paid app downloads are bigger proportionately on Amazon than on Android Market may be due in part to Amazon’s pricing controls. One of the key differences between the two stores is that Amazon can change the price of apps, a provision that concerned some app makers. That control has apparently resulted in the average price of the top 100 paid applications in Amazon Appstore being 40 percent lower than in the Market. The average price of the top 100 applications is $3.76 in Google’s Android Market and $2.24 in Amazon Appstore. The game Monopoly, for example, was available for 99 cents in Appstore for a limited time last month, compared to a fixed price of $4.99 for the whole month in the Market. Amazon’s simple one-click check-out process and its overall reputation for commerce may also be driving paid downloads.

One interesting fact that emerged is that about 50 percent of Amazon’s apps don’t appear in Android Market, said Distimo. That suggests that, while many app makers are simply porting over their apps from Android Market to Amazon Appstore, a big number of apps are bypassing the Market and going straight to Amazon. It’s unclear if this is just Kindle-versions of established Android apps, but it still suggests that developers are making specific investments in Amazon apps.

The strong showing by Amazon Appstore appears to back up early anecdotal evidence I gathered in December, in which a number of Android developers reported seeing a big boost for paid app downloads on Appstore. It’s pretty amazing considering that a big proportion of these downloads is coming from just one device: the Kindle Fire. Appstore also provides apps for other Android devices, but it’s really shining because it’s the app store for Fire owners. Appstore benefits in some ways from its smaller base of apps, which makes discovery easier for users, who don’t have to wade through as many options. It will be interesting to see if Amazon can still remain as lucrative if its appstore attracts a lot more apps.

Overall, what this means for Android developers is that, if they’re looking to make money from paid downloads, they really need to think about Amazon Appstore. The work to submit an app to Amazon increasingly looks like a solid bet. And it may make sense for developers to look at the Fire as its own distinct platform. Android Market still has the largest reach compared to Appstore, which is still limited to the U.S. But more and more, we’re seeing how the Kindle Fire is providing an outsized impact on the Android ecosystem, which has gained a pretty potent way to make money from Android apps.

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The latest figures from Netherlands-based app analytics firm Distimo notes that Apple’s App Store for iPhone generated four times as much revenue as the Android Market when it came to the top-200 apps.

Although app stores are very much an exercise in long-tail content, this does still point to the Apple storefront as a better guarantee for returns for those developers looking for a big hit.

It also explains why so many app publishers still look first to iOS when developing an app, even as Android pulls ever further away from the competition as the most-popular smartphone platform in terms of devices sold worldwide.

Distimo’s annual app report also points to a rise in “freemium” apps — those that are free to download but then make their money on offerings within the apps themselves, either in-app purchases to unlock levels in games, or other kinds of extra content.

Distimo notes that in the App Store, half of all revenues for the top-200 apps came from those apps with freemium models built into them. In Android, that figure was 65 percent — which could also point to the fact that longer term Android may well end up as the bigger revenue generator, even if today it is not.

Some other implications from Distimo’s numbers for all platforms. If the trend towards freemium continues, it could mean that apps that cost something to download/install may possibly turn out to be a less popular route for developers. It also raises the question of whether advertising will be as strong of a revenue generator for apps compared to direct purchases for content within the apps themselves.

What’s also worth noting is that as in-app purchases rise within the apps that also benefits companies like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Apple, which get a cut on those revenues.

China. Unsurprisingly, the market for apps in China is still booming, and it’s not just about Android figures — although these seem to be the ones we hear about most because of the proliferation of Android app stores in the country not operated by Google itself.

Distimo notes that for the Apple App Store for iPhone, China represents 30 percent of all downloads when you combine the total number for China and the U.S. On the iPad, China accounts for nearly half (44 percent) of all downloads across the two countries.

In effect that points to China slowly becoming one of the most important markets, if not the most important, when it comes to apps for those devices. No surprise then that Apple recently finally made it possible for people to actually pay for apps and in-app payments via the local currency.

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Even with the rise of freemium business models — which rely on getting people to download a free app and monetizing through in-app purchase and upgrades — Apple still holds a big advantage. Distimo said in its year-end report that 65 percent of the top 200 apps in Android Market are freemium, while the same applies to only half of the top apps in the iPhone App Store. The revenue gap is less pronounced in tablet apps, with the iPad App Store generating twice as much as the Android Market.

The persistence of this app revenue gap is an issue for developers, and one that prevents many from making Android their primary development platform. At this rate, it’s hard to see how Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s prediction of Android becoming the primary platform for developers in six months coming true.

But there are monetization options available that are helping close the gap for some Android developers. One of the new alternatives is a startup called StartApp, which launched on Android in September and said it’s on a roll, paying out $200,000 to developers who install its SDK. StartApp bundles in its own search portal with apps from developer customers, so users get a search icon on their home page, which StartUp uses to generate revenues. StartApp pays out $10-$50 to developers for every 1,000 downloads or shares in the ongoing search revenue. The company said it’s now installed on 450 apps, which have generated 10 million downloads, and it’s helping some developers get a 10x bump in revenues.

“We are thrilled by the results we have seen thus far, with developers rapidly adopting our solution driving incredible growth in the download and distribution of our search solution,” said Gil Dudkiewicz, StartApp’s CEO. “We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our partners, many of whom have seen dramatic increases in the revenue they are receiving from their apps. This has led to a zero churn rate in the number of developers using our solution.”

StartApp's payout to developers

This is both a questionable and clever tactic, making consumers download another app that does an end run around Google. It’s reminiscent of old PC toolbar add-ons some software companies used. And it plays on the fact that people do a lot of searches from their smartphone. It’s unclear how users are enjoying this option, though StartApp requires clear disclosure for its app partners, so users see a disclaimer and know another search option has been added to their home screen.

But it’s a sign that as long as Android continues to struggle as a money-making machine relative to iOS, it’s going to get targeted by monetization companies looking to help developers earn more cash. Tapjoy’s incentivized download model was banned by Apple for apparently gaming the App Store rankings, but it’s doing well on Android, and that has been a help for developers. Developers will eventually look at starting on Android as the platform ultimately outpaces iOS in app downloads, which should be the case if current trends hold up. But until Google closes the app revenue gap, it’s going to force developers to look at whatever monetization options they can, including solutions that may not be completely enjoyable for users or can cut into Google’s own mobile search revenue.

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According to a new report from the app analytics firm Distimo, among the 300 most downloaded applications in the Marketplace in the U.S., there were 101,000 free downloads and 20,000 downloads of paid apps, with games proving to be the most popular in both categories.

The popularity of games holds true for how the Marketplace is used worldwide: of the top 10 free apps, all but four are games; of the top 10 paid apps, all of them are games. (Those full tables are below.)

The numbers of free to paid downloads on in the Marketplace work out to about 16.5 percent of all downloads being paid.

While that is a huge leap in a year, it is still a far way off the download volumes in the most-popular storefront of them all, the App Store from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). Distimo says the App Store for the iPhone has 43 times more free apps downloaded in its top 300; and there are 16 times more paid apps downloaded. Those lower volumes are not too surprising, considering that Windows Phone 7 accounts for less than five percent (and by one estimate from Gartner only 1.6 percent) of all smartphones currently being sold in markets like the U.S., according to most analysts.

Apple’s proportion of paid to free apps downloaded works out to around around seven percent being paid on the App Store.

When Windows Phone 7 Marketplace was first launched, it was notable that it had a larger proportion of paid apps than the other app leading app stores, and seeing that currently the number of free compared to paid new apps are relatively close (1,650 to 1,300) that trend appears to be continuing. But has that translated into more download revenues for developers?

Apparently not: Distimo notes that within those paid app downloads, about 80 percent of them offer free trials to users, meaning that only four thousand are actually generating revenue in the US Windows Phone 7 Marketplace — resulting in a much lower percentage: only 3.3 percent of downloads are paid apps on the Windows Phone Marketplace. (And as a reader pointed out, that may be based only at the immediate point of sale: some of those trial apps may well convert to paid downloads, too, although Distimo doesn’t provide figures for those in its report.)

As attractive as those trials may be — in the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Lumia 800 device I have been trying out for the past couple of weeks, I’m sure those trials have gotten me to download more apps that I would have normally done — developers will ultimately need to figure out how to convert more of those trials, or at least figure out ways of monetizing users in other ways.

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The biggest app stores are now tipping the half-million mark in terms of overall inventory, but a recent report from the app analytics firm found that when it comes to the most popular apps, consumers often gravitate to content published especially for their markets. In the biggest store of all — the App Store from Apple — on average, nearly one-third of the most popular apps in each country store — 27 percent — were unique to those stores.

Distimo notes that the U.S. — at 7,158 apps — has the most exclusively published apps in its App Store. No surprise, really, given this is where so many developers are based and where so many hope to find success first before trying elsewhere.

Looking at worldwide trends, language also plays a big role.

Taking the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia, these countries’ top apps overlap 54 percent of the time. Although Latin America does not seem to get ranked by Distimo, you can imagine that it too would see a similar trend. The storewide average overlap is 33 percent.

On the other hand, countries with the highest number of localized apps in the top rankings marry two important trends: they have very mobile-friendly consumers, and they are countries where English is not the first language.

Japan topped the list with 67 percent of its most popular apps being popular in that country alone. China, where Apple launched a country-specific App Store in October 2010, came in second with 56 percent of most popular apps specific to the China App Store.

Is there a limit to how many local apps have a chance against the world-wide bestsellers like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja? For now, it appears the answer is yes. Distimo notes that one-third local seems to be the general number for local apps’ popularity across all platforms, not just Apple’s.

Nokia’s Ovi Store, for example, has significantly more country-specific apps than other app stores — 29.4 percent for Ovi with Apple the next-highest proportion at only 5.2 percent — but Distimo notes that the number of local apps that make it into the top rankings are roughly the same as for the App Store and the Android Market, despite Apple’s and Google’s catalogs having far fewer local apps.

That could spell an opportunity for those developers looking to have more visibility among users in specific markets.

You can see that trend playing out especially in China. Platforms like Android are seeing the creation of full-out local app stores to compete with the Android Market, catering to those using devices built on the OS, with app stores from the likes of Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU) and Tencent.

There have also been a number of companies setting up shop to help localize apps from, say, the U.S. market for the Chinese market. The most recent of these was an effort from the DIY app platform Mobile Roadie, which as partnered with local mobile agency FabriQate to launch Q Mobao to help Western developers create iOS and Android apps for the Chinese market. It has also launched a similar initiative in South Korea.

Targeting specific markets is not just about local content, of course.

Last week IDC published figures (via Bloomberg) for smartphone market share in India, and it turns out that Apple has only a tiny part of the market in that country, shipping just over 62,000 iPhones to India in the last quarter, less than it shipped to Norway. That gives Apple a 2.6 percent share of the smartphone market in India. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) currently enjoys the biggest share of the market in India, with 46 percent.

With India the second-largest mobile market after China, that is a big miss for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). IDC notes that part of the issue has been a lack of widespread 3G network for fast mobile data services. Although users can still connect by WiFi, that’s an impractical solution for a person on the move.

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In-app purchases are on the rise as a revenue-getter for all apps, but the freemium model in particular is growing fast. Free app downloads have increased by 34 percent since 2010, while paid downloads grew at a much slower rate, climbing only 7 percent during the past year. Distimo’s research methodology only covers the top 200 downloads in each App Store category, but that’s a very strong representative selection of who’s actually making money through Apple’s mobile software marketplace.

Free apps with in-app purchases made up 48 percent of total App Store revenue according to Distimo, while paid apps with in-app purchases accounted for 24 percent and the remaining 28 percent came from paid-only apps. Freemium games make up a healthy portion of the top grossing apps on both the iPhone and iPad App Stores, and in July Flurry found that they accounted for 65 percent of the top 100 grossing games in the U.S. App Store.

Games aren’t the only apps that offer a free download backed by in-app purchases for a revenue model, however. Comics apps recently made waves, especially in the iPad App Store, thanks to DC’s decision to relaunch all of its titles starting at issue number one, and to make all its titles available on the same day in both print and via digital distribution. Magazine and periodical apps are another category that’s embracing the free initial download, pay for content later way of doing things.

This isn’t exactly the future I envisioned back in February when Apple took the lid off of in-app subscriptions, but it’s also not very far off. Essentially, it looks like more and more developers are embracing the idea that making recurring payments an attractive option for App Store shoppers is the key to coming up with a sustainable business model. Apple’s isn’t the only store where developers are figuring that out, either. In-app purchases are already in use by 68 percent of the 25 top grossing Android apps, despite only being introduced in March of this year.

At this rate, there may come a day when we don’t see a single straight paid app in the top 300 grossing list anymore. Is that a good thing, or would you miss the ability to pay just once for an app instead of having to top up or pay again in order to unlock a richer experience?

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Distimo, which examined downloads in the Apple App Store, said the overall download volume in Asian countries has taken off in the past six months, while some Western countries actually saw less download volume over the same period. While the U.S. remains the leader for app downloads, Asian countries like India and Thailand have grown 27 percent and 40 percent, respectively, since December 2010.

While China has now moved into second place in overall app downloads, South Korea actually outpaces China and Japan in download volume on a per capita basis. This comes despite the fact that the App Store in South Korea doesn’t include games because of local regulations. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider that gaming is the most popular category in the App Store in most other countries.

But there are still hurdles for developers looking to tap the Asian market. Monetization for apps is about two-thirds that of Western markets, in part because Asian consumers are one-third less likely to buy paid apps. That might also be a result of higher average selling prices for paid apps, which are $2.62 in Asia among the top 300 apps, compared with $1.48 in the U.S.

Asian consumers are also less interested in in-app purchase, which is a key way for developers to make money on free apps. Outside Singapore and Malaysia, all Asian countries produce less revenue via in-app purchase for developers when compared to their Western counterparts. In China, for example, only 34 percent of the revenue from the 200 top grossing applications came from from apps with in-app purchase, half that of the U.S.

Western developers must also consider the need to localize apps in Asian countries. Distimo found that 34 percent of the most popular apps in Asia are only popular within Asia, and some titles that are popular worldwide don’t catch on in the region. The need for localization is more pronounced in countries like China, where 65 percent of the 300 most-popular free applications are popular only in the region. That could present a problem for outside developers, but there are examples of success, such as Electronic Arts, whose SimCity and Monopoly are in the top ten iPad apps in Asia.

The Asian market is largely similar to the rest of the world in terms of the categories that are popular, however. Games and entertainment are the top two categories in the U.S. and Asia. And if the growth of paid apps and in-app purchase increases as it has in the West, developers should be making more money in those areas soon. It’s still a challenge for some developers to go global, but the investment may be worth it now.

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In its year-end report, Distimo said in-app purchase revenue for free iPhone apps accounted for 34 percent of all revenue, while purchases in paid apps represented 15 percent. Overall, in-purchase revenue has grown to 49 percent from 36 percent in June.

Recently, Juniper Research predicted that overall in-app payment revenue for mobile games globally would eclipse download revenue by 2013. While that may still hold true across the mobile app ecosystem, mobile micropayments are on the verge of becoming the dominant money-maker for iPhone developers. This is something we’ve been writing about, ever since we reported that one-third of the of the top 100 highest grossing iPhone apps were freemium apps.

The importance of in-app purchases on the iPad is more muted, according to Distimo. It said in-app payments account for only 29 percent of revenue. But the fast growth of this model, especially for free apps, has big implications for developers looking to make money. Distimo said app users are almost 10 times more likely to download free apps than paid apps. It makes obvious sense that free is more appealing, but by turning to freemium, developers are able to tap that desire for free content while still getting a chance to up-sell users later on upgrades, virtual goods and extra content. Distimo doesn’t break down the revenue of competing platforms, but the model can work on Android and other operating systems.

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Mobile app usage can vary dramatically from handset to handset, according to new data from Distimo, but here in the U.S., the love for Facebook is handset-agnostic. The social networking site’s app was among the top 10 downloaded by U.S. users in all five major OS-specific app stores in December, said the Dutch analytics company, and was among the top five apps downloaded from Apple’s App Store, RIM’s BlackBerry App World and Google’s Android Market.

Distimo’s report underscores the amazing traction Facebook has gained as it’s expanded into mobile. The company last fall said 65 million people were accessing Facebook through their phones, and today Opera Software reported that Facebook traffic through its Opera Mini browser jumped more than sixfold last year as the site became the most popular social network for Mini users. Meanwhile, the new startup Ground Truth this week said Facebook was the second-most visited site on the mobile web in the first week of 2010, placing behind MySpace. That kind of traction indicates that Facebook is well on its way to reaching the potential Om envisioned for the company in mobile almost a year ago.  And it will only increase as Facebook continues to integrate more closely with mobile phones via features like contacts and comments.

Interestingly, Distimo also found that European developers charge more for their offerings than those from elsewhere, while apps produced in Japan cost the least. And the average price of apps for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices is more than twice that of apps for other handsets (see chart) — which is not surprising given their business focus. That suggests there may be an opportunity for both players to differentiate themselves (GigaOM Pro, sub. required) from the rest of the app- store crowd by offering a smaller number of high-value apps in contrast to the cheaper novelty apps that litter bigger storefronts.

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Thumbnail image of Facebook’s mobile site courtesy Flickr user sonofabike.

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