Chart of the Week

Chart of the Week: Kindle Fire is America's most popular Android gaming tablet

Even bigger than DS and 3DS

Chart of the Week: Kindle Fire is America's most popular Android gaming tablet

Android is catching up with iOS in terms of which mobile OS is the most popular among portable gamers in the US. 

But iOS remains the clear winner when it comes to revenue.

This is all according to the Q3 App Annie & IDC Portable Gaming Report, which also showed that - in terms of gaming preference - Amazon's Kindle Fire was more popular than Android tablets that use Google Play.

Indeed, it's a bigger category for gaming than the combined total of DS and 3DS - a surprising result.

Whether mobile gamers preferred Android, iOS, or gaming optimized handhelds (3DS, Vita), however, consumer spending rose across all areas when compared to the same quarter in 2012.

The biggest increase in consumer spending for the quarter was in gaming-optimized handhelds, which  - as App Annie and IDC point - traditionally see a pre-holiday bump in sales with the release of hit titles.

N.B. The bump observed in Q3 does not include the release of Pokemon X and Y for the 3DS.

Looking globally, Supercell, King, and GungHo all jockeyed for top grossing accolades - surprising no one in the mobile gaming industry.

The top five grossing games for iOS were - in order - Clash of Clans (Supercell), Candy Crush Saga (King), Puzzle & Dragons (GungHo), Hay Day (Supercell), and The Simpsons: Tapped Out (EA).

On Android, the top five grossing games globally for Q3 were Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush Saga, Everybody's Marble for Kakao (CJ E&M), LINE Pokopang (Line), and Monster Taming for Kakao (CJ E&M).

The full report is available on App Annie's official blog.

US Correspondent

Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.